Trace the emergence of Cochin as a port and a political capital.

The emergence of the estuary of Cochin is attributed to the geo-physical changes caused by the great flood in Periyar in 1341 CE. While the floodwaters that moved through the northern branch of the river Periyar silted up the harbour of Cranganore, the heavy flow of floodwaters through the southern branches of the river opened up a passage from the lagoon into the sea, bringing into existence the harbour of Cochin. The Paradesi Jews appears to have migrated from Cranganore and other parts of Kerala to Cochin immediately after the emergence of Cochin in 1341. These migrant Jews, on reaching the newly emerged estuary, set up a market-place, which eventually came to be known as Kochangadi (small bazaar) because of its being small when compared to the extensive market of Cranganore and in 1345 they built a synagogue over Kochangadi synagogue. On seeing the prospects for the accumulation of trade surplus in Cochin, the chief of the Perumpadappu svarupam, who had his headquarters in the agrarian belt of Vanneri started moving down to south, first to Mahodayapuram (Cranganore), and later to Cochin, where he established his royal residence around 1405. The locus of the political power was initially Calvethy, where the palace of the king was located. Mouth of Calvethy served the purpose of the port. However, the core area of economic activities of Cochin in the 15th century stretched from the mouth of Calvethy to Mattancherry. As a result a wide variety of traders including the Kelings, the Chetties, the Nazaranis, the Jewish and the Muslim traders started congregating around the palace area, with the Chetties, Goldsmiths, Konkanis and Muslims occupying Amaravathi area. The urban unit that thus emerged in Calvethy with a chain of native mercantile settlements in and around the port area and around the king’s residence eventually came to be called the city of Cochin. Meanwhile, a second wave of Jewish migration to Cochin took place in the second half of the fifteenth century. Initially these Jews settled down for a period of fifty years in a place called Sinhora Savode (Senhora Soude, a place-name later given by the Portuguese and presently known as Saudi) about half a league (almost two kilometers) away from Cochin. It was only by 1521-1523 that these white Jews finally shifted their residence completely from Sinhora Savode to Cochin. Concomitantly a considerable number of black Jews also reached Cochin from Cranganore and other parts of Kerala by the latter part of the 15th century, where the king of Cochin, who was eagerly looking for enterprising commercial partners to develop his port, took these Jewish merchants under his special patronage, a privilege which the Jews enjoyed all through the years to come. It seems that it was for the use of these Jews that the Thekkumbhagam synagogue was built in 1489 in Cochin. With the establishment of a city in Cochin by a royal charter, it was given a unique status in the structure of Estado da India. 

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