in 1320 CE. The
Kollam-
Thiruvananthapuram-
Kanyakumari area in the southernmost tip of
Indian subcontinent, which was the main seat of Ay dynasty and later Venad dynasty, was under the influence of
Chera dynasty The Kingdom of Quilon or
Venad was one of the three prominent
late medieval Hindu feudal kingdoms on the
Malabar Coast in
South India. Venad ruled Kollam from the 9th century CE to the early 18th century, when it was transformed into the
Kingdom of Travancore. The rulers of
Quilon, the
Venattadikal Kulasekharas, traces their relations back to the
Later Cheras.
Sulaiman al-Tajir, a
Persian merchant who visited Kerala during the reign of
Sthanu Ravi Varma (9th century CE), records that there was extensive trade between Kerala and
China at that time, based at the port of
Kollam. The last Chera ruler,
Rama Varma Kulashekhara, was the first ruler of an independent state of
Quilon. In the early 14th century, King Ravi Varma established a short-lived supremacy over South India. After his death, Quilon only included most of modern-day
Kollam and
Thiruvananthapuram districts of
Kerala and
Kanyakumari district of
Tamil Nadu.
Marco Polo claimed to have visited his capital at
Quilon, a centre of commerce and trade with
China and the
Levant. Europeans were attracted to the region during the late fifteenth century, primarily in pursuit of the then rare commodity,
black pepper.
Quilon was the forerunner to
Travancore. In the
Sangam age most of the present-day Kerala state was ruled by the
Chera dynasty,
Ezhimala rulers and the
Ay rulers. Venad, ruled by the dynasty of the same name, was in the Ay kingdom. By the 9th century, Venad became a part of the Later
Chera Kingdom. It became a semi-autonomous state within the Later Chera Kingdom. In the 11th century the region fell under the
Chola Empire. During the 12th century, the Venad dynasty merged the remnants of the old Ay dynasty to them forming the Chirava Mooppan (the ruling King) and the Thrippappur Mooppan (the Crown Prince). The provincial capital of the local patriarchal dynasty was at port
Kollam. The port was visited by
syriac Christians,
Chinese and
Arabs. In same century, the capital of the war-torn Later Chera Kingdom was relocated to Kollam and the Kulasekhara dynasty merged with the Venad rulers. The last King of the Kulasekhara dynasty based on
Mahodayapuram,
Rama Varma Kulashekhara, was the first ruler of an independent Venad. The
Hindu kings of
Vijayanagar Empire ruled Venad briefly in the 16th century. They were the first Europeans came to the city of
Quilon. They came as traders and established a trading center at
Tangasseri in
Quilon during 1502. The then Queen of Quilon first invited the
Portuguese to the city in 1501 for discussing about spices trade. But they refused that due to
Vasco da Gama's close relations with the Raja of Cochin. Later the Queen negotiated with the Raja and he permitted to send two Portuguese ships to Quilon to buy fine quality pepper. In 1503, the Portuguese General
Afonso de Albuquerque went to Quilon as per the Queen's request and collected required spices from there. It is believed that the
colonial era in India started with the establishment of the Portuguese trading center at Quilon in 1502.
Portuguese Factory in Quilon The resumption of the pepper blockade seems to have put a crimp in Albuquerque's preparations of the return fleet, much of it having still lacked spice cargoes. Albuquerque dispatched two ships down to
Quilon (
Coulão, Kollam), with the factor António de Sá, to see if more could be procured there – Quilon having been better connected to
Ceylon and points east, its spice supply was not as dependent on the Zamorin's sway and had often invited the Portuguese before. But soon after their departure, Albuquerque heard that the Zamorin of Calicut was preparing a Calicut fleet of some 30 ships for Quilon. Afonso de Albuquerque left Cochin and hurried down to Quilon himself. Albuquerque arrived in Quilon, and instructed the Portuguese factor to hurry his business along, and sought out an audience with the queen of Quilon. They were still docked when the Calicut fleet arrived, carrying an embassy from the Zamorin with the mission to persuade (or intimidate) Quilon from abandoning the Portuguese. The queen of Quilon rejected the Zamorin's request, but also forbade Albuquerque from engaging in hostilities in the harbor. Albuquerque, realizing Quilon was the only spice supply he had access to, acceded to her request. Albuquerque resigned himself to negotiating a commercial treaty and establishing a permanent Portuguese
factory in Quilon (the third in India), placing it under factor António de Sá, with two assistants and twenty armed men to protect the factory. That settled, Albuquerque returned to Cochin on 12 January 1504 to make final preparations for his departure. Albuquerque signed a treaty of friendship with the royal family of Quilon and established a factory there in 1503 itself. That voyage was the beginning of trade relations between Portugal and city of
Quilon, which became the center of their trade in pepper.
