COCHIN, a town in British India, in the district of Malabar, Madras. Pop. (1931) 22,818. The town lies at the northern extremity of a strip of land about 12 m. in length, but in few places more than a mile in breadth, which is nearly isolated by inlets of the sea and estuaries of streams flowing from the Western Ghats. These form the Cochin backwaters, shallow lagoons lying behind the beach-line and below its level, which are broad navi gable channels and lakes during the monsoon, but in many places not 2 ft. deep in the hot weather. The first European possessors of Cochin were the Portuguese. Vasco da Gama founded a factory in 1502, and Albuquerque built a fort, the first European fort in India, in 1503. The British made a settlement in 1634, but retired when the Dutch captured the town in 1663. Under the Dutch the town became a great trading centre. In 1795 Cochin was captured from the Dutch by the British, and in 1806 the forti fications and many buildings were blown up by order of the authorities. Cochin is the third port between Bombay and Co lombo, and considerable sea-borne trade is carried on, although steamers have to lie 21 m. out at sea, and the harbour is prac tically closed from May to August. An experimental channel was cut through the bar in 1923 in pursuance of a scheme for im proving the harbour and reclaiming land for port buildings, in which the British government is collaborating with those of Cochin and Travancore. A dry dock, wharves, etc., have recently been built, and work was in progress in 1927. The railway termi nus is at Ernakulam, 2 a m. from Cochin. There are brick and coir works, saw and oil mills; and fishing, boat-building and mat making are carried on. The chief exports are coco-nut products, tea and groundnuts.