1.
Asramam Link Road
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The Asramam Link Road is an important four-lane city road in Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. This road was known as Aerodrome Road as it was the connection road to Kollam Airport. The road starts from Kappalandimukku near Polayathode in the east and currently ends at KSRTC, the second phase of construction, which would extend it from Kollam KSRTC Bus Station to Thoppilkadavu, has not yet begun. Kollam is an old sea port city in Kerala with traffic bottlenecks in three locations, Polayathode-Thattamala, Anchalumoodu and Kottiyam, demand existed for a new road to bypass Downtown Kollam and avoid the complex Chinnakada Junction. The Kollam Bypass project is the least funded bypass project in the state and this link road now serves the city as a mini bypass by avoiding the heavy traffic at Chinnakada junction. The Kollam Development Authority had approved Rs.1.6 Crores for the projects Phase-I, the road is also included in the JnNURM Mission for Kollam city. The first phase of Link road, Kappalandi Mukku-Asramam Muneeswaran Kovil four-lane road was inaugurated on 14 September 2010, as part of the Phase-II development, the present road would be extended to Thoppilkadavu at a cost of Rs.63 crore. The project comprises construction of a new bridge across the confluence of the Kollam Canal with the Ashtamudi Lake, on completion, the Asramam Link Road will enable those passing through Kollam to avoid the busy Collectorate-High School Junction-Taluk Office junction-Chinnakada and railway station. Kappalandimukku → Chemmanmukku → Kadappakada → Asramam → KSRTC → Thevally → Thoppilkadavu Kollam Kollam Airport Asramam Maidan Polayathode Thoppilkadavu Kadappakada Kollam KSRTC Bus Station
2.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
3.
India
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India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
4.
States and territories of India
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India is a federal union comprising twenty-nine states and seven union territories. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and further into smaller administrative divisions, the Constitution of India distributes the sovereign executive and legislative powers exercisable with respect to the territory of any State between the Union and that State. The Indian subcontinent has been ruled by different ethnic groups throughout its history. Between 1947 and 1950, the territories of the states were politically integrated into the Indian Union. The new Constitution of India, which came into force on 26 January 1950, the new republic was also declared to be a Union of States. The nine Part A states were Assam, Bihar, Bombay, Madhya Pradesh, Madras, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The eight Part B states were former princely states or groups of states, governed by a rajpramukh, who was usually the ruler of a constituent state. The rajpramukh was appointed by the President of India, the Part B states were Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Bharat, Mysore, Patiala and East Punjab States Union, Rajasthan, Saurashtra, and Travancore-Cochin. The ten Part C states included both the former chief commissioners provinces and some states, and each was governed by a chief commissioner appointed by the President of India. The Part C states were Ajmer, Bhopal, Bilaspur, Coorg, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Cutch, Manipur, Tripura, the only Part D state was the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were administered by a lieutenant governor appointed by the central government. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam, Andhra State was created on 1 October 1953 from the Telugu-speaking northern districts of Madras State. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganised the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states, as a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin. Andhra Pradesh was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956, kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organised into the territory of Lakshadweep. Bombay State was enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, Rajasthan and Punjab gained territories from Ajmer and Patiala and East Punjab States Union respectively and certain territories of Bihar was transferred to West Bengal. Bombay State was split into the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra on 1 May 1960 by the Bombay Reorganisation Act. Nagaland was formed on 1 December 1963, the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 resulted in the creation of Haryana on 1 November and the transfer of the northern districts of Punjab to Himachal Pradesh. The act also designated Chandigarh as a territory and the shared capital of Punjab
5.
Kerala
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Kerala historically known as Keralam, is an Indian state in South India on the Malabar Coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions, spread over 38,863 km2, it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677 inhabitants as per the 2011 Census, Malayalam is the most widely spoken language and is also the official language of the state. The region has been a prominent spice exporter since 3000 BCE, the Chera Dynasty was the first prominent kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against attacks by the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. In the 15th century, the spice trade attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, after independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state in 1949. In 1956, Kerala state was formed by merging Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin, Hinduism is practised by more than half of the population, followed by Islam and Christianity. The culture is a synthesis of Aryan and Dravidian cultures, developed over millennia, under influences from other parts of India, the production of pepper and natural rubber contributes significantly to the total national output. In the agricultural sector, coconut, tea, coffee, cashew, the states coastline extends for 595 kilometres, and around 1.1 million people in the state are dependent on the fishery industry which contributes 3% to the states income. The state has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine languages, mainly English, Kerala is one of the prominent tourist destinations of India, with backwaters, beaches, Ayurvedic tourism and tropical greenery as its major attractions. The name Kerala has an uncertain etymology, One popular theory derives Kerala from Kera and alam is land, thus land of coconuts, this also happens to be a nickname for the state due to abundance of coconut trees and its use by the locals. The word Kerala is first recorded in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription left by the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the inscription refers to the local ruler as Keralaputra, or son of Chera. This contradicts the theory that Kera is from coconut tree, at that time, one of three states in the region was called Cheralam in Classical Tamil, Chera and Kera are variants of the same word. The word Cheral refers to the oldest known dynasty of Kerala kings and is derived from the Proto-Tamil-Malayalam word for lake, the earliest Sanskrit text to mention Kerala is the Aitareya Aranyaka of the Rigveda. It is also mentioned in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the two Hindu epics, the Skanda Purana mentions the ecclesiastical office of the Thachudaya Kaimal who is referred to as Manikkam Keralar, synonymous with the deity of the Koodalmanikyam temple. Keralam may stem from the Classical Tamil cherive-alam or chera alam, the Greco-Roman trade map Periplus Maris Erythraei refers to Keralaputra as Celobotra. According to Hindu mythology, the lands of Kerala were recovered from the sea by the warrior sage Parasurama. Parasurama threw his axe across the sea, and the water receded as far as it reached, according to legend, this new area of land extended from Gokarna to Kanyakumari. The land which rose from sea was filled with salt and unsuitable for habitation, so Parasurama invoked the Snake King Vasuki, out of respect, Vasuki and all snakes were appointed as protectors and guardians of the land
6.
List of districts of India
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A district is an administrative division of an Indian state or territory. In some cases districts are subdivided into sub-divisions, and in others directly into tehsils or talukas. As of 2016 there are a total of 707 districts, up from the 640 in the 2011 Census of India, mahe of Puducherry is the smallest district of India by area while Kutch of Gujarat is the largest district of India by area. The majority of districts are named after their administrative centre, some are referred to by two names, a traditional one and one that uses the name of the town that is the headquarters. Since most of the districts are named after a town, the district is appended to distinguish between the town and the district. Official websites very often use District with a capital D in this context, the names of the 687 districts are mostly unique. The following tables list the details of various states
7.
Kollam district
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Kollam district is one of 14 districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Keralas natural attributes, it is endowed with a coastline, a major Arabian Sea seaport. The district has many source of waterbodies, Kallada river is one among it and the east side land of river is EastKallada and the west side land is WestKallada. Kallada Boat race is one among the festival events of district. Even though it is a competition between two sides of river many boat clubs from various places even beyond the district use to participate in the event. Kollam is the capital of Keralas cashew industry, plains, mountains, lakes, lagoons and backwaters, forests, farmland and rivers make up the topography of the district. The area had trading relationships with Phoenicia and Ancient Rome and it covers 2,492 square kilometres, is the seventh-largest district in Kerala and is densely populated. It has the shortest coastal line among districts in Kerala, five major urban centres are, Kollam, Paravur, Punalur, Karunagapally, and Kottarakara. Sasthamkotta Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Kerala, is located in Kollam, two major rivers drain the district. Ashtamudi Lake and Paravur Lake are two important lakes in the district, Ashtamudi Lake covers 30 percent of total area of the district. Kollam is located on Ashtamudi Lake, Neendakara, a major fishing port in southern Kerala, is also located on this scenic lake. Edava and Nadayara Lakes are also located in Kollam district. The place is popular as Thangasseri. The lighthouse built at Quilon by the British in the year 1902 is visible as far as 13 miles in the sea, the lighthouse stands to an amazing height of 144 feet. The picturesque view of the sea from the place where the stands is breathtaking. In the vicinity lies the Portuguese Fort, the fort was built in the year 1517 and at present only a wall of the fort has escaped the assaults made by Time. Kollams temperature is almost steady throughout the year, the average temperature ranges from 25 to 32 degrees Celsius. Summer usually runs from March until May, the monsoon begins by June, Kollam receives an annual average rainfall of around 2,700 millimetres
8.
