The land of Kerala was known during early times as 'Kerala' or 'Malabar'. 'Kerala' is said to have its orgin from 'Cheram' which is derived from 'Chera' which was a dynasty that ruled Kerala. The pre-history of Kerala has not been traced so far. It is recorded that during the Paleolithic age, Kerala was not inhabited. However, stone and copper inscriptions, give evidence to a megalithic age, which has been assigned by some scholars to be between 700-400B.C.
Popular legends says that the sage parasurama threw his parasu(axe) from Gokarnam top Kanyakumari. The water in the whole area receded and land was formed.That was how Kerala came into being.
It is very clear that Kerala had been a very important place of attraction for the tourists from time immemorial. Literacy works of those times extoll the beauty of the land. Kerala had trade relations with Egypt, Babylon, Phoenicia, Greece and Rome even before the Aryan incursion, which was between 2000 and 1600 B. C. However, popular legend says that the land stretching from Goa to Gokarnam was reclaimed by the mythical hero, Sage Parasurama and that was how Kerala came into being. But references from Hebrew texts give the evidence that Kerala had trade contacts with Phoenicia and Egypt, long before the Aryan incursion.
The stone inscriptions of ancient Kerala reveal that the land had a well-planned administrative and political system. The spice trade of Kerala was the main attraction of the tourists. Different kinds of spices were traded to different countries including Israel, Arabia, Greece, Rome, China and Western Europe.
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