Cochin

Cochin, Charles Nicolas, 1715-90, French engraver, designer, writer on art, and painter to the French court. His works, more than 1,500 in number, include historical subjects, such as the Marriage of the Dauphin, vignettes and frontispieces, book illustrations, and pencil and crayon portraits.

Cochin, former princely state, 1,493 sq mi (3,867 sq km), SW India, on the Arabian Sea. Now part of Kerala state, the region of Cochin has one of the highest population densities in India. Agriculture is the chief economic activity. Ernakulam was the former capital and Kochi, formerly Cochin (1991 pop. 1,140,605), the chief port. The finest port S of Mumbai, Kochi, with its naval base and shipbuilding industry, is the primary training center for the Indian Navy. After Vasco da Gama visited Kochi (1502), the Portuguese established a settlement. The Dutch captured it in 1663 and the British in 1795. In adjoining Mattancheri there is a small community of descendants of Jews expelled from Portugal in the 16th cent., thought to be the oldest Jewish enclave in India.

Travancore-Cochin or Thiru-Kochi is a former state of India. It was created on July 1 1949 by the merger of two former princely states, the kingdoms of Travancore and Cochin.

On November 1 1956, it was joined with Malabar District of Madras State to form the new state of Kerala.