Kochi

Kochi ( KOH-chee, Malayalam: [kotˈt͡ʃi] ), formerly known as Cochin ( KOH-chin), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala and is the financial, industial and commercial capital of the state. The city is also commonly referred to as Ernakulam, which is its central business district. As of 2011, the Kochi Municipal Corporation had a population of 677,381 over an area of 94.88 km2, and the larger Kochi urban agglomeration had over 2.1 million inhabitants within an area of 440 km2, making it the largest and the most populous metropolitan area in Kerala. Kochi city is also part of the Greater Cochin development region and is classified as a Tier-II city by the Government of India. The civic body that governs the city is the Kochi Municipal Corporation, which was constituted in the year 1967, and the statutory bodies that oversee its development are the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA). Nicknamed the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading center on the west coast of India from antiquity. The port of Muziris traded with the Romans, Persians, Arabs, and Chinese. From 1503 to 1663, the Portuguese established Fort Emmanuel, before it was taken over by the Dutch in 1663. The Dutch then ceded the area to the United Kingdom. Kochi remained under the control of the Kingdom of Cochin, which became a princely state of the British. The construction of the Cochin Port and the reclamation of Willingdon Island in 1928 transformed Kochi into a major seaport and trading hub on the Malabar Coast. Over the following decades, the city developed into a major industrial and commercial centre, with...