Kochi, Kerala

Kochi, formerly known as Cochin, is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India, bordering the Laccadive Sea, in Ernakulam district of the state of Kerala. It is described as the financial, industrial and commercial capital of Kerala, and its central business district is commonly called Ernakulam. In 2011 the Kochi Municipal Corporation, constituted in 1967, had a population of 677,381 over 94.88 square kilometres, while the wider urban agglomeration held more than 2.1 million people. Nicknamed the Queen of the Arabian Sea, it was a spice trading centre from antiquity, was later held by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British, and grew into a shipbuilding, petroleum refining and information technology centre after the Cochin Port and the reclamation of Willingdon Island in 1928. It hosts the High Court of Kerala and Cochin Shipyard, and runs the first water metro in India.