Kollam Municipal Corporation
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Kollam Municipal Corporation is the civic body that governs the City of Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the fourth largest city corporation in the state by population, constituted in 1903 and officially recognized as city corporation in 2000, the body governs an area of 73.03 square kilometres centered on Kollam with about 55 wards and a population of 397,419. Kollam is the 2nd most revenue generating city in Kerala, as of 2015-16 reports, Kollam has a revenue of Rs.889.74 crore, expenditure of Rs.830 crore and a surplus of Rs.59.73 crore. Kollam, known historically as Quilon, was an ancient trade hub, the population density of the coastal belt of Kollam is very high compared to any other city in the state. After the constitution of Kochi as a corporation in 1967, there were demands to upgrade the densely populated Kollam City into a city corporation. As a result, on 1 October 2000, Kollam Municipality was upgraded by the Kerala Government to a Municipal Corporation, the city population of Kollam increased substantially from 139,852 in 1991 to 346,013 in 2011. In 1991, the Vadakkevila, Sakthikulangara, Eravipuram and Kilikollur panchayats were merged with Kollam City, as a result, the area run by the municipal corporation increased from 18.48 square kilometres to 58.18 square kilometres. Later in May 2015, Thrikkadavoor panchayath is merged with Kollam city, the City Corporation of Kollam has a 55-member council headed by a Mayor assisted by a Deputy Mayor. On an average, every ward consists of a population of around 7,000, each ward is represented in the municipal council by an elected councilor. The Kerala Municipalities Act,1994, governs all functions in KMC, also there are 8 standing committees in the corporation for the ease of smooth governance of the city. Each and every standing committee is headed by an elected councilor, there are zonal offices in each zones of the corporation. The presence of an existing Railway over bridge and three intersections with heavy traffic limits the option for traffic management measures including junction improvement. That caused the authorities to think about this underpass at Chinnakada, Chinnakada is a complex junction where roads from Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Downtown, Sengottai, Ashramam, Kollam Beach and the City bus stand road meets. Preliminary design prepared by NATPAC for the underpass involved the acquisition of 0.08 hectares of government land on a temporary basis. The height of the passage above the underpass was increased to 5.5 metres from 5 metres to facilitate movement of modern container trucks through the underpass. Underpass has been open to the public by the end of May 2015. On 22 June 2014, construction started on a marine aquarium at Kollam Beach. The Harbour Engineering Department is constructing the aquarium on the side of the beach on behalf of Kollam Corporation
9.
Malayalam language
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Malayalam /mʌləˈjɑːləm/ is a language spoken in India, predominantly in the state of Kerala. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and was designated as a Classical Language in India in 2013 and it was developed to the current form mainly by the influence of the poet Thunchaththu Ezhuthachan in the 16th century. Malayalam has official status in the state of Kerala and in the union territories of Lakshadweep. It belongs to the Dravidian family of languages and is spoken by some 38 million people, according to one theory, Malayalam originated from Middle Tamil in the 7th century. However, the current understanding proposes the separation of Malayalam from Proto-Dravidian in the pre-historic era, Malayalam incorporated many elements from Sanskrit through the ages. Before Malayalam came into being, Old Tamil was used in literature and courts of a region called Tamilakam, including present day Kerala state, silappatikaramit was written by Chera prince Ilango Adigal from Chunkaparra, and is considered a classic in Sangam literature. Modern Malayalam still preserves many words from the ancient Tamil vocabulary of Sangam literature, the earliest script used to write Malayalam was the Vatteluttu alphabet, and later the Kolezhuttu, which derived from it. As Malayalam began to borrow words as well as the rules of grammar from Sanskrit. This developed into the modern Malayalam script, many medieval liturgical texts were written in an admixture of Sanskrit and early Malayalam, called Manipravalam. The oldest literary work in Malayalam, distinct from the Tamil tradition, is dated from between the 9th and 11th centuries, the first travelogue in any Indian language is the Malayalam Varthamanappusthakam, written by Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar in 1785. Due to its lineage deriving from both Tamil and Sanskrit, the Malayalam script has the largest number of letters among the Indian language orthographies, the Malayalam script includes letters capable of representing almost all the sounds of all Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. Malayalam serves as a language on the islands including the Mahl-dominated Minicoy Island. The word Malayalam originated from the Sanskrit resp, Malayalam words malai or mala, meaning hill, and elam, meaning region. Malayalam thus translates as hill region and used to refer to the land of the Chera dynasty, the language Malayalam is alternatively called Alealum, Malayalani, Malayali, Malean, Maliyad, and Mallealle. The word Malayalam originally meant only for the name of the region, Malayanma or Malayayma represented the language. With the emergence of modern Malayalam language, the name of the language started to be known by the name of the region, hence now, the word Malayanma is considered by some to represent the olden Malayalam language. The language got the name Malayalam during the mid 19th century, the origin of Malayalam, an independent offshoot of the proto-Dravidian language, has been and continues to be an engaging pursuit among comparative historical linguists. Together with Tamil, Toda, Kannada and Tulu, Malayalam belongs to the group of Dravidian languages
10.
English language
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English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
11.
Indian Standard Time
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Indian Standard Time is the time observed throughout India and Sri Lanka, with a time offset of UTC+05,30. India does not observe daylight saving time or other seasonal adjustments, in military and aviation time IST is designated E*. Indian Standard Time is calculated on the basis of 82.30 E longitude, in Shankargarh Fort, in the tz database, it is represented by Asia/Kolkata. The Central observatory was moved from Chennai to a location at Shankargarh Fort Allahabad district, daylight Saving Time was used briefly during the China–Indian War of 1962 and the Indo–Pakistani Wars of 1965 and 1971. Inhabitants of the states have to advance their clocks with the early sunrise. In the late 1980s, a team of researchers proposed separating the country two or three time zones to conserve energy. The binary system that they suggested involved a return to British–era time zones, in 2001, the government established a four–member committee under the Ministry of Science and Technology to examine the need for multiple time zones and daylight saving. In Assam, tea gardens follow a separate time zone, known as the Chaibagaan or Bagan time, still Indian Standard Time remains the only officially used time. The filmmaker Jahnu Barua has been campaigning for a time zone for the past 25 years. In 2010, he suggested creating a time zone for the Development of Northeastern Region. In 2014, Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi started campaigning for another time zone for Assam, however, the proposal would need to be cleared by the Central Government of India. Official time signals are generated by the Time and Frequency Standards Laboratory at the National Physical Laboratory in New Delhi, the signals are based on atomic clocks and are synchronised with the worldwide system of clocks that support the Coordinated Universal Time. IST is taken as the time as it passes through almost the centre of India. To communicate the exact time to the people, the time is broadcast over the state-owned All India Radio. Telephone companies have dedicated phone numbers connected to mirror time servers that also relay the precise time, another increasingly popular means of obtaining the time is through Global Positioning System receivers
12.
Postal Index Number
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A Postal Index Number or PIN or Pincode is a code in the post office numbering or post code system used by India Post, the Indian postal administration. The code is six digits long, the PIN Code system was introduced on 15 August 1972 by Shriram Bhikaji Velankar, an additional secretary in the Union Ministry of Communications. The system was introduced to simplify the manual sorting and delivery of mail by eliminating confusion over incorrect addresses, similar place names, there are nine PIN zones in India, including eight regional zones and one functional zone. The first digit of the PIN code indicates the region, the second digit indicates the sub-region, and the third digit indicates the sorting district within the region. The final three digits are assigned to individual post offices, a state may have one or more sorting districts depending on the volumes of mail handled. The fourth digit represents the route on which a Delivery office is located in the sorting district and this is 0 for offices in the core area of the sorting district. The last two represent the delivery office within the sorting district starting from 01 which would be the GPO or HO. The numbering of the office is done chronologically with higher numbers assigned to newer delivery offices. If the volume of mails handled at an office is too large, a new delivery office is created. Thus two delivery offices situated next to each other only have the first four digits in common. Each PIN code is mapped to exactly one delivery post office which receives all the mail to be delivered to one or more lower offices within its jurisdiction, all of which share the same code. The delivery office can either be a General Post Office, a Head Office or Sub Office which are located in urban areas. The post from the office is sorted and routed to other delivery offices for a different PIN or to one of the relevant sub offices or branch offices for the same PIN. Branch offices are located in areas and have limited postal services
13.
