Kollam, the cashew district built around the Ashtamudi lake

Background

As the State reworks its housing scheme for fishing families and presses the Centre on deaths at sea, the district that runs two fishing harbours is worth knowing.
Kollam, the erstwhile Quilon, is a southern district of Kerala about 70 km north of Thiruvananthapuram, with the Arabian sea on the west and Tamil Nadu on the east.
Its district area is 2491 sq km and its district population 25,84,118, which makes it one of the more densely peopled districts of India.
Administratively it is composed of two revenue divisions, Kollam and Punalur, with three taluks each under them, and the headquarters is at Kollam City.
The heart land of the district is veined by the Ashtamudi lake, a massive multi-branched water body, which with the Kollam canal gives Kollam a place of prominence in the waterway systems of the country.
Its eastern side carries a considerably large forest cover with eco-tourism projects such as Shenduruni, Thenmala and Palaruvi, and the annual rainfall is 270 cms.
Kollam has been the centre of the cashew industry in Kerala from the time of the Portuguese in the 16th century, and with hundreds of working cashew factories it continues to be the largest processed cashew exporter in India.
Neendakara and Thangasseri are its two fishing harbours and ports, and the Thangasseri light house, the St. Thomas Fort and cemetery built by the Portuguese, Thevally Palace and Cheenakkottaram mark its colonial past.