Anchuthengu

Anchuthengu
Location in Kerala, India
Location Trivandrum, India
Coordinates 8°29′00″N 76°55′00″E / 8.4833°N 76.9167°E / 8.4833; 76.9167
Architect Portuguese
Architectural style(s) Portugal
Type Cultural
State Party  India
Anjengo Beach

Anchuthengu ("Five Coconut Palms"), formerly known as Anjengo or Anjenga,[1] is a coastal town in the Thiruvananthapuram District of Kerala.

The town contains old Portuguese-style churches, a lighthouse, a 100-year-old convent and school, tombs of Dutch and British sailors and soldiers, and the remains of the Anchuthengu Fort. Kaikara village, the birthplace of the famous Malayalam poet Kumaran Asan, is located nearby. Temples in the area are Sree Bala Subrahmanya Swami Kshethram and Parambil Sree Bhadrakali Yogeeshwara Kshethram.

Anchuthengu is about 36 kilometers (22 mi) north of Thiruvananthapuram. The nearest airport is Trivandrum International Airport. Kadakkavur Railway Station is 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) away.

History

Anjengo is located in an oxbow at the mouth of Parvathy Puthanaar canal.[2] Originally, it was an old Portuguese settlement between Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram, and near Varkala.[3] In 1694, the Queen of Attingal granted the British East India Company the right to establish a factory and a fort at Anjengo, which became the Company's first trade settlement in Kerala. The Anjengo Fort was erected in 1694-8.[1] It was an occasional port of call for East Indiamen, and in 1744 it was the birthplace of Eliza Draper who would become a muse and correspondent of Laurence Sterne.[4] The fort played an important role in the Anglo-Mysore Wars of the 18th century but, by the 19th century, the fort was considered an unnecessary expense. The EIC abandoned tt, and the factory, in 1813.[1] In the 19th century, the town remained known for its excellent ropes (manufactured from the local palms) and also exported pepper, homespun cotton cloth, and drugs.[1]

View of Anjuthengu from the light house

Citations and references

Citations
  1. 1 2 3 4 EB (1878).
  2. ↑ "Parvathy Puthanar canal to get a new lease of life - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  3. ↑ "Anchuthengu and Anjengo Fort, Varkala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India | Kerala Tourism". www.keralatourism.org. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  4. ↑ Sterne, Laurence (1713–1768), writer and Church of England clergyman | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/26412.
References
  • "Anjengo", Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. II, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1878, p. 58 .
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