Travancore

Travancore was a princely state in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent during the British Raj, occupying much of the present-day southern Kerala and parts of Tamil Nadu. Its capital was Thiruvananthapuram. The state traces its origins to Venad, which in the 18th century was unified and expanded by Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma and renamed Travancore.

Under Marthanda Varma and his successors, Travancore consolidated control over a coastal and inland region, facing occasional conflicts with Mysore and Dutch powers and aligning with the British for protection. By the early 19th century, Travancore accepted British suzerainty while retaining internal autonomy, and the monarchy oversaw a centralized administration, scholarship, and the promotion of temples and arts. The Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Trivandrum remained a central symbol of state identity.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Travancore developed administrative reforms, revenue systems, and public works, and supported education and cultural patronage. The economy relied on spice trade, particularly pepper and cardamom, with later growth in plantation crops such as rubber.

After Indian independence in 1947, Travancore acceded to the Union of India. In 1949 it merged with the princely state of Cochin to form Travancore-Cochin. The 1956 States Reorganisation Act reorganized borders, with most of Travancore-Cochin joining the new state of Kerala, while the Kanyakumari district joined Tamil Nadu. The historical name Travancore remains associated with the region’s heritage and with parts of southern Kerala and adjacent Tamil Nadu.