Jew Town

The Jews first arrived in Kerala in the 1st century BC when Kerala was ruled by the Chera Dynasty and traded with the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. The Jews in Kerala mainly lived in Cochin (Kochi) in an area now called Jew Town. They were an important part of the Kerala’s spice trade and maintained huge warehouses of black pepper, turmeric and chillies usually located below their family living quarters. By the 15th century the spice trade was dominated by the Portuguese, and eventually almost all of Cochin’s Jews migrated to Israel. What remains is Jew Town, home to a small, beautiful synagogue (no photos allowed), a Jewish cemetery and the remnants of the spice trade. Many of the old warehouses are still in operation, notably the ones handling black pepper and ginger, and others have been abandoned or transformed into work/storage spaces.

Today Jew Town is a stop on the tourist circuit and the main drag is filled with new shops and pestering Kashmiri merchants selling the usual stuff, but it also has some authentic antique shops and amazing warehouses filled with the remnants of the area. One day I found myself in an antique shop that had stacks of fascinating vintage photos from Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and I bought about a dozen of them (and could have bought a lot more).

Anyway, shown here are some of my favorite images from the non-touristy parts of Jew Town, places I just wandered into and began photographing.