Cochin, now known as Kochi is Kerala’s financial capital and most cosmopolitan city with a bustling commercial port. Kochi became a significant trading center only after the fall of the port at Kodungallur when it was destroyed by enormous flooding of the River Periyar in 1341. After the incident it was formed as India’s spice trade center for many centuries with its traders of Jews, Arabs, Dutch, Portuguese and Chinese. Present Kochi contains a lot of remnants from the past where fusions of cultural influences have left Kochi with many striking legacies. For example, Kochi’s most famous landmark is a row of Chinese fishing nets at the mouth of the harbor leading to the Arabian Sea is by all means the legacy of the Chinese while Fort Kochi maintains the flair of the first European colonial settlement in India. Kochi is also home to the famous island of Boghatty on which the Dutch had built a splendid palace which has been turned into a hotel in present day.