End of Portuguese influence The trade relation between Quilon and Portuguese got set back due to an insurrection happened at the
Port of Quilon between the
Arabs and the
Portuguese. The captain of one of the
Portuguese fleets saw an Arab ship is loading pepper from the port and that burst fighting between them. Aftermath, the battle started between them. 13
Portuguese men were killed including António de Sá and the St. Thomas church was burned down. To prevent further devastation, the Queen of Quilon signed a treaty with the
Portuguese and as a result, they got customs tax exemption and monopoly over the spice and pepper tread with Quilon. The royal family of Quilon agreed to rebuild the destroyed church. The Portuguese conquered Quilon until 1661. They fought with the Arab traders and captured a huge amount of gold after killing more than 2000 Arab traders. With the arrival of the Dutch and their peace treaty signing with Quilon, the Portuguese started losing their authority on Quilon and later, Quilon officially became a Dutch protectorate.
Dutch Protectorate (1661–1795) ruler conquered by the Dutch, Dec. 1661 The Dutch started expanding their empire to India in 1602 with the commencement of Dutch East India Company. They arrived Quilon in the year 1658 and signed a peace treaty in 1659. Thus Quilon became the official protectorate of the Dutch and their officer in-charge,
Rijcklof van Goens, placed a military troop in the city to protect it from probable invasions from Portuguese and the British. The West Quilon region including
Tangasseri named as 'Dutch Quilon' then. But English East India Company began to follow the Dutch Method of "Triangular Trade" in early 1600s itself. The English signed a trade treaty with Portuguese and gained right to trade across the Portuguese holdings in Asia. Here is
Johan Nieuhof's description of Kollam and Tangasseri at the time of the Dutch occupation: The city is fortified with a stone wall of 18 to 20 feet high, and eight bastions; its suburbs, which are very large and stately, are by the Portuguese called Colang-China. For Koulang is separated into two bodies, one of which is called the upper or Malabar Koulang, the other the lower Koulang; in the first the king and queen kept their ordinary residences; the last was formerly in the possession of the Portuguese The friars of St. Paul and the Franciscans had each a monastery, adorned with stately chapels and steeples. Besides which there were four other Portuguese churches here, dedicated to as many Romish Saints; they had no less than seven goodly churches, among which was the famous church built many years ago by the Christians of St. Thomas, which was left standing after we reduced the place into a narrow compass; in this church is the tomb of a certain great Portuguese captain, who was Governor of Koulang for 60 years. The houses of the inhabitants were stately and lofty, built of free stone. The castle, the residence of the Portuguese Governor (Bishop's House) surmounted all the rest in magnificence; it lies very near the sea-side, at one end of the city, being covered on the top with coco leaves, as likewise two of its turrets, the third being tiled with pantiles. Just upon the sea-shore is another four-square tower where I set up the Company's flag on top of a mast. In the midst of it, is a very loftily edifice, which the Portuguese used for a chapel, which I ordered to be...fitted for the use of the Company's officers... This city as have been told before was drawn into a less compass by the Dutch which they fortified on the land-side with two half and one whole bastion. Most of the churches and other public edifices were pulled down, except the castle, St. Thomas Church and some monasteries, which remained standing in the said precinct. ==Travancore Rule==