Trade relations of Kerala-Kerala History-class 3-KAS-Kerala Administrative Services Exam

on Saturday, January 25, 2020 in History of Kerala, KAS, KAS Notes, Kerala Administrative Service, kerala History

Trade relations of Kerala-Kerala History-class 3-KAS-Kerala Administrative Services Exam

Trade relations of Kerala

Trade Relations in Kerala

The region of Kerala was possibly engaged in trading activities from the 3rd millennium BCE with Sumerians and Babylonians.

Phoenicians, Greeks, Egyptians, Romans, Jews, Arabs and Chinese were attracted by a variety of commodities, especially spices and cotton fabrics.

Muziris, Berkarai, and Nelcynda were among the principal trading port centres of the Chera kingdom.

Megasthanes, the Greek ambassador to the court of Magadhan king Chandragupta Maurya (4th century BCE) mentions Muziris and a Pandyan trade centre.

megasthenese

Pliny mentions Muziris as India's first port of importance. According to him, Muziris could be reached in 40 days from the Red Sea ports of Egypt purely depending on the Southwest monsoon winds.

Later, the unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea notes that "both Muziris and Nelcynda are now busy places".

There were harbours of Naura near Kannur, Tyndis near Koyilandy, and Bacare near Alappuzha which were also trading with Rome and Palakkad pass (churam) facilitated migration and trade.

Roman establishments in the port cities of the region, such as a temple of Augustus and barracks for garrisoned Roman soldiers, are marked in the Tabula Peutingeriana; the only surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus.

The value of Rome's annual trade with the region was estimated at around 50,000,000 sesterces.

Contemporary Tamil literature, Puṟanāṉūṟu and Akanaṉūṟu, speak of the Roman vessels and the Roman gold that used to come to the Kerala ports in search of pepper and other spices, which had enormous demand in the West.

The contact with Romans might have given rise to small colonies of Jews and Syrian Christians in the chief harbour towns of Kerala.

Formation of a multicultural society in Kerala

Chera-Chola-Pandya-Classical Period Kerala History