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             The Dutch Cemetery, Ernakulam

The ancient Dutch Cemetery in Fort Kochi, the oldest European cemetery in India, is a tell-tale reminder of Dutch lives lost in their quest for trade and expansion. Every tombstone has a story of a historic past, of pride, of power. The tomb stones here are the most authentic record of the hundreds of Europeans who left their homeland on a mission to expand their colonial empires and changed the course of history of this land. The cemetery was consecrated in 1724 and is today managed by the Church of South India. The 104 tombs, records say, are constructed in typical Dutch architectural style with inscriptions in ancient Dutch script. The cemetery is one of the few surviving Dutch structures, a footprint of their presence in Fort Kochi.

The Dutch, through the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or the VOC) stepped on the shores of this port city in the early 1660s. In 1663 they managed to capture the fort and port from the Portuguese who had been there from 1505 onwards. In 1795, the English captured the fort from the Dutch.

                     

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