Kollam

   Kollam  or Quilon (Coulão), formerly Desinganadu, is an old seaport andcity on the Laccadive Sea coast in Kerala, India on 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.Desinganadu's 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, Persian merchant Sulaiman al-Tajir found Kollam to be the only port in India visited by huge Chinese junks. 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 Syrianbishops Mar Sabor and Mar Proth, settled in Quilon with their followers. Two years later the Malabar Era began (824 AD) and Quilon became the premier city of the Malabar region ahead of Travancore and Cochin. Kollam Port was founded by Mar Sabor atThangasseri in 825 as an alternative to reopening the inland sea port of Kore-ke-ni Kollam near Backare (Thevalakara), which was also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils.

 Kollam is a coastal city on the banks of Ashtamudi Lake that took the title God's Own Country without much demur. The braids of Ashtamudi Lake lie about 71 kilometres (44 mi) north of the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. 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.

Four major centers are Kottarakara (കൊട്ടാരക്കര), Punalur, Paravur and Karunagapally.

Kollam is an ancient trading town – trading with Romans, Chinese, Arabs and other Orientals – mentioned in historical citations dating back to Biblical times and the reign of Solomon, connecting with Red Sea ports of the Arabian Sea (supported by a find of ancient Roman coins).There was also internal trade through the Punalur Pass connecting the ancient town to Tamil Nadu. The overland trade in pepper by bullock cart and the trade over the waterways connecting Allepey and Cochin established trade linkages that enabled it to grow into one of the earliest Indian industrial townships. 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, after Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi andKozhikode (the new population is taken as city agglomeration) and the fifth largest in incorporated area, after Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode andThrissur. It is known for cashew processing and coir manufacturing.Ashtamudi Lake is considered the southern gateway to the backwaters of Kerala and is a prominent tourist destination at Kollam. The Kollam urban area includes suburban towns such as Kottiyam in the south, Kundara in the east, and Chavara in the north of the city. Other important towns in the city suburbs are Eravipuram, Kannanallur andThrikkadavoor. Karunagapally, Paravur and Kottarakkara are major towns within 25 km of the Kollam city centre to the north, south, and east respectively.

Kollam appeared as Palombe in Mandeville's Travels, where he claimed it contained aFountain of Youth. During the later stages of the rule of the Chera monarchy in Kerala, Kollam emerged as the focal point of trade and politics. Kollam continues to be a major 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. The name Kollam is believed to have been derived from the Sanskrit word Kollam, meaning pepper.

                                                                                                                       As the ancient city of Quilon, Kollam was a flourishing port during the Chera dynasty (c. 3rd century BC–12th century), and later became the capital of the independent Venad or Kingdom of Quilon on its foundation in c. 825. Kollam was considered one of the four earlyentrepots in global sea trade during the 13th century, along with Alexandria and Cairo in Egypt, the Chinese city of Quanzhou, andMalacca in the Malaysian archipelago

Along with Pattanam (Muziris), Quilon was an ancient seaport on the Malabar Coast of India from the early centuries before the Christian era.

The city had a high commercial reputation from the days of the Phoenicians and Ancient Romans. Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) mentionsGreek ships anchored at Muziris and Nelcynda. There was also a land route over the Western Ghats. Spices, pearls, diamonds, and silk were exported to Egypt and Rome from these ports. Pearls and diamonds came to the Chera Kingdom from Ceylon and the southeastern coast of India, then known as the Pandyan Kingdom.                                                         Cosmas Indicopleustes, a Greek Nestorian sailor, in his book the Christian Topography  who visited the Malabar coast in 550, mentions an enclave of Christian believers in Male (Chera Kingdom). He writes, "In the island of Tabropane (Ceylon), there is a church of Christians, and clerics and faithful. Likewise at Male, where the pepper grows, and in the farming community of Kalliana (Kalliankal at Nillackal) there is also a bishop consecrated in Persia in accordance with the Nicea sunnahadose of 325 AD." The Nestorian Patriarch Jesujabus, who died in 660 AD, mentions Kollam in his letter to Simon, Metropolitan of Persia.                                                               

                                                                     The port at Kollam, then known as Quilon, was founded in 825 by the Nestorian Christians Mar Sabor and Mar Proth with sanction from Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal, the king of the independent Venad or State of Quilon, a feudatory under the Chera kingdom. It is believed that Mar Sapor Iso also proposed that the Chera king create a new seaport near Kollam in lieu of his request that he rebuild the almost vanished inland seaport at Kollam (kore-ke-ni) near Backare (Thevalakara), also known as Nelcynda and Tyndis to the Romans and Greeks and as Thondi to the Tamils, which had been without trade for several centuries because the Cheras were overrun by the Pallavas in the 6th century, ending the spice trade from the Malabar coast. This allowed the Nestorinas to stay in the Chera kingdom for several decades and introduce the Christian faith among the Nampoothiri Vaishnavites and Nair sub castes in the St. Thomas tradition, with the Syrian liturgy as a basis for the Doctrine of the Trinity, without replacing the Sanskrit and Vedic prayers. The Tharisapalli plates presented to Maruvan Sapor Iso by Ayyanadikal Thiruvadikal granted the Christians the privilege of overseeing foreign trade in the city as well as control over its weights and measures in a move designed to increase Quilon's trade and wealth.  The two Christians were also instrumental in founding Christian churches with Syrian liturgy along the Malabar coast, distinct from the ancient Vedic Shivism propounded by Adi Shankara in the early 9th century among the Nampoothiri Vaishnavites and Nair Sub Castes, as Malayalam was not accepted as a liturgical language until the early 18th century.

Thus began the Malayalam Era, known as Kolla Varsham after the city, indicating the importance of Kollam in the 9th century.

The Persian merchant Soleyman of Siraf visited Malabar in the 9th century and found Quilon to be the only port in India used by the huge Chinese ships as their transhipment hub for goods on their way from China to the Persian Gulf. The rulers of Kollam (formerly called 'Desinganadu') had trade relations with China and exchanged embassies. According to the records of the Tang dynasty (618–913),Quilon was their chief port of call before the 7th century. The Chinese trade decreased about 600 and was again revived in the 13th century. Mirabilia Descripta by Bishop Catalani gives a description of life in Kollam, which he saw as the Catholic bishop-designate to Kollam, the oldest Catholic diocese in India. He also gives true and imaginary descriptions of life in 'India the Major' in the period before Marco Polo visited the city.