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Contact us on :: mail - keralainfosite@gmail.com . Designed and published by Keralainfosite, keralaT30 October 2007 |
HistoryKerala is first mentioned (as Keralaputra) in a 3rd-century-BC rock inscription left by the Mauryan emperor Asoka. In the last centuries BC this region became famous among the Greeks and Romans for its spices (especially pepper). During the first five centuries AD, the region was a part of Tamilakam and thus was sometimes partially controlled by the eastern Pandya and Coḷa (Chola) dynasties, as well as by the Ceras (Cheras). In the 1st century AD Jewish immigrants arrived, and Syrian Orthodox Christians believe that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Kerala in the same century. Much of Kerala's history from the 6th to 8th century AD is obscure, but Arab traders introduced Islam later in the period. Under the Kulaśekhara dynasty (c. 800–1102) Malayalam emerged as a distinct language, and Hinduism became prominent. The Coḷas often controlled Kerala during the 11th and 12th centuries. By the beginning of the 14th century, Ravi Varma Kulaśekhara of Venad established a short-lived supremacy over southern India. After his death, Kerala became a conglomeration of warring chieftaincies, among whom the most important were Calicut in the north and Venad in the south. The era of foreign intervention began in 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut. In the 16th century the Portuguese superseded the Arab traders and dominated the commerce of Malabār. Their attempt to establish sovereignty was thwarted by the zamorin (hereditary ruler) of Calicut. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese in the 17th century. Marṭhanda Varma ascended the Venad throne in 1729 and crushed Dutch expansionist designs at the Battle of Kolachel 12 years later. Marṭhanda Varma then adopted a European mode of martial discipline and expanded the new southern state of Travancore. His alliance in 1757 with the raja of the central state of Cochin, against the zamorin, enabled Cochin to survive. By 1806, however, Cochin and Travancore, as well as Malabār in the north, had become subject states under the British Madras Presidency. Two years after India's independence was achieved in 1947, Cochin and Travancore were united as Travancore-Cochin state. The present state of Kerala was constituted on a linguistic basis in 1956 when Malabār and the Kāsargoḍ taluka of South Kanara were added to Travancore-Cochin. The southern portion of the former Travancore-Cochin state was attached to Tamil Nadu |