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Ancient
Alleppey

A Brief History

The history of ancient Alappuzha can be dated back to 150 AD when a port town named ‘Kapothihnam’ was established by a Chera dynasty ruler. The Chola rulers later destroyed this ancient trade city and it ceased to exist from the 12th century onwards. In 1502 Portuguese navigator Pedro Alvares Cabral reached Kappad beach near Alappuzha as its first European explorer. In 1663 Dutch sea-captain Craen Marre visited Kerala and Alappuzha.

Ancient Alappuzha
Ancient Alappuzha

Port of Alleppey in 17 AD

The port city of ancient Alappuzha or Alleppey as it is called now has some fascinating ancient history that makes up the foundation on which it exists today.
Alleppey is said to be first planned town in the State of Kerala. While Travancore, Cochin and Malabar were busy fighting against Kayamkulam Rajah for their survival, a Dutch territory had been formed at Edava near Alappuzha by Kollengode Vishnu Varma with the Bishops from Europe on board in 1750 A.D.,

who visited Alappuzha. It was named as New Draper’s Town after an English nobleman Colonel John Munro of the East India Company who bought this land fromathiri Maharaja

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16th Century

The ancient Alappuzha was first a harbor town and a trade center dating back to 16th century AD. History says that there were more than 2000 small scale industries going around in this old town busy with trading business during the 16th century itself.
Many trading centers were added over time The trade business flourished tremendously over time , with lots of Europeans trading through this town - British, Dutch, Danish who used the port either as their regional center or for transshipment purposes. The easy accessibility of water bodies majorly contributed to this growth .
History also says that it was not until 18th century AD when the English started settling here , within few decades they outnumbered all other communities together and became the major business community of Alappuzha.
Ancient Alappuzha
17th Century
17th Century
In 1741, Maharaja Marthandavarma of Travancore won the war against Kayamkulam Rajah and annexed it to his state, Venadu (Travancore). Subsequently in 1746 at the invitation of the AryaBrahmins of Venadu who found that their traditional pursuits were affected with the disturbances caused by neighbouring rulers and alien invaders formed a new village called Alleppey consisting mainly of Brahmin families for joint action against enemies. Before long Christians, Jews, Syrians and Paravars embraced this new faith; they were collectively known as ‘Aryapattaram’ and as a corollary to it the new village was also called as ‘Aryapattnam’.