Vehicle registration plate
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A vehicle registration plate, also known as a number plate or a license plate, is metal or plastic plate attached to a motor vehicle or trailer for official identification purposes. The registration identifier is a numeric or alphanumeric ID that uniquely identifies the owner within the issuing regions database. The first two letters indicate the state to which the vehicle is registered, the next two digit numbers are the sequential number of a district. Due to heavy volume of vehicle registration, the numbers were given to the RTO offices of registration as well, the third part indicates the year of registration of the vehicle and is a 4 digit number unique to each plate. In some countries, the identifier is unique within the entire country, whether the identifier is associated with a vehicle or a person also varies by issuing agency. In the vast majority of jurisdictions, the government holds a monopoly on the manufacturing of vehicle registration plates for that jurisdiction. Thus, it is illegal for private citizens to make and affix their own plates. Alternately, the government will merely assign plate numbers, and it is the owners responsibility to find an approved private supplier to make a plate with that number. In some jurisdictions, plates will be assigned to that particular vehicle for its lifetime. If the vehicle is destroyed or exported to a different country. Other jurisdictions follow a policy, meaning that when a vehicle is sold the seller removes the current plate from the vehicle. Buyers must either obtain new plates or attach plates they already hold, as well as register their vehicles under the buyers name, a person who sells a car and then purchases a new one can apply to have the old plates put onto the new car. One who sells a car and does not buy a new one may, depending on the laws involved, have to turn the old plates in or destroy them. Some jurisdictions permit the registration of the vehicle with personal plates, in some jurisdictions, plates require periodic replacement, often associated with a design change of the plate itself. Vehicle owners may or may not have the option to keep their original plate number, alternately, or additionally, vehicle owners have to replace a small decal on the plate or use a decal on the windshield to indicate the expiration date of the vehicle registration. Plates are usually fixed directly to a vehicle or to a frame that is fixed to the vehicle. Sometimes, the plate frames contain advertisements inserted by the service centre or the dealership from which the vehicle was purchased. Vehicle owners can also purchase customized frames to replace the original frames, in some jurisdictions licence plate frames are illegal
14.
Lok Sabha
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The Lok Sabha is the Lower house of Indias bicameral Parliament, with the Upper house being the Rajya Sabha. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Sansad Bhavan in New Delhi, under the current laws, the strength of Lok Sabha is 545, including the two seats reserved for members of the Anglo-Indian community. The total elective membership is distributed among the states in proportion to their population, a total of 131 seats are reserved for representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The quorum for the House is 10% of the total membership, term of the House The Lok Sabha, unless sooner dissolved, continues to operate for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting and the expiration of the period of five years. An exercise to redraw Lok Sabha constituencies boundaries has been carried out by the Delimitation Commission based on the Indian census of 2001, the 16th Lok Sabha was elected in May 2014 and is the latest to date. The Lok Sabha has its own channel, Lok Sabha TV. A major portion of the Indian subcontinent was under British rule from 1858 to 1947, the Indian Councils Act 1861 provided for a Legislative Council consisting of the members of the Executive Council and non-official members. The Indian Councils Act 1892 established legislatures in each of the provinces of British India, although these Acts increased the representation of Indians in the government, their power still remained limited, and the electorate very small. The Indian Councils Act 1909 and the Government of India Act 1919 further expanded the participation of Indians in the administration, the Constituent Assembly was divided into two for the separate nations, with each new Assembly having sovereign powers transferred to it for the respective dominion. The Constitution of India was adopted on 26 November 1949 and came into effect on 26 January 1950, proclaiming India to be a sovereign, democratic republic. This contained the principles of the law of the land which would govern India in its new form. The Lok Sabha was duly constituted for the first time on 17 April 1952 after the first General Elections held from 25 October 1951 to 21 February 1952 and he / She should not be less than 25 years of age. He / She possesses such other qualifications as may be prescribed in that behalf by or under any law made by Parliament, a seat in the Lok Sabha will become vacant in the following circumstances, When the holder of the seat, by writing to the speaker, resigns. When the holder of the seat is absent from 60 consecutive days of proceedings of the House, when the holder of the seat is subject to any disqualifications mentioned in the Constitution or any law enacted by Parliament. A seat may also be vacated when the holder stands disqualified under the Anti-Defection Law, a member both of Parliament and of a House of the Legislature of a State. System of elections in Lok Sabha Members of the Lok Sabha are directly elected by the people of India, for the purpose of holding direct elections to Lok Sabha, each state is divided into territorial constituencies. This provision does not apply for states having a population of less than 6 million, note, The expression population here refers to the population ascertained at the preceding census of which relevant figure have been published. Lok Sabha has certain powers that make it more powerful than the Rajya Sabha, motions of no confidence against the government can be introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha
15.
Kollam
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Kollam or Quilon, formerly Desinganadu, is an old seaport and city on the Laccadive Sea coast of Kerala, India. The city is on the banks Ashtamudi Lake, Kollam has had a strong commercial reputation since the days of the Phoenicians and Romans. Fed by the Chinese trade, it was mentioned by Ibn Battuta in the 14th century as one of the five Indian ports he had seen during the course of his twenty-four year travels, desinganadus rajas exchanged embassies with Chinese rulers while there was a flourishing Chinese settlement at Kollam. In the 9th Century, on his way to Canton, China, Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, who was in Chinese service under Kublai Khan in 1275, visited Kollam and other towns on the west coast, in his capacity as a Chinese mandarin. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822 AD two East Syrian bishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, settled in Quilon with their followers. Two years later the Malabar Era began and Quilon became the city of the Malabar region ahead of Travancore. Kollam is a city on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake that took the title Gods Own Country without much demur. The braids of Ashtamudi Lake lie about 71 kilometres north of the state capital, the city hosts the administrative offices of Kollam district and is a prominent trading city for the state. The proportion of females to males in Kollam city is second highest among the 500 most populous cities in India, Kollam is the least polluted city in India. Four major trading centers/towns around Kollam are Kottarakara, Punalur, Paravur, There was also internal trade through the Punalur Pass connecting the ancient town to Tamil Nadu. The rail links later established to Tamil Nadu supported still stronger trade links, the factories processing marine exports and the processing and packaging of cashewnuts extended its trade across the globe. Kollam is the fourth most populous city in Kerala and the fifth largest in incorporated area and it is known for cashew processing and coir manufacturing. Ashtamudi Lake is considered the gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination at Kollam. The Kollam urban area includes towns such as Paravur in the south, Kundara in the east. Other important towns in the city suburbs are Eravipuram, Kottiyam, Kannanallur, Kollam appeared as Palombe in Mandevilles Travels, where he claimed it contained a Fountain of Youth. During the later stages of the rule of the Chera monarchy in Kerala, Kollam emerged as the point of trade. Kollam continues to be a business and commercial centre in the Southern Kerala. In 825 CE, the Malayalam calendar, or Kollavarsham, was created in Kollam at meetings held in the city, the present Malayalam calendar is said to have begun with the re-founding of the town, which was rebuilt after its destruction by a fire
16.
Kollam Airport
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Quilon Aerodrome or Kollam Airport was an aerodrome in the city of Kollam in the former state of Travancore, now in Kerala, India. During the 1920s, there were no other civil aerodromes in the kingdoms of Cochin, Travancore, with the 1932 commissioning of Trivandrum International Airport in the state capital 57 kilometres to the south, the aerodrome fell into disuse and came to be known as the Asramam Maidan. The landing strip of the aerodrome was strengthened with red soil from the adjoining hills because the local loose soil was unsuitable for the purpose. There were no buildings in the aerodrome, however, a concrete pad for parking aircraft was built. The aerodrome was under the control of the Public Works Department, the aerodrome was also used for training operations. These were stopped when an accident involving an aircraft at the boundary of the aerodrome, resulted in the death of the pilot. During 2009 -2012, local authorities made plans to revive the aerodrome for an academy with a 4,000 foot runway for light aircraft. Trivandrum International Airport Cochin International Airport Calicut International Airport Kannur International Airport Aranmula International Airport List of airports in India
17.
