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Dutch Malabar Dutch Malabar, Lanta | |||||||||||
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| 1661–1795 | |||||||||||
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 Coat of arms
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.png) Dutch Malabar (in red) within Dutch India | |||||||||||
| Status | Factory | ||||||||||
| Capital | Dutch Quilon (1661–1663) Fort Cochin (1663–1795) | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Dutch, Malayalam | ||||||||||
| Commander | |||||||||||
• 1663–1665 | Ludolph van Coulster | ||||||||||
• 1669–1676 | Hendrik van Rheede | ||||||||||
• 1793–1795 | Jan Lambertus van Spall | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Imperialism | ||||||||||
• Dutch capture of Portuguese Quilon | December 1661 | ||||||||||
• British annexation of Malabar | 1795 | ||||||||||
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Dutch Malabar (Dutch; Nederlandse Malabar. Malayalam; ഡച്ച് മലബാർ.) also known by the name of its main settlement Cochin, were a collection of settlements and trading factories of the Dutch East India Company on the Malabar Coast between 1661 and 1795, and was a subdivision of what was collectively referred to as Dutch India. Dutch presence in the Malabar region started with the capture of Portuguese Quilon, expanded with the Conquest of Malabar (1658-1663), and ended with the conquest of Malabar by the British in 1795.[1] They possessed military outposts in 11 locations: Alleppey, Ayacotta, Chendamangalam, Pappinivattom, Ponnani, Pallipuram, Cranganore (from 15 January 1662), Chetwai, Cannanore (from 15 February 1663), Cochin (7 January 1663 – 1795), and Quilon (29 December 1658 – 14 April 1659 and from 24 December 1661 – 1795).
The Kingdom of Cochin was an ally of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch enlarged the Royal Palace built by the Portuguese at Mattancheri for the King of Cochin, which from then on became known as the "Dutch Palace". In 1744, an impressive palace later called Bolgatty Palace, was erected on Bolghatty Island for the Dutch Governors.
The Dutch contributed a monumental work called Hortus Indicus Malabaricus on the medicinal properties of Malabar plants. In Cochin, the Dutch established an orphanage for poor European children and a leper asylum on Vypin.