77 South Asia: Urban Geography II – Entrepôt ~ Kollam (India)

As seen in trading cities formerly in the British Empire

South Asia – Kollam, India

As we note in this mini-theme, a concept of Urban Geography is the entrepôt, also an economic term. In a series of chapters, this is the last of four examples of entrepôt cities that also were pieces of the British Empire. Thus, the sub-title of our chapter is Asian trading cities formerly in the British Empire. Although we highlight British colonial cities in these chapters, the word entrepôt is French for warehouse.

An entrepôt is a point of transshipment. That is, this type of city is located advantageously where export and import take place; however, not only in terms of products arriving and products departing, but importantly as the location where imports are sorted and repackaged for export. It is very likely that an entrepôt is an ocean seaport, though it is possible that a point of transshipment could be an intersection of highways, railroads, airports, and/or rivers. Roads, railroads, and airports are modern transportation hubs, whereas an entrepôt often has a lengthy history of trade, being founded as a settlement long ago. This preceding historical advantage favors the ancient seafaring trade; thus, again we note that seaports have an advantage in becoming entrepôts.

Kollam (formerly Quilon)

What is now known as Kollam is an ancient city in what now is India. Earlier the city was called Quilon, as it was an active trading center during the South Indian Pandya dynasty, even back to the 34rd century CE. Although not well-known to Americans now, its history includes mentions of very prominent historical figures. The famed Muslim explorer Muhammad Ibn Battuta, the most widely traveled person of the pre-modern era, visited Kollam in the 14th century, as did Marco Polo in the 13th century.

Kollam’s location on the Malabar coast, the southwestern edge of the Indian Peninsula, was an ideal transshipment port for traders such as Arabs, Jews, Syrians, Romans, and Phoenicians coming from the Red Sea or Mediterranean Sea. Additionally, sizeable Chinese junks (and Marco Polo) engaged in large scale trade at Kollam.

In 825 CE, the regional Travancore king Udayamarthanda Varma decreed in Kollam that the locally developed calendar would be used throughout the region.

In the early 16th century, the Portuguese established a presence and built a fort in Kollam. However, the 17th century, they were displaced by the Dutch East India Company, which itself was defeated by the regional king’s forces in 1741. The British took over in 1795, holding Kollam until the end of British India.

Although Kollam is the least populated of our four examples of entrepôts, this city remains an active port in southern India. Among its current claims is the assertion that it is the Cashew Capital of the World. Annual imports of raw cashews tally 800,000 tons for processing by over 600 cashew “factories.”

Cited and additional bibliography:

hangga, jonata. “Sea Logistic Icon – 4805740.” The Noun Project, https://thenounproject.com/icon/sea-logistic-4805740/.

History | District Kollam, Government of Kerala | India. https://kollam.nic.in/en/history/.