Asramam Maidan
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The Asramam Maidanam or Ashramam Maithanam is an urban park, or maidhanam, in the city of Kollam, in Kerala, India. At 72 acres, it is the largest open space within Kerala Municipal Corporation limits, the maidan is considered as one of the green lungs of the city and regularly hosts the citys main cultural and sports events. It holds an adventure park childrens park, picnic village, British Residency, Asramam Maidan was used as an aerodrome during the British Raj. Chartered flights, mainly using Avro aircraft, would land and take off from Quilon Aerodrome, the aerodrome was primarily used by VIPs from Madras en route to Thiruvananthapuram, who after landing at Quilon, would proceed to Thiruvananthapuram by car. Quilon Aerodrome was also used for flying training, during one such training exercise, an aircraft hit a tree on the boundary of the aerodrome, killing the pilot and the trainee. Training operations were stopped after the accident, but civilian aircraft continued to use the aerodrome, because of the loose soil in the Asramam area, the landing and take-off areas were prepared by bringing huge quantities of red laterite soil from the hilly areas. The aerodrome had strong barbed wire fencing round it, with two points, one at the south and the other at the north. There were no buildings in the aerodrome, not even a shed and it was here that the passengers alighted and boarded the plane. Planes used to land sometimes once in two months, the airport then came under the control of Kerala Public Works Department. Residents of Asramam knew in advance about the arrival of planes, because the PWD authorities, on getting information about a coming arrival, after the commissioning of Thiruvananthapuram airport and its development, Quilon Aerodrome went into decline, and finally, planes stopped arriving there. The aerodrome remained fenced off for a long time, later, the fence was destroyed and its granite stumps pilfered. The only reason the maidan was not encroached upon was that it was a government property. Now there are two large helipads at the maidan, Kollam Fest Kollam Fest is an international event with focus on art, culture, trade, and tourism. The event, organised by the Kollam City Corporation, was aimed at presenting the history, Kollam Pooram Kollam Pooram is one of the most colorful festivals of Kerala, attracting a large number of people from all parts of the state. The Kollam Pooram, organised in connection with the festival of the Asramam Sri Krishnaswamy Temple, is held annually at the Asramam Maidan in the month of April. The festival has now assumed the status of a national festival, Cricket matches Asramam Maidan is a regular ground for the Kerala Cricket Associations matches, which are held almost all year round. Following a preliminary inspection by a team of experts, in 2009 plans were drawn up for the construction of an airstrip, supporters of the project said that the school would increase the importance of the city. The government of Kerala has decided to preserve the Asramam Maidan, the Corporation of Kollam has been sanctioned Rs.52 lakhs in the 2017-18 financial years budget for constructing cycle track around the Asramam maidan
18.
Indian Medical Association
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It was established in 1928 as the All India Medical Association, renamed Indian Medical Association in 1930. It is a society registered under The Societies Act of India and it delegates its powers to a ‘Working Committee’ for implementation of programmes and activities. This committee meets at least three times a year to various activities for welfare of members and the people in matters of health. The Indian Medical association is a member of the World Medical Association The Journal of the Indian Medical Association. It is a journal and has the largest circulation of all the indexed journals in the world with over 240,000 subscribers for its electronic version. The journal is available in microfilm through Bell & Howels. The Journal was founded by Sir Nilratan Sircar, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Kumud Sankar Ray and other scholars, the Journal office is in Calcutta. On 5 October 2013, Indian Medical Students Association was inducted as official students wing of Indian Medical Association and it claims to have more than 50,000 members from different medical colleges in the country and aims to promote new endeavors among medical students in India. The IMA-SW now includes 25 state chapters throughout the country
19.
Sports Authority of India
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SAI ACADEMIES AND REGIONAL CENTRES, It also has a high altitude Training Centre at Shillaroo, Himachal Pradesh. On 23 January 1973, it was renamed Netaji Subhas National Institute of Sports, the Sports Authority of India originated with the committee formed to host the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi. In 1984 the SAI was established by of the Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, on 25 January 1984, Sports Authority of India was established as a registered society. 1987-90 - Basic sports science back-up started for National Athletes and also SAI schemes for children at various regional centres, moreover, sports science centres were set up at 4 regional centres in Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Gandhinagar. This is the backbone of SAI which provides support to the National Sports Federations in the preparation of National Teams which participate in various International events, the TEAMS Division draws most of its funding under the Scheme of “Assistance to National Sports Federations” from Sports Ministry. This scheme envisages the preparation of long term development plans by National Sports Federations based on a cycle with yearly review. The plans are to all aspects of sports including development of sportsperson, coaching, participation, promotion, tournament schedule, hosting of major events and sports sciences. The plans are finalised jointly by Ministry, SAI and respective federations, different sports promotion schemes of SAI, aimed at spotting and nurturing talent are being implemented and monitored through the networks of SAI centres. SAI SCHEMES AT A GLANCE, The Sports Authority of India conducts various activities and schemes to promote sports in India. They include, NSTC scheme provides the environment to play. The selection of trainees is done on the basis of potential and performance, b)10 Indigenous Games & Martial Arts with 9 disciplines, namely, Archery, Kabaddi, Kalaripayatu, Mukna, Thang-Ta, Silambam, Khomlainai, Malkhamb & Gatka. C) Akharas The Army has joined hands with SAI to nurture and these companies act as virtual sports schools where training is scientifically backed up and support facility is provided throughout the training period. The trainees are entitled to a career in the Armed Forces at 17½ years. The selection of trainees is done on the basis of performance, the trainees are admitted into the scheme on residential and non-residential basis. The main objectives of the scheme are to, • Train talented young sportspersons aged 12–18 years • Identify those who have attained advanced levels of proficiency in sports, • Identify those who show natural potential in the Olympic disciplines, indigenous and other sports. • Provide in-house coaching, training and nutritional support to sportspersons, though similar to STC Centres, the focus of the SAG Centres is on popular indigenous games. The SAG Centres are fully funded by SAI, but land has to be provided by the State Governments or other institutions like universities, etc. Started in 2005, the concept of this scheme is to develop sports standards in schools, colleges and universities having commendable sporting performance
20.
International Hockey Stadium, Kollam
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The International Astro Turf Hockey Stadium is a hockey stadium situated at the city of Kollam, first of its kind in Kerala state, with a nominal capacity of around 5,000 seats. The stadium is located at an area which was known as Depot Maidan within the Asramam Government property complex. The Depot Maidan lies on the way to the Yatri Nivas Hotel from Chinnakada and was serving as a depot of the Forest Department before. The International Hockey Stadium in Kollam can host international hockey matches along the likes of New Delhi, Bangalore, Patiala, the stadium is in picturesque surroundings with Ashtamudi Lake amid a lot of greenery. National Games Secretariat was overseeing the works of the stadium as part of National Games-2015, National Games-2015 of India had been held on Kerala. As part of that, Government of Kerala have facilitated 29 venues in the state spread over Trivandrum, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Kollam city & district are very famous for its players and the passion for the game. So for supporting the citys passion towards Hockey, Government of Kerala had decided to build a most modern astro turf hockey stadium within the city. Administrative sanction and construction works for the stadium has started on 2005. M. Vijayakumar, the then Sports Minister of Kerala had laid the stone for the stadium on 20 January 2005. Total plot area -1.86 Hectare Area of the stadium -16,000 sqft Main Play area -6,570 sqft Practicing area -2,680 sqft Kollam city became a part of 2015 National Games of India. 2 main events - Hockey, Rugby sevens had been held at 2 different stadiums in the city Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium, the International Hockey Stadium was named as Dhyan Chand Plaza during the time of National Games. The Indian Olympic Association has taken a decision to conduct 12th South Asian Games in Trivandrum, Kollam, the astro turff international hockey stadium would become one of the venues of South Asian Games. Athletes from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan will be participating in the event
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British Residency
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The British Residency, also known as the Government Guest House or Residency Bungalow, is a two-storeyed palace situated at Asramam in the city of Kollam in the Indian state of Kerala. It lies close to the site of the old Kollam Airport situated at Asramam in the city and was built by Colonel John Munro between 1811–19 and it is a noted Kollam landmark like the Chinnakada Clock Tower. The British residency exhibits unique symmetry and harmonious blending of variegated artistic features, during the British Raj, the building served as the British Residency. It was built during the Travancore era by Gowri Parvati Bayi when Colonel John Munro was the British Resident, a blend of European, Indian and Tuscan architecture, the central portion of the building has a rounded front, with a large gable decoration. Atop the building there is a crown with a lion seated on it, the 10 feet entrance doors are made up of glass panes. The conference hall in the palace has an antechamber with an adjustable partition-like door while a large fanlight arching over divides the two rooms, the building has rich wooden flooring on the upper storey. The walls of the hall having cornices and dentils bordering the four sides with embossed designs of festoons, urns. A motif of an arch with an ornamental keystone, resting on pillars is embossed over the main doorway. The Edward Rose garden is another attraction of the mansion. Antique prints in polished wooden frames adorn the walls including one that depicts the battle of Seringapatnam, prof. Pandala has described the Residency as one of the most elegant buildings in India. Raj Bhavan Cheena Kottaram Chinnakada Clock Tower Architecture of Kerala
22.
