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Cochin, or
Kochi, continues to be Kerala's main trading center for spices,
seafood, and rice. What is the weather
like here? |
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Click on each photo
for more photos & info.
Cochin's harbor has been and
continues to be an attractive site for trade; spices, seafood, rice, and
container-cargo. |
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Many Europeans were interested in the spice trade and left their
imprint on the landscape: a Portuguese church and a Dutch
cemetery survive. |
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Chinese cantilevered fishing nets were first erected between 1350 and 1450 and indicate trade with China.
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India's oldest synagogue is found in Jew Town.
The wealth of the Jewish merchants was expressed in the interior of the
synagogue. |
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Streets market are found throughout India. Local
farmers bring fresh vegetables to town, often daily, near permanent
butcher stalls and stores. Without refrigeration, Indian families shop daily for their food needs. |
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Hindu temple typical of South India. |
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Spice trade continues in Cochin with the
International Pepper Exchange, spice drying facilities, warehouses, and
spice stores for locals and tourists alike. |
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Syrian Catholic church claims its origin
from the arrival of St. Thomas the Apostle in Cranganore in 52 AD. |
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Transport modes -- only a small sample of the
kinds of transport vehicles used in India. |
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In 1498, when the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama
landed on the Malabar coast, an estimated two million Christians already
resided here. The Portuguese established their own Roman Catholic
churches. |
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Hill Palace was built in 1895 as the official
residence of former rulers of Cochin. |
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Muslim traders also settled here, but in smaller
numbers than elsewhere in India. The Muslims who traded in pepper were
Sufis and the local converts to Islam were largely low-caste
Hindus breaking free of the caste system. These south Indian Muslim
converts, who represent about 25 percent of Kerala's population, have
maintained many of their cultural traditions: matrilineality, songs,
folklore, and Malayalam language. They also build distinctive mosques (palli),
unlike mosques elsewhere. |
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