Cochin or Kochi…

Out before breakfast we catch a ferry to start exploring Cochin city proper…

Along with worshippers headed to temple this morning to celebrate the Hindu New Year, we rode the ferry to an island adjacent to where we are staying. We had a good view of Kochin’s signature Chinese fishing nets and the sunrise over the harbor.

Kochi merchants began trading in spices with the Arabs, Dutch, Phoenicians, Portuguese, and Chinese more than 600 years ago. This helped Kochi to prosper and to become the gateway to old India. It was from Kochi that colonization of India started. Kochi was traditionally a potpourri of various Indian and international communities. Syrian Christians started the first wave of immigration, followed by Jews between the 7th and 10th centuries. Arab merchants also made a strong settlement in Kochi in the 15th century, But it was in the early part of the 19th century when the Dutch built a series of check dams and canals still in use today, that the brackish backwater was transformed into highly productive farmland.

The Anglo-Dutch treaty of 1814, forced the Dutch to hand over Kochi to the British in exchange for an island in Indonesia. The British then confined their influence over Kochi, limiting their direct administration to a small enclave of Fort Kochi close to our hotel.

Modern Kochi city really got underway when Sir Robert Bristow, a senior Royal Navy Engineer felt need of a modern large port after the opening of Suez Canal. This made creation of largest man-made island of the country, the Willingdon Island to house new Kochi Port.

The most recent political evolution created the formation of Kerala in 1957 as a part of India. Kochi has been the commercial capital of Kerala

The colonial charms of Fort Kochi with arrays of traditional European bungalows and alleys are testimony to the former British, Dutch and Portuguese presence.
Generally, Kochinites seem to pride themselves on being modern and fashionable. As a city that has a tradition of being a melting pot culture, they show a high level of tolerance with each tradition shown equal respect. It is a festival weekend for the Hindus who are celebrating the beginning of their new year and on Sunday morning Christian churches are filled to overflowing.