Ashtamudi Lake
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Ashtamudi Lake, in the Kollam District of the Indian state of Kerala, is the most visited backwater and lake in the state. It possesses a unique ecosystem and a large palm-shaped water body. Ashtamudi means eight coned in the local Malayalam language, the name is indicative of the lakes topography with its multiple branches. The lake is called the gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is well known for its houseboat. Ashtamudi Wetland was included in the list of wetlands of international importance, as defined by the Ramsar Convention for the conservation, along both banks of the lake and its backwater canals, coconut groves and palm trees interspersed with towns and villages are seen. Kollam, is an important historic city located on the right bank of the lake. Boat cruises are operated by the Kollam Boat Club from Kollam to Alappuzha providing transport access to other towns. Luxury houseboats also operate on the lake, the boat journey is an 8-hour trip, winds through lakes, canals and water bound villages, and gives complete exposure to the beauty of the backwaters of Ashtamudi Lake. Chinese fishing nets, called cheena vala in Malayalam, are used by local fisherman and are a common sight along the waterway, the lake is the source of livelihood for people living close by from fishing, coconut husk retting for coir production and inland navigation services. In 2014, Clam Governing Council of Ashtamudi lake became the first Marine Stewardship Council certified fishery in India for their sustainable clam fishing, the lake and the life on its shores have inspired many artists and writers. It has been the subject of poems by the renowned poet Thirunalloor Karunakaran who was born. Quilon or Kollam and inevitably the Ashtamudi lakes importance is claimed to be dated to the days of the Phoenicians, ibn Batuta, during his 24-year sojourn in the 14th century, is reported to have mentioned about the Quilon port as one of the five ports for Chinese trade. Links with Persia, Chinese mandarin in 1275 AD, Portuguese in 1502 AD, velu Thampi is credited with organizing the rebellion against the British from this place. National Highway 47 passes through the lake not only from Quilon. Southern Railways network of metre gauge and broad gauge lines connects with Quilon, the metre gauge train journey from Quilon to Chennai via Madurai is stated to offer a picturesque journey. Ferry services operate daily to Alleppey and boats operate to all villages located in the canals of the backwater system, the boat jetty is located at about 3 km away from the railway station. Famous Paravur estuary and backwaters are just 21 kilometer away from Ashtamudi, Kallada River is a major river discharging into the Ashtamudi Lake. The Kallada river, which originates near Ponmudi from the Kulathupuzha hills Western Ghats is formed by the confluence of three rivers, viz, with a maximum depth of 21 ft at the confluence, it is Kerala’s deepest estuary
23.
Kerala Tourism Development Corporation
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The Kerala Tourism Development Corporation is a public sector undertaking that conducts and regulates the tourism activities in the Indian state of Kerala. The KTDC is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram and has offices all the districts of Kerala. The agency also operates hotels, resorts, and tourist rest houses in key locations in the state and its official slogan is Official host to Gods own country. It is one of the most profitable ventures of the Kerala government, Kerala was a relatively unknown state among tourist circles until the early 1960s. When Travancore merged with India, Kerala Tours Limited became an entity under the Travancore royal family. For more than 20 years since Independence, Kerala trend to ignore tourism as a key industry, leaving KTL, in the 1960s, KTL struck gold, by collaborating with Thomas Cook and started popularizing Kovalam in western countries which started the advent of hippie culture in Kovalam Beach. The strong inflow of tourists into Kovalam, started Kerala government to consider tourism as a key industry, though it tried to nationalize Kerala Tours Limited, it soon fell into legal issues. This resulted in the government to think starting a new entity known as Kerala Tourism Development Corporation IN1966, started as a government department, KTDC became a separate commercial entity by the 1970s. Several premium guest houses of Kerala Government were identified and converted into hotel brands, lt. Col. G. V. Raja was also the President of Tourism Promotion Council of Kerala. He was the architect in developing Kovalam as an international tourist spot. Bolgatty Island Resort, which houses the Bolgatty Palace, a property which is the largest Dutch palace outside the Netherlands. Built in 1635 as Palace of Dutch Governor of India, this soon became British Residency for Travancore-Cochin Kingdoms, the palace is part of Bolgatty resort which has another property, branded as Island Resort, which has a nine-course golf club, horsing tracks and other facilities. Mascot Hotel Trivandrum, located in state capital Thiruvananthapuram is a property built in 1902 which used to accommodate Travancore Army officials. Lake Palace, a summer palace of the King of Travancore, is on an island in the middle of the Periyar Lake —20 minutes by boat from the mainland. KTDC has 7 resort styled hotel properties aiming for leisure travellers, all properties in the premium range are individually branded. Marina House, KTDC manages Indias first marina which includes a 24-room hotel, Marina House, located in Bolgatty Island, the facility features 34 berthing spaces of yachts and Marina Club House for travellers to unwind their journeys with facilities for embarkation and disembarkation process. Bolgatty Island Resort- Part of Bolgatty Island, the features a world class urban resort with a nine course golf course. Aranya Nivas Thekkady built within Periyar National Park is a jungle lodge
24.
Asramam Adventure Park
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Asramam Adventure Park is an urban park in the core Kollam city of Kerala state. It was opened after 1980, on 48 acres of city-owned land, located beside the Keralas pride, backwaters of Ashtamudi, this place popularly known as Asramam Picnic Village. It is the centre of recreational activities in Kollam city. The Kollam District Tourism Promotion Council conducts regular backwater cruises in houseboats, the mangroves near this park is very famous in all over India. So many endagering species of trees are surviving here in the park, there are so many attractions in and around Asramam Adventure Park. They are, In 2012, the then Tourism Minister of Kerala and this had happened as part of a 10-day State-level sculpture camp named ‘Monsoon Sculptures’ at an estimated expenditure of Rs.8 lakh sponsored by various Kollam-based business groups. The first open gym of the state is coming-up at Asramam Adventure park at a cost of Rs.15 lakh, morning walkers in Kollam city, arriving at the Asramam Maidan area, will be the biggest beneficiaries of this facility. Balagopal allocated the money for it from his Local Area Development Fund,19 fitness equipments have been installed and it would be open for the people by October end. The thick mangroves that grow on the shore of Ashtamudi Lake along the side of Asramam Adventure Park is another significant attraction in this spot, the Kerala State Biodiversity Board has provided the Asramam mangrove forest with a biodiversity heritage tag. Asramam mangrove spread was habitat to the highly endangered Syzygium travancoricum species of mangroves, several species of mangroves and mangrove associates thrived there. The belt had all the characteristics of a coastal rainforest and was habitat to species of wild animals. In addition to being a spawning ground for several edible marine species. The boating program conducted by Kollam District Tourism Promotion Council from Asramam Adventure Park is one of the crowd pulling tourism programs in Kollam district, regular backwater cruises in houseboats, luxury boats and speedboats are being operate from the Boat Club attached with the park. Different kinds of boats like luxury cruise boats, power boats, the British Residency in Asramam is also known as Government Guest House and Residency Bungalow. It is a palace situated at the picnic village campus. It was actually built by Col. John Munro during 1811 and 1819 and it is now known as Government Guest House. It stands as a Hallmark of Quilon, like Chinnakada Clock Tower and it is a famous cine location in Kerala. Almost 90% of the Malayalam movie Manu Uncle was shot at British Residency, Asramam Asramam Maidan Kollam Ashtamudi Lake
25.
Children's Park, Kollam
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Asramam Childrens Park is a park for children, situated at Asramam in Kollam city, Kerala. The park is owned by Kollam Municipal Corporation, India and it is also called Children’s Traffic Park. This park is considered as a part of Asramam Picnic Village, a model Adventure Park and a 200-year-old British Residency are situated very close to this park. The Government of Kerala modernized the park with Central Government aid in 2009–2010 and it got another facelift in 2014, with the addition of a swimming pool and new rides
26.
