The Portuguese were the first of the Europeans to colonize Kerala. Vasco
da Gama landed at Calicut in May 1498 and put Kerala on the map of the
modern world. The arrival of Vasco da Gama marked the beginning of
Portuguese rule that lasted till 1663. At first the Zamorin treated the
new-comers with traditional hospitality. But, the Portuguese had ventured
east with the purpose of monopolizing the spice trade to the exclusion of
other merchants and they were willing to go to any lengths to achieve their
ends. They demanded that the Zamorin of Calicut expel all the Muslim and
Arab merchants from his kingdom. The Zamorin refused to drive out more than
4000 of his subjects. Calicut had always been a free port and the Portuguese
were free to trade as anyone else.
When the Zamorin refused the
Portuguese monopoly on pepper trade, the Portuguese went to Cochin and
entered into an alliance with the Raja of Cochin. Soon war broke out between
the Arabs and the Portuguese on land and sea; the Zamorin supported the
Arabs. He declared war also on Cochin because that state refused to expel
the Portuguese.
While
they didn't succeed in ousting the Portuguese, the Zamorin managed
to throw the defensive arrangements of the Portuguese completely out
of joint and disrupt their shipping and trade to quite an extent. The hostilities between the
Zamorin and the Portuguese went unabated during the campaigns of Kunjali
Marakkars who supported the Zamorin. Later the Zamorin made an unholy alliance
(1540) with the Portuguese and turned against his former allies, the Kunjalis.
He destroyed the Kunjali fortress and arrested Kunjali and turned him over to
the Portuguese. The Portuguese decline, however, began with the arrival of the
Dutch.
The Portuguese contact affected not only the political landscape of Kerala
but also its cultural life. The Portuguese ended the Arab and Chinese monopoly
of the spice trade. They introduced the Latin rite Roman Catholic Church through
their missionaries. European fashions and luxuries also came with them. The
church architecture and house construction were also influenced by the
Portuguese style. The Portuguese also established a number of ship-building
yards in Cochin which produced ships of a better quality than those built in
Europe. The Portuguese introduced into India the following agricultural
products: cashew nut, tobacco, the custard apple, guava, the pineapple, and the
papaya, and an improved variety of coconut seeds. They opened theological
schools and colleges at Cochin, Cranganore, Ankamally, and Vaipicotta; they also
set up printing presses at Cochin and Vaipicotta. The Chavittunatakam,
the Christian dance-drama, originated with the Portuguese missionaries. They
also Latinized the Syrian Church of Kerala, but in this process they alienated
many local Christians who broke away from communion with Rome with the "Oath of
the Coonan Cross."
