Keralam is an Indian state. The first recorded history of Kerala appears in the inscriptions of the Mauryan Emperor, Ashoka (269-232 b.c.). According to these, Ashoka refers to four independent kingdoms that lay to the south of his empire and these were the kingdoms of the Cholas, the Pandyas, the Keralaputrasand the Satiyaputras. Kerala was ruled by the Cheras of south India till around 1100 AD. The Cheras, and after their decline the Zamorins of Calicut were the most powerful rulers of the Malabar before the colonial period. The land of Kerala in earlier times was inhabited by Jews, Christians and Muslims. The first to trade with Kerala were the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Chinese and Babylonians in the 3rd century BC. Heppalus, a Roman-Greek sailor reached Musiris (Kodungalloore) in A.D. 45 and this enabled direct trade with Roman empire. The distance of sea voyages were reduced by the discovery of new routes. In A.D. 52, St. Thomas reached Kerala and Christianity began to flourish.
 The Arab traders brought in Islam when they established trade relations with Kerala in the 8th century AD. The ancient history of Kerala is a bit of a mystery. If we look to mythological evidence, there is legend in India that Parasuram, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, created Kerala. Legend has it that Parasuram stood on top of a mountain and threw his battle-axe into the sea, commanding it to retreat. According to legends, it is said that Parashuram threw his battle-axe at the Arabian Sea. The land that emerged from the waters became Kerala.
In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached Kappad, near Kozhikode. This was followed by the arrival of a number of Europeans. Though the main aim of their visit was trade and discovery of a shorter sea route to the Malabar coast, the prevailing political instability paved way for their entry into the administration.Following the Portuguese, the Dutch reached Kerala. They began by the establishment of the Dutch East India Company in the year 1592. In 1604, the Dutch army arrived at the Malabar coast. In 1725, the French established their base at Mahe. But unlike in the African continent, they were unable to make a move in on. The British finally took control of the entire region in the 18th century AD, outwitting Tipu of Mysore, the Dutch and the Portuguese.
 Kerala  formed on 1 November 1956 following the States Reorganisation Act by combining Malayalam-speaking regions.The state of Kerala today comprises of the former princely kingdoms - Cochin and Travancore. Malyalam, Kerala’s main native language, Malayalam (Derived from the local words mala(means Mountain) and aalam(means Kingdom) as a composite phrase means the living inhabitants of Mountain King-dom.

River

There are 44 Rivers in kerala.41 of them flow westward and 3 eastward(kabani,bhavani,pamba). Periyar River which has a length of 244 kms is the longest river in Kerala. The source of the Periyar lies high in the Western Ghats.


Traditional
Industries

Kerala is well known for its traditional industries. These industries include coir,cashew, handlooms, handicrafts and bamboo. The traditional industries are one of the major sectors, which give employment to more than 1 million people in Kerala.

Kudumbashree

The Government of Kerala in 1998 for wiping out absolute poverty from the State through concerted community action under the leadership of Local Self Governments, Kudumbashree is today one of the largest women-empowering projects in the country.

Electricity

Electricity also was first brought to the state by a British company, the Kannan Devan Hill Produce Company, Munnar. The State Electricity Department was formed in 1933, the year in which the works for the first hydro electric power station in Kerala began at Pallivasal, a village situated on the south western part of Idukki district. On March 19, 1940, Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer, the Dewan of Travancore inaugurated the first stage of the Pallivasal project, which had an initial installed capacity of 13.5 MW. It was the first Hydro Electric Project in Kerala.

Postal & Telegraph

Kerala Postal & Telegraph Circle was formed on the 1st July 1961, bifurcating the then Madras Circle. Prior to integration with Indian Post Offices on 1st April 1951, there were separate postal systems in the former states of Travancore and Kochi called ‘Anchal Service’. The Anchal Service was meant for communication within the State only.

Education

The State had pursued a liberal higher education policy from 1956 through mid eighties in terms of quantitative expansion and access to higher education during the 19th and early 20thcenturies  much before India became independent made by the princely states and Christian missionaries to open schools in the different parts of the region were the first steps in Kerala’s journey towards a glorious educational development of the State.. Schools and colleges in Kerala are run either by the government, private trusts and individuals. The schools in Kerala are affiliated to Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), the Central Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Kerala State Education Board. The Education Department of the state gives special attention to the primary education.

children

 Government of India proclaimed a National Policy on Children in August 1974 declaring children a, ‘supremely important asset’. Kerala has around 40.37 lakh children, that is, 13% of Kerala’s population, who are below the age of 6 years.

Newspaper

Rajyasamacharam was the first newspaper in Malayalam. This was started for religious propagation by Hermann Gundert under the Christian missionaries of Basel Mission in June 1847 from Illikkunnu in Thalassery. Pashchimodayam was the second newspaper in Malayalam. It started in October 1847 from Thalasseri. Deepika, the oldest Malayalam newspaper now in circulation, was established in 1887. Malayala Manorama, Madhyamam, Mathrubhumi, Deshabhimani and Kerala Kaumudi are the other major newspapers in Malayalam.

Kerala Bhasha Institute

The Kerala Bhasha Institute is an academic publishing house in India that was established on September 16, 1968 as a part of the fourth five-year plan.with the aim of developing Malayalam into an effective medium of communication for modern scientific and technological knowledge, for preparing Malayalam text books for higher education and for reinventing the language so as to enable it to adapt to the changing needs of the time-s.

First in kerala

Assembly Speaker     : R. Sankarana Narayanan Thampi
Audio Novel    : Ithanente Peru
Bank     : Nedungadi Bank
Book (movable type)    : Samkshepa Vedartham
Chief Minister     : E.M.S. Namboothirippad (1957-59)
Cinema Studio    : Udaya Studio, Alappuzha
College     : CMS College, Kottayam
Colour Film     : Kantam Becha Cot
Detective Novel     :Bhaskara Menon
Drama    :Kalyani Nadakam
Education Minister     :Joseph Mundassery
English Medium School : Mattancheri School
Governor     : B. Ramakrishna Rao
Hydro Electric Project : Pallivasal
Jewish Church     : Kodungalloor
Movie     : Vigatakumaran
Newspaper     : Rajyasamacharam
Novelist     : Appu Nedungadi
Olympian     : Suresh Babu
Oscar Winner     :Rasul Pookutty
Printing Press     : CMS Press, Kottayam
Radio Station     : Thiruvananthapuram
Sahitya Akademi President: Sardar K.M.Panicker
Talkie Film    :Balan
Travancore King     : Marthanda Varma
Woman IPS officer     : Srilekha IPS
Woman Minister     : K.R.Gauri Amma