Kerala Cricket Association
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The Kerala Cricket Association is the governing body of the game of Cricket in the Kerala state of the Republic of India. It is affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, KCA is also the parent body of 14 district Associations – one in each of the revenue districts of Kerala, responsible to govern the game of Cricket in their respective districts. KCA is involved in organising the game from the root level to the International level. KCA implements its programs through its Units – The District Associations and it conducts Zone level as well as State level age-group Tournaments for Under-14, Under-16, Under-19, Under-22 and Under-25. State teams of each of this categories are selected through this tournaments, KCA participates in all age group tournaments conducted by the BCCI in both Men and Women Categories. It is also responsible to host National Tournaments and International Matches in the State, through its unique Program CASH-Kerala, KCA adopts and trains around 500 School Children every year through its District level and State level Cricket Academies. Operation Gold hunt is another program of KCA wherein it has adopted and training some selected young athletes. Lt. Col. G. V. Raja formed the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association in 1950, the primary objective of the Association was to popularise the game in the State of Travancore-Cochin. Upon its inception, the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association selected the first ever Travancore-Cochin first class team, following the formation of the state of Kerala in 1956, the Travancore-Cochin Cricket Association was renamed as the Kerala Cricket Association. There had been contributions from a number of families in Kerala for the development of Cricket in the state and these families include the likes of Edathil, Acharath, Moorkoth, Mampally and Pazhaya Parambath. There were certain intrinsic difficulties that hindered the progress of Kerala cricket and this was a major hindrance in developing permanent turf pitches and decent outfields. The absence of finance was a further handicap, since there were no Stadia with the required facilities available in the State till very recent past, scope of hosting international matches was nonexistent. This hindered the Associations efforts of raising funds, participation of the State teams in the national tournaments like Ranji trophy usually poised a big struggle to the administrators. Gradually however, things made a turn for the better, and through the sixties, the mid nineties had been a period of eminence for Cricket in Kerala, when its Ranji Trophy side qualified to the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in the 1994/95 season. The team continued its fete in the season as well when they qualified to the super league staged of the tournament. Players like Ananthapadmanabhan, Sunil Oasis, Feroze V Rasheed, M Suresh, Ajay Kuduva, Sreekumar Nair, Ramprakash, of them Ananthapadmanabhan was considered as a definite Indian Team prospect, but for the presence and form of none other than the legend Anil Kumble. The last two decades had witnessed a shift in Kerala Cricket in both ways, performing as a team and as individuals. Beginning with pacer Tinu Yohanans inclusion in the National side, the tempo was sustained by the inclusion of S Sreesanth later on
27.
Chinnakada
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Chinnakada or Chinnakkada is considered as the heart of the city of Kollam, in the state of Kerala, India. Chinnakada is one of the junctions in the city where National Highways – NH66 meets NH744. The citys symbolic clock tower is located in Chinnakada, because of the presence of a huge traffic circle in the junction, it became as one of the busiest junctions in the city. To reduce the congestion in Chinnakada, Kollam Municipal Corporation now constructed a new underpass near to the clock tower. Marine Products Export Development Authoritys Kollam sub-regional office is situated at Chinnakada, the name Chinnakada may be derived from China-Kada, which means China bazaar. Another explanation is that due to the presence of a number of Tamil people in Kollam, they named the area Chinnakada. This derivation fits with the toponomy of Valiakada adjacent to Chinnakada, the presence of an existing Railway over bridge and three close intersections with heavy traffic limits the option for traffic management measures including junction improvement. That caused the authorities to think about this underpass at Chinnakada, Chinnakada is a complex junction where roads from Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, Downtown, Sengottai, Ashramam, Kollam Beach and the City bus stand road meets. Preliminary design for underpass was prepared by NATPAC involving the acquisition of 0.08 hectares of government land on a temporary basis. Height of the passage above the underpass was increased to 5.5 metres from 5 metres to facilitate movement of modern container trucks through the underpass. Underpass has been open to the public by the end of May 2015. Kollam Kollam Junction railway station Kollam district Kollam Port Kollam Technopark Kollam Beach Kollam Pooram Andamukkam City Bus Stand Kadappakada Asramam Maidan
28.
Kollam KSRTC Bus Station
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Kollam KSRTC Bus Station is an important transport hub in the Indian city of Kollam owned and operated by the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation under the depot code KLM. The bus station is located in Taluk Cutchery and is close to Kerala State Water Transport Departments Kollam City Water Transport terminal, long distance intrastate, inter-state and city buses run regularly from the bus station. Kollam KSRTC Bus Station is one among the major KSRTC depots in the state, because of the geographical position of Kollam, the depot is easily handling service through National Highways – NH66, NH183, NH744 of Kerala. Inter-state service towards Thoothukkudi, Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi are also running from here, the depot is also serving as a hub for KURTCs A/C Volvo Kollam city bus services & Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram Intercity A/C Volvo Bus services. KSRTCs regular A/C Garuda, Super Deluxe, Super Express, Super Fast, Limited Stop, Fast Passenger, Ordinary, Kollam zone of KSRTC is the second most revenue generating zone in Kerala. Kollam Depot will soon become a part of KSRTCs real-time booking system, would be setting-up in the Kollam depot, along with Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Kozhikode. KSRTC also have a plan to start an operating centre in the Andamukkam City Bus Stand situated at Downtown Kollam area, Kollam Andamukkam City Bus Stand Downtown Kollam Kollam Junction railway station Chinnakada
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Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
30.
Mar Sabor and Mar Proth
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In 825 AD, the seaport of Quilon was part of the Venad Kingdom. The then ruling monarch, Iyyanadikal Thiruvadikal, welcomed the monks on their arrival and showered them with special privileges, maruvan Sapir Iso built the Nilalkkal ashram near St. Thomas Church in Chayal, he died and buried in Chayal ashram. The start of the Malayalam era, also referred to as Kollavarsham, is associated with Kollam, the era was started by these East Syrian Saints who settled in Korukeni Kollam, near to the present Kollam. The start of the ME has been dated to 825 AD and it also signified the independence of Malabar from the Cheraman Perumals. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822 AD two Nestorian bishops Mar Sapor and Mar Peroz, settled in Quilon with their followers. Two years later the Malabar Era began and Quilon undoubtedly became the city of the Malabar region including Travancore. Tradition says that st. M. G. S and this was the period when the Cera-Pandya conflict was developing in the south. The foundation of Kollam in 825 A. D. must have coincided with victory of Chera in the Vel province. This incident reveals the practical wisdom of the rulers and throws light on the motivations of men who promoted ideas of religion. The Syrian Christian Monks who took advantage of the situation were equally clever, in the absence of materials for a detailed history, it is difficult to ascertain whether Mar Abo was a or missionary. Perhaps he was both at the time and there was no inherent contradiction between the two roles. ”This means that they did not remain as a separate group but rather they intermarried with the Hindus of Kerala. “The deity of the Tarsa Church was referred to the tevar. ”When they arrived on the Malabar Coast, Quilon, Angamaly, Kaduthuruthy and Cranganore had the largest population of Saint Thomas Christians in Kerala. Giovanni Empoli, who came to Quilon in 1503, estimated there were more than three thousand St. Thomas Christians in Quilon alone. Mar Sapor writes, the forgiving Miseha who saved me from persecution, though the Synod of Diamper in 1599 proclaimed Mar Sabor and Mar Proth heretics, the Christians of Malankara respected them. According to decisions of Synod of Diamper these saints of Malankara Nazranis were considered as schismatics, Mar Sabor gained the necessary rights from the local ruler of Kadamattom to build a church there. He established the church in the forest regions of Kadamattom in the 40th year of Kollam Era and he stayed there at first in a small home with a mother and a son. Afterwards he left for Thevalakara to visit an influential and reputed Nambuthiri family who were traditional ophthalmologists to the families in the adjoining area. This family is known as Thevalakara Vaidyan family and most of their members retain the surname Vaidyan
31.
Chera dynasty
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The Cheras were the principal ruling dynasty of the present-day state of Kerala and to a lesser extent, parts of Tamil Nadu in South India. Along with the Ay kingdom and the Ezhimala kingdom, they formed the kingdoms of Kerala in the early years of the Common Era. The origins of the dynasty are unclear and it is understood that they were speakers of Proto-Tamil-Malayalam while some being practitioners of literary writing in Old Tamil. In fact, most of their history is reconstructed from the body of known as the Sangam literature written in Old Tamil around the 3rd century CE. While Pliny and Ptolemy refer to the Cheras as Calobotras, the Periplus refers to them as the Keprobotras, the earliest Sanskrit works which refer to the Cheras and Kerala is probably the Aitreya Aranyaka. It refers to the land as Chera-pada - and as one of the three peoples who did not follow some ancient injunctions, there are also brief references by Katyanana, Edicts of Ashoka, Patanjali and Kautilya though Panini does not mention of the land. However, it is the Tamil works collectively known as the Sangam literature that form the most important sources for a detailed history of the Cheras. These works roughly span the period 100 CE to 300 CE, among them, the most important sources for the Cheras are the Pattittupattu, the Agananuru, the Purananuru and the Silappatikaram. The exact antiquity of the Chera dynasty is difficult to establish, however, based on the travellers accounts and the Sangam literature, it can be confirmed that they were already existing around the 4th century BCE. The Sangam literature describes a line of Chera rulers. It records the names of the kings, the princes, the internal chronology of this literature is still far from settled and a connected account of the history of the period is an area of research. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some of the referred to in the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera king, is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the exact location of the Chera capital has been subject to some speculation. The Chera capital has been called, Vanchi and Karur in several works and this has led to several theories identifying the Chera capital in places called Karur in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. However, it is clear that the capital was near the famous port known as Muziris. Pliny refers to Muziris as the Chera capital, while the author of the Periplus identifies the capital to be a couple of away from the mouth of the river at Muziris. Ptolemy who identifies the capital as Karoura gives a location that is very close to Muziris as well. The Cheras also seem to have battles with other neighbouring dynasties such as the Pallavas, the Rashtrakutas
32.
