mule-paths are the only means of communication, but a projected railway from Cochabamba (city) to Oruro, 132 m., promises to bring this isolated region into touch with the commercial world. The department is divided into nine provinces, but there is no effective local government outside the municipalities. The capital is Cochabamba; other important towns are Punata, Tarata, Totora, Mizque and Sacába.
COCHABAMBA, a city of Bolivia, capital of the department
of the same name and of the province of Cercado, situated on
the Rocha, a small tributary of the Guapay river, in lat. 17°
27′ S. and long. 65° 46′ W. Pop. (1900) 21,886, mostly Indians
and mestizos. The city stands in a broad valley of the Bolivian
plateau, 8400 ft. above sea-level, overshadowed by the snow-clad
heights of Tunari and Larati, 291 m. north-north-west of Sucre
and 132 m. east-north-east of Oruro, with both of which places it
is connected by rough mountain roads. A subsidized stage-coach
line runs to Oruro. A contract for a railway between the
two cities was made in 1906, connecting with the Antofagasta
and Arica lines. The climate is mild and temperate, and the
surrounding country fertile and cultivated. Cochabamba is often
described as the most progressive city of Bolivia, but it has been
held back by its isolated situation. The warehouses of the city
are well supplied with foreign goods, and trade is active in spite
of high prices. The city is provided with telegraphic communication
via Oruro, and enjoys a large part of the Amazon
trade through some small river ports on tributaries of the
Mamoré. The city is regularly laid out, and contains many
attractive residences surrounded by gardens. It is an episcopal
city (since 1847), containing many churches, four conventual
establishments, and a missionary college of the “Propaganda
Fide” for the conversion of Indians. The city has a university
and two colleges, but they are poorly equipped and receive very
little support from the government. Cochabamba was founded
in the 16th century, and for a time was called Oropesa. It took
an active part in the “war of independence,” the women distinguishing
themselves in an attack on the Spanish camp in 1815,
and some of them being put to death in 1818 by the Spanish
forces. In 1874 the city was seized and partly destroyed by
Miguel Aguirre, but in general its isolated situation has been a
protection against the disorders which have convulsed Bolivia
since her independence.
COCHEM, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province
on the Mosel, and 30 m. W. of Coblenz by the railway
to Trier, which above the town enters the longest tunnel
(2½ m.) in Germany. Pop. 3500. It is romantically situated in
the deep and winding valley of the Mosel, at the foot of a
hill surrounded by a feudal castle dating from 1051, which
has been restored in its former style. There is a considerable trade in wines.
COCHERY, LOUIS ADOLPHE (1819–1900), French statesman, was born at Paris. After studying law he soon entered politics, and was on the staff of the ministry of justice after the revolution of February 1848. From the coup d’état of 1851 to May 1869 he devoted himself to journalism. Then, elected deputy by the department of the Loiret, he joined the group of the Left Centre, and was a supporter of the revolution of the 4th of September 1870. His talent in finance won him a distinguished place in the chamber. From 1879 till 1885 he was minister of posts and telegraphs, and in January 1888 he was elected to the senate. He died in 1900.
His son, Georges Charles Paul, born in 1855, was in his father’s department from 1879 till 1885, deputy from 1885, five times president of the Budget Commission, minister of finance (1895–1898) and vice-president of the chamber (1898–1902), and again finance minister in the Briand Cabinet, 1909.
COCHIN, DENYS MARIE PIERRE AUGUSTIN (1851– ),
French politician, was born at Paris. He studied law, was elected to the chamber of deputies in 1893, and gradually became one of the leaders and principal orators of the Conservative party. He opposed the project of the income-tax in 1894, the
revision of the Dreyfus case in 1899, and the separation of the
church and state in 1905. He is known as an author by his works,
L’Évolution de la vie (1895); Le Monde extérieur (1895); Contre les barbares (1899); Ententes et ruptures (1905).
COCHIN, a feudatory state of southern India, in political
subordination to Madras, with an area of 1361 sq. m. It is
bounded on the N. by British Malabar, on the E. by British
Malabar, Coimbatore and Travancore, on the S. by Travancore,
and on the W. by British Malabar and the Arabian Sea. Isolated
from the main territory, and situated to the north-east of it,
lies the major portion of the Chittore taluk, entirely surrounded
by British territory. The whole state may be divided into three
well-defined regions or zones: (1) the eastern zone, consisting
of broken forested portions of the Western Ghats, which,
gradually decreasing in height, merge into (2) the central belt,
comprising the uplands and plains that dip towards the lagoons
or “backwaters” along the coast (see Cochin, town), beyond
which lies (3) the western zone, forming the littoral strip. The
low belt which borders on the seas and the backwaters is by
nature flat and swampy, but has in the course of ages become
enriched by the work of man. On leaving the seaboard, an
undulating country is found, diversified with grassy flats, naked
hills and wooded terraces, intersected by numerous torrents and
rapids, and profusely dotted with homesteads, orchards and
cultivated fields, up to the very foot of the Ghats. Here the
landscape, now on a grander scale, embraces great forests which
form a considerable source of wealth. Of the total area of the
state the forests and lagoons cover nearly 605 and 16 sq. m.
respectively.
In 1901 the population was 812,025, showing an increase of 12% in the decade. More than one-fifth are Christians, mostly Syrians and Roman Catholics. The revenue is estimated at £153,000, subject to a tribute of £13,000. During recent years the financial condition of the state has been flourishing. The principal products are rice, cocoanuts, timber, cardamoms, pepper and a little coffee. Salt is manufactured along the coast. The capital is Ernakulam, but the raja resides at Tripunthora. The principal commercial centre is Mattancheri, adjoining the British town of Cochin. The chief means of communication is by boat along the backwaters; but in 1902 a metre-gauge line was constructed by