Editing Travancore (section)

==Etymology==

The kingdom takes its name from [[Thiruvithamcode]] in the present-day [[Kanyakumari district]] of [[Tamil Nadu]].

The region had many small independent kingdoms. Later, at the peak of the [[Chera dynasty|Chera]]-[[Chola dynasty|Chola]]-[[Pandya dynasty|Pandya]], this region became part of the Chera Kingdom (except for the Ay kingdom, which always remained independent). When the region was part of the [[Chera empire]], it was still known as ''Thiruvazhumkode''. It was contracted to ''Thiruvankode'', and anglicised by the English to ''Travancore''.<ref name="Menon1878">{{cite book|author=P. Shungunny Menon|url=https://archive.org/details/ahistorytravanc00menogoog|date=1878|title=A History of Travancore from the Earliest Times|publisher=[[Higginbotham's]]|location=Thiruvananthapuram}}</ref><ref name="Panikkar1933">{{cite book|author=R. Narayana Panikkar|title=Travancore History|language=ml|location=[[Nagar Kovil]]|date=1933}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/page.php?title=madras&action=next&record=1706|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080801174631/http://www.chaf.lib.latrobe.edu.au/dcd/page.php?title=madras&action=next&record=1706|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-08-01|title=Database: Handbook For India, Part 1 – Madras|page= vii|date=2008-08-01|access-date=2018-01-02}}</ref>

In the course of time, the [[Ay kingdom|Ay clan]], part of the Chera empire, which ruled the Thiruvazhumkode area, became an independent kingdom, and the land was called ''Aayi Desam'' or ''Aayi Rajyam'', meaning 'Aayi territory'. The Aayis controlled the land from the present-day Kollam district in the north, through [[Thiruvananthapuram district]] to [[Kanyakumari district]] in the south. There were two capitals, the major one at Kollam (''[[Venad|Venad Swaroopam]]'' or ''[[Desinganadu]]'') and a subsidiary one at Thrippapur (''Thrippapur Swaroopam'' or ''[[Nanjinad]]''). The kingdom was thus also called [[Venad]]. Kings of Venad had, built residential palaces in [[Thiruvithamcode]] and [[Kalkulam]]. Thiruvithamcode became the capital of the Thrippapur Swaroopam, and the country was referred to as ''Thiruvithamcode'' by Europeans even after the capital had been moved in 1601 to [[Padmanabhapuram]], near Kalkulam.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mal.sarva.gov.in/index.php?title=%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%B0%E0%B5%81%E0%B4%B5%E0%B4%BF%E0%B4%A4%E0%B4%BE%E0%B4%82%E0%B4%95%E0%B5%82%E0%B4%B0%E0%B5%8D%E2%80%8D|archive-date=4 April 2014|access-date=2014-04-04|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140404133809/http://mal.sarva.gov.in/index.php?title=തിരുവിതാംകൂര്‍|date=2008-07-04|publisher=[[The State Institute of Encyclopaedic Publications]]|title=തിരുവിതാംകൂര്‍|language=ml}}</ref>

The Chera empire had dissolved by around 1100 and thereafter the territory comprised numerous small kingdoms until the time of [[Marthanda Varma]] who, as king of Venad from 1729, employed brutal methods to unify them.<ref>{{cite book |first=Barbara N. |last=Ramusack |title=The Indian Princes and their States |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-13944-908-3 |page=33 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kz1-mtazYqEC&pg=PA33}}</ref> During his reign, Thiruvithamkoor (Anglicized as Travancore) became the official name.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}