Kollam Port
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Kollam Port is one of Indias 20 major ports situated 4 kilometres from Downtown Kollam. It is the second largest port in Kerala by volume of cargo handled, located on the south west coast of India, under the name of Quilon Port it became one of the countrys most important trade hubs from the ninth to the seventeenth centuries. It was founded by Mar Abo at Thangasseri in 825 as an alternative to reopening the inland sea port near Backare, also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and Thondi to the Tamils. V. Nagam Aiya in his Travancore State Manual records that in 822, the Chinese traders were one of the oldest foreign communities to settle in Kollam. That was the period when Kollam evolved as a trade center. In January 2014, the port trust discovered thousands of Chinese coins and stone age weapons at Kollam Port, revealing the historic background and this was the first discovery of such a quantity of artifacts at a port in India. Archaeologists believe that a city lies on the seabed of current Kollam Port. Today, ships frequently anchor at the port for shipping operations as well for urgent repairs when required, chief Minister Oommen Chandy launched the Coastal Shipping Project at Kollam Port on 9 November 2013 while passenger ships began operations in 2014. The first container ship, MV Suryamukhi arrived at Kollam port as part of the coastal shipping project on 18 January 2014, major shipping companies are now showing interest in the port to commence shipping operations. The companies have plans to choose the port as an intermediate base, at present, about four companies have assured their frequent presence at the port. Sooryamukhi, the ship of Kerala State Maritime Development Corporation has sailed to Mudra Port in Gujarat to load tiles. The Great Sea Shipping Company will also berth at the port soon, after modernization of the port, the first foreign ship anchored in the port on 4 April 2014. Now it is proven that huge ships can easily operate from Kollam Port. The tugs MT Chaliyar and MT Kerala along with a new German made Rs.12 crore crane are used for the operations in the port. The wharf at Kollam Port is 177 metres in length and 12 metres wide with a draught of 6.5 metres. The wharf is protected from the waves by a 2,100 metres seaboard breakwater, the length of the wharf will be increased to 200 metres in due course. In 2007, Kollam Port handled about 500,000 tonnes of cargo, several major modernization projects have been proposed for Kollam with Maladives port in order to transform it into the port city of Kerala. Projects already planned are some of the largest ever mooted for the state, a face lift of the Maruthadi-Iravipuram area will be carried out by the government as part of the Kollam Port City project and will include facilities for sports, fishing, tourism and entertainment
33.
Tharisapalli plates
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The inscription describes the gift of a plot of land to the Syrian Church at Tangasseri near Quilon, along with several rights and privileges to the Syrian Christians led by Mar Sapir Iso. The Tharisappalli copper plates are one of the important historical inscriptions of Kerala, the grant was made in the presence of important officers of the state and the representatives of trade corporations or merchant guilds. It also throws light on the system of taxation that prevailed in early Venad, as several taxes such as a tax, sales tax. It also testifies to the policy of religious toleration followed by the rulers of ancient Kerala. There are two sets of plates as part of document, and both are incomplete. The first set documents the land while the details the attached conditions. The signatories signed the document in the Hebrew, Pahlavi, the Tharisappalli copper plates are kept at Poolatheen Aramana of Malankara Marthoma Syrian Church K. Sivasankaran Nair, Venadinte Parinamam, D C Books,2005
34.
Paravur, Kollam
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Paravur, or South Paravoor, is a town and a municipality in the Kollam district of the Indian state of Kerala. The lakes and sea coast of Paravur attract visitors and foreigners with the attraction the interconnection of Paravur Kayal. Paravur lies 21 kilometres from Kollam by road and can be reached within 15 minutes by train from Kollam Junction, Paravur Municipality consists of Kottapuram, Koonayil, Thekkumbhagam, Chillakkal, Perumpuzha, Nedungolam, Pozhikara, Maniyamkulam, Kurumandal, Kottamoola, Attinpuram & Kochalummoodu. Paravur Municipality is a Grade-II Municipality of Kerala, Paravur is located at 8.78 N76 E. It has an elevation of 10 metres. Paravur,21 kilometers from the Kollam, is a skirt of land stretching in between the backwaters and the sea. The famous Varkala beach is a mere 12 kilometres drive from here, there is an elevation of 6 metres above sea level, extending to 16 metres on the inland. As of 2011 India census, Paravur has a population of 43,739, males constitute 47% of the population and females 53%. Paravur has an literacy rate of 79%, higher than the national average of 59. 5%, male literacy is 81%. In Paravur, 10% of the population are under 6 years of age, total number of households are 9,155. Pozhikara was the headquarters of Paravur. Remnants of the old fort, Thaana and Anchalappees still remain, a mint of the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom for printing and punching their currencies was once situated at Paravur. Paravur panchayat was formed in 1936 as one of the four panchayats sanctioned by Sir C. P. Ramaswamy Iyer, the others were Boothapandi, Nedumangadu, and Perumbavoor. The so formed Paravur panchayat included nine territories-Thekkumbhagam, Kottappuram, Kongal, Pozhikara, Kurumandal, Koonayil, Kalakkode, Bhoothakkulam, sree Ramavarma koyi thampuram from Kilimanoor Palace was the first executive officer of the panchayat. The first election for Paravur panchayat was held in 1942 and Sri Achuthan Pillai became the first elected panchayat president, later Paravur became a Municipality on May 1,1988. For the first seven years it was ruled by special officers, in 1995 after the first Municipal election, Smt. Bhanumati became the first Municipal Chairperson, in April 2016, over 100 people were killed in a fireworks explosion at a local temple in the town. There are so many important roads in Paravur, connecting Kollam city and neighbouring towns like Varkala, Chathannoor, Parippally, Poothakkulam
35.
Travancore
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The Kingdom of Travancore (/ˈtrævəŋkɔər/, Malayalam, തിരുവിതാംകൂർ Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, the official flag of the state was red with a dextrally-coiled silver conch shell at its center. In the early 19th century, the became a princely state of the British Empire. When the region was part of the Chera empire, it was known as Thiruvazhumkode. It was contracted to Thiruvankode, and anglicised by the English to Travancore. In course of time, the Ay kingdom, part of the Chera empire, which ruled the Thiruvazhumkode area, became independent, the Aayis controlled the land from present day Kollam district in the north, through Thiruvananthapuram district, all in Kerala, to the Kanyakumari district. There were two capitals, the one at Kollam and a subsidiary one at Thrippapur. The kingdom was also called Venad. Kings of Venad had, at times, travelled from Kollam and built residential palaces in Thiruvithamcode. By the time of King Marthanda Varma, the half of the kingdom had become dominant. During his reign, it absorbed the north and Thiruvithamcode or Travancore became the official name, Travancore was located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, Travancore was divided into three distinct regions, the eastern highlands, the central midlands, and the western lowlands. Venad was a state at the tip of the Indian Subcontinent. Till the end of the 11th century AD, it was a principality in the Ay Kingdom. The Ays were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith and their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and later, towards the end of the 8th century AD, was at Quilon. Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between the 7th and 8th centuries caused the decline of the Ays, the dynasty was powerful till the beginning of the 10th century, when the Ay power diminished, Venad became the southernmost principality of the Second Chera Kingdom. An invasion of the Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096, however, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram, also fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled the Chera king, Rama varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus the end of the Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of Venad, the history of Travancore began with Marthanda Varma, who inherited the kingdom of Venad, and expanded it into Travancore during his reign
36.
