Portuguese City of Cochin, Antique Plan 1630
Antique 1630 hand-colored map of Portuguese City of Cochin (Kochi). The Portuguese built a fort in Cochin in 1503. Originally using coconut trunks as a double-row type of barrier. Naming it Fort Santiago. It was later called Fort Emmanuel after it was rebuilt with stone blocks. Today, the fort does not exist but the place is still called Fort Cochin.
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to land in India by the maritime route. They arrived at Calicut (now Kozhikode) in 1498. Their sole intention was to procure the elusive spice- pepper, which was indigenous to the Malabar region (Kerala). Although a common household spice and certainly not given a second glance. But before Cleopatra’s time pepper was traded in Europe as a rare commodity.
It was worth its weight in gold and only the wealthy could afford it. For centuries it spurred Europeans to search for the source of this magnificent spice. The Portuguese were the first to get hold of the secret maritime route to Calicut. Arriving in the city in 1498 the rest is history. Not being very popular with the Zamorin they moved to Cochin, then a tiny fishing village. Kochi grew under Portuguese control to become a magnificent city.
See my post Fort Cochin – Antique Map Plan 1761. Read also How 500 years of immigration has gifted Fort Kochi a deep sense of multiculturalism
Did you know- after the discovery of Calicut in 1498 the Europeans would go on to discover Sri Lanka (1505), Malaysia (1511), Indonesia, China (1513), and Japan (1543).
From the collection- Raja Ravi Varma’s “Birth of Shakuntala” Oleograph c1894., A British Soldier’s Farewell In Bombay – Old Postcard 1908., Mumbai Suburban Railway Electrification – Old Print 1926., Army & Navy Store 1922 Catalogue Bombay – Old Book
