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The Kerala Portal
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Selected article |
Red rain in Kerala was a phenomenon observed sporadically from 25 July to 23 September 2001 in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Heavy downpours occurred in which the rain was primarily red, staining clothes and appearing like blood. Yellow, green, and black rains were also reported.
It was initially suspected that the rains were coloured by fallout from a hypothetical meteor burst, but the Government of India commissioned a study which found the rains had been coloured by spores from a locally prolific aerial algae. Then in early 2006, the coloured rains of Kerala suddenly rose to worldwide attention after media reports of an extraordinary theory that the coloured particles are extraterrestrial cells, proposed by Godfrey Louis and Santhosh Kumar of the Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam. ( more...)
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St. Angelo's Fort was built in 1505 by Dom Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese Viceroy of India and is on the Arabian sea about 3 km from Kannur town. The fort changed hands several times. In 1663 the Dutch captured it and sold it to the Arakkal Royal Family in 1772. The British conquered it in 1790 and transformed it into one of their major military stations on the Malabar Coast. It is fairly well preserved as a protected monument under the Archaeological Survey of India. A painting of this fort and the fishing ferry behind it can be seen in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The Dutch captured the fort from the Portuguese in 1663, then later sold the fort to king Ali Raja of Arakkal.
In 1790 the British seized it and transformed it into their chief military station in Malabar.
In the 19th century, the British established the Cannanore Cantonment, which includes the St. Angelo Fort.
Photo credit: Kjrajesh
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Open tasks |
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Did you know... |
- ...that Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country in 2005?
- ...that according to tradition, it is believed that Thomas , the apostle of Jesus Christ established the Church in India in 52 AD?
- ...that Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama was buried in St. Francis Church in India?
- ...that Kochi in Kerala, India is the only place where Chinese fishing nets are used outside of China?
- ...that Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary in Kerala, India, receives migratory birds from far away Siberia?
- ...that the Mattancherry Palace, popular as Dutch Palace, in Kochi, India, was built by the Portuguese and renovated by the Dutch?
- ...there is a belief that a dip in the waters of Papanasam Beach (pictured), one of the beaches in Kerala, washes away sins?
- ...that the hull of the kettuvallams, Kerala houseboats, (pictured) are built of wooden boards tied together by coir rope?
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