Vembanad (Vembanad Kayal or Vembanad Kol) is the longest lake in India, and the largest lake in the state of Kerala. It is also counted as one of the largest lakes in India. Spanning several districts in the state of Kerala, it is known as Punnamada Lake in Kuttanad, Kochi Lake in Kochi. Several groups of small islands including Vypin, Mulavukad, Vallarpadam, Willingdon Island are located in the Kochi Lake portion. Kochi Port is built around the Willingdon Island, and the Vallarpadam island.
The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is conducted in a portion of the lake. High levels of pollution have been noticed at certain hotspots of the Vembanad backwaters. Government of India has identified the Vembanad wetland under National Wetlands Conservation Programme.
The Vembanad wetland system covers an area of over 2033.02 km² thereby making it the largest wetland system in India. Of this, an area of 398.12 km² is located below the MSL and a total of 763.23 km² area is located below 1 m MSL. The lake is bordered by Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Ernakulam districts. It is situated at the sea level, and is separated from the Arabian Sea by a narrow barrier island. Canals link the lake to other coastal lakes in the north and south. The lake surrounds the islands of Pathiramanal, Perumbalam and Pallippuram. The Vembanad Lake is approximately 14 kilometres wide at its widest point. The lake is a part of Vembanad-Kol wetland system which extends from Alappuzha in the south to Azheekkode in the north, making it by far, India's longest lake at just over 96.5 km in length. The lake is fed by 10 rivers flowing into it including the six major rivers of central Kerala namely the Achenkovil, Manimala, Meenachil, Muvattupuzha, Pamba and Periyar. The total area drained by the lake is 15,770 km², which accounts for 40% of the area of Kerala. Its annual surface runoff of 21,900 Mm accounts for almost 30% of the total surface water resource of the state.
Kochi ([koˈtʃːi ]), also known as Cochin (KO-chin), is a major port city on the south-west coast of India by the Arabian Sea and is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. It is often called Ernakulam, which refers to the mainland part of the city. With a total metropolitan population of 2.1 million. It is the second largest city corporation in Kerala, with a corporation limit population of 612,343 and is part of an extended metropolitan region, which is the largest urban agglomeration in the state. Kochi city is also a part of the Greater Cochin region and is classified as a Tier-II city by the Government of India. The civic body that governs the city is the Cochin Municipal Corporation, which was constituted in the year 1967, and the statutory bodies that oversee its development are the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA).
Known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the west coast of India from the 14th century. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the first of the European colonies in colonial India. It remained the main seat of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa was chosen instead. The city was later occupied by the Dutch and the British, with the Kingdom of Cochin becoming a princely state. Kochi ranks first in the total number of international and domestic tourist arrivals in Kerala. Kochi has been ranked the sixth best tourist destination in India according to a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company on behalf of the Outlook Traveller magazine. Kochi was one of the 28 Indian cities found to be among the emerging 440 global cities that will contribute 50% of the world GDP by the year 2025, in a 2011 study done by the McKinsey Global Institute.
Kochi or Kōchi may refer to:
Kochi (also known as passover cake in English) is a Malaysian dumpling (kuih) made from ground unpolished glutinous rice. For the Eurasians in Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore, this snack is often sold at funerals. The black colour of the unpolished rice symbolises death, while the sweet filling represents resurrection.