Kochi / Cochin

The Portuguese built India's first European fort here in 1503 and Vasco da Gama was buried in its church; the Chinese cantilever nets on the shore were introduced by traders from Kublai Khan's court, and the Paradesi synagogue of 1568 served a Jewish community that had lived on this coast for perhaps two thousand years. Spices are still auctioned in Mattancherry.