MoU inked with the Dutch on Cosmos Malabaricus

Project deals with 18th century Dutch documents on Malabar between 1643 and 1852

The State government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Netherlands on Thursday for the Cosmos Malabaricus project that is aimed at shedding further light on the history of Kerala using 18th Century Dutch documents.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the Dutch Ambassador to India Marten van den Berg.

The Cosmos Malabaricus project is being jointly implemented by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), the National Archives, and the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. The project will be completed in six years.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Vijayan said it was the State’s responsibility towards future generations to preserve historical events and documents. The government looked forward to collaborating with the Netherlands in areas such as floriculture and disaster management. He reiterated the government’s desire to transform Kerala into a quality hub for higher education.

Emphasising on the robust relation between the Netherlands and India, Mr. Berg expressed optimism that the Cosmos Malabaricus project would help understand more about the political, social, economic and cultural history of Kerala.

As part of the project, students from Kerala would get an opportunity to pursue Master of Arts programmes at Leiden University, while those from the Netherlands would be allowed to take up an internship at the KCHR.

The project deals with the 18th century Dutch documents on Malabar which are considered the most extensive source of information about the period in Kerala between 1643 and 1852.