THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cosmos Malabaricus project, which aims to shed more light on the history of Kerala in the 18th century, is set to begin soon. The project is being jointly implemented by the Government of Kerala and the Netherlands. It will reveal the history of Kerala written in Dutch language in the 17th and 18th centuries. Documents in the Ernakulam Archive will also be examined as part of the project.
The project will shed light on the political, social, economic and cultural history of Kerala. The project is being implemented jointly by the Kerala Council for Historical Research under the department of higher education, the National Archives of the Netherlands and the University of Leiden. The MoU will be signed on April 21 in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Netherlands Ambassador to India Marton Van Den Berg.
Manuscripts in ancient Dutch have not been studied extensively by historians and researchers. With the help of the Netherlands, these can be further studied and new historical information obtained. During Pinarayi’s visit to the Netherlands in May 2017, he saw Dutch maps and other documents of Kerala kept in the Netherlands National Archives. The king and queen of the Netherlands also visited Kerala in October 2019. The idea was to digitise and preserve the archives. It was then decided to implement the Cosmos Malabaricus project.
Along with this, an MoU will be signed to set up two paint academies in Kerala. The MoU was signed by ASAP (Additional Sky Acquisition Program), Kollam Indian Institute of Infrastructure and Construction, Credai Kerala and Axo Noble India Limited, an Indian subsidiary of a leading paint and chemical company based in the Netherlands. Training will be given in building painting at the Kollam IIIC and ASAP sky park campuses.