India: View of Cochin (Kochi) on the Malabar Coast, Kerala, a Dutch East India Company ship offshore. Johannes Vingboons (1617-1670), c. 1662

Cochin (now Kochi), on India’s southwest coast, was a Portuguese fortified town from 1500. In 1663 the Dutch East India Company captured the town for its pepper trade. The Dutch reduced the fort by two thirds so that it would be easier to defend. Portuguese monasteries and churches were converted into warehouses.

Known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the west coast of India from the 14th century. Occupied by the Portuguese Empire in 1503, Kochi was the first of the European colonies in colonial India. It remained the main seat of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa was chosen instead. The city was later occupied by the Dutch and the British, with the Kingdom of Cochin becoming a princely state.

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