Cantonment Maidan
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Cantonment Maidan or Peeranki Maidan or Peeringee Maidan is a historical ground, closely associated with the social and political history of Kerala. It is situated at the portion of Old Quilon town. It hosts the exhibitions, party meetings and citys main cultural. Cantonment Maidan is situated at the east of old Quilon city, two hundred years back, the maidan extended over a sizeable area of East Kollam. There were no railway connectivity in South Kerala then, in 1809, the local militia and the Army of Travancore stationed around Kollam attacked the British Garrison at the Cantonment Maidan on the heels of Velu Thampi Dalawa. The British force led by Col. Chalmers proved victorious in six hours lasted war. All the insurrectionist who participated in the war were court-martialled and got hanged at the maidan, apart from this, Cantonment Maidan has been the venue for many significant events. A compromise meeting was held here in 1915 as part of Pulayar-Nair Revolt at Perinad, also called the Kallumala Agitation, a statue of Ayankali can be seen at the maidan. Mahatma Gandhi addressed the people here On October 11,1927, historic Chingam 17 Struggle happened at Cantonment Maidan on September 2,1938 in which six people were killed in firing by the British police. As per the History of Modern Kollam penned by journalist late V. Lakshmanan, the four identified among them were Asramam Lakshmanan, Ayathil Balakrishna Pillai, Kolloorvila Moideenkunju, and Kureepuzha Kochukunju. Thousands marched from Polayathode to Chinnakkada led by state leaders, including Kumbalathu Sankupillai. Police arrested the speakers and opened fire at the gathering, British Police used to exhibit five cannons at the adjacent park accounts for the name Peeringee Maidan, by which name this ground was earlier called. These cannons were used for firing at the patriots of the land is now kept at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Police Museum in Kollam city. The present Armed Reserve Camp is situated at the old Cantonment ground, Kollam Asramam Maidan Polayathode Chinnakada Sree Narayana College, Kollam
37.
Tangasseri
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Tangasseri or Thangassery is a heavily populated beach area on the shores of the Arabian Sea in Kollam city, Kerala, India. Tangasseri is located about 5 kilometres from the city centre and 71 kilometres from Thiruvananthapuram, archaeologists recently discovered Chinese coins and other artefacts along the coast, which reveal the historic background of the location. Kollam Port makes Tangasseri an important place on the world maritime map, in 1502, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish a trading centre in Tangasseri and the area soon became a major centre for the pepper trade. In the wars with the Moors and Arabs that followed, the ancient church of St Thomas was destroyed, tangasseris St Thomas Fort, built by the Portuguese in 1517, was destroyed in the subsequent wars with the Dutch. In 1661, the Dutch took possession of the city, the remains of both the Dutch and Portuguese forts can still be seen in Tangasseri. In the 18th century, the kingdom of Travancore first conquered Kollam, Tangasseri remains an Anglo-Indian settlement in character, though there are few Anglo-Indians in the population. The Infant Jesus Church in Tangasseri, an old Portuguese-built church, the old cathedral was demolished and replaced by a new cathedral at a cost of around ₹4.5 crore, it was consecrated and blessed on 3 December 2005. The metallic cross on the top is one of the largest crosses in India, Tangasseri is a picturesque seaside village with a three kilometre long beach on which stands a 144 feet tall lighthouse—a silent sentinel warning seamen since 1902 of the treacherous reefs. There are also ruins of Portuguese and Dutch forts and 18th century churches, the fishery harbour at Tangasseri is a basin for traditional fishermen, achieved by the construction of two breakwaters. The length of the breakwater is 2100 m and of the leeward breakwater 550 m. This provides sufficient beach length for landing facilities for all operational craft, Tangasseri is home to Keralas oldest schools, Mount Carmel Convent Anglo-Indian Girls High School and Infant Jesus School Kollam. Official website A brief history of Tangaserri
38.
Portuguese Empire
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The Portuguese Empire, also known as the Portuguese Overseas, was one of the largest and longest-lived empires in world history and the first colonial empire. It existed for almost six centuries from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002, the first era of the Portuguese empire originated at the beginning of the Age of Discovery. Initiated by the Kingdom of Portugal, it would eventually expand across the globe, in 1488, Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and in 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, either by an accidental landfall or by the secret design. Over the following decades, Portuguese sailors continued to explore the coasts and islands of East Asia, establishing forts, by 1571, a string of naval outposts connected Lisbon to Nagasaki along the coasts of Africa, the Middle East, India and South Asia. This commercial network and the trade had a substantial positive impact on Portuguese economic growth. Though the realms continued to be administered separately, the Council of Portugal ruled the country and its empire from Madrid. As the King of Spain was also King of Portugal, Portuguese colonies became the subject of attacks by three rival European powers hostile to Spain, the Dutch Republic, England, and France. With its smaller population, Portugal was unable to defend its overstretched network of trading posts. Eventually, Brazil became the most valuable colony of the era until, as part of the wave of independence movements that swept the Americas during the early 19th century. The third era represents the stage of Portuguese colonialism after the decolonization of the Americas of the 1820s. The colonial possessions had been reduced to the African coastline, Portuguese Timor, the disastrous 1890 British Ultimatum led to the contraction of Portuguese ambitions in Africa. Macau was returned to China in 1999, the origin of the Kingdom of Portugal lay in the reconquista, the gradual reconquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Moors. There were several motives for their first attack, on the Marinid Sultanate. In 1415 an attack was made on Ceuta, a strategically located North African Muslim enclave along the Mediterranean Sea, although Ceuta proved to be a disappointment for the Portuguese, the decision was taken to hold it while exploring along the Atlantic African coast. At the time, Europeans did not know what lay beyond Cape Bojador on the African coast, under his sponsorship, soon the Atlantic islands of Madeira and Azores were reached and started to be settled producing wheat to export to Portugal. Fears of what lay beyond Cape Bojador, and whether it was possible to return once it was passed, were assuaged in 1434 when it was rounded by one of Infante Henrys captains, Gil Eanes. Once this psychological barrier had been crossed, it became easier to further along the coast
39.
Dutch Malabar
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Dutch presence in the region started with the capture of Portuguese Quilon, and ended with the occupation of Malabar by the British in 1795. They possessed military outposts in 11 locations, Alleppey, Ayacotta, Chendamangalam, Pappinivattom, Ponnani, Pallipuram, Cranganore, Chetwai, Cannanore, Cochin, and Quilon. The Dutch virtually ruled Malabar for a period of over 130 years, the Kingdom of Cochin was under the complete influence of the Dutch and the king was a mere puppet of the Dutch East India Company. They enlarged the Royal Palace built by the Portuguese at Mattancheri for the King of Cochin, in 1744, an impressive country house, later called Bolgatty Palace, was erected on Bolghatty Island for the Dutch Governors. The Dutch contributed a work called Hortus Indicus Malabaricus on the medicinal properties of Malabar plants. In Cochin, the Dutch established an orphanage for poor European children, although also motivated by the lucrative pepper trade on Malabar, the primary aim for the Dutch in capturing the coast from the Portuguese was to secure Dutch Ceylon from Portuguese invasions. After failed attempts to capture the main Portuguese fort of Goa in 1604 and 1639, in 1650s the Dutch possessed only the unfortified factories at Kayamkulam and Cannanore. They took Quilon on 29 December 1658, but it was reconquered by the Portuguese on 14 April 1659. It was agreed that Calicut, the most powerful ruler in Malabar, according to the treaty between the two parties, Fort Cranganore was to be made over to Calicut after its successful capture. Van der Meyden dispersed a Nair detachment sent to stop his advance on the way, the Portuguese made no attempt to resist and fled by the backwaters. On March 21, Rijckloff Van Goens signed a treaty with the chief of Paliyam on a ship anchored off the coast. Dutch forces soon landed and attacked the palace of the queen at Mattanceri, subsequently, the queen was taken as a prisoner. Later in December 1661, Portuguese Quilon was captured by a Dutch expedition under Rijckloff Van Goens and this is often regarded as the beginning of the Dutch presence in Malabar. On January 3,1662 Van Goens was joined by the Calicut army in a siege of Fort Cranganore in the tropical heat, after a fortnight, the fort surrendered, and the Dutch demolished the structure with the exception of the bastion, where they stationed a garrison. A new treaty was now signed between Calicut and Van der Meyden, Calicut agreed to cede Fort Cranganore and Vypin to the Dutch after the capture of the Portuguese fort at Cochin. The allies moved towards Cochin and marched upon the palace of the Raja on 5 February 1662, the raja was killed in the subsequent battle along with two of his juniors. The Dutch installed another prince on the throne and proceeded to besiege the Portuguese fort, Cochin and the chief of Paliyam provided supplies to the Dutch, who faced heroic Portuguese resistance during the prolonged siege. The Native rulers of Porca and Cembakasseri kept the besieged supplied with provisions, though disrupted by monsoon rains and the deaths of the ruler of Calicut and important Dutch officers, the garrison finally capitulated on January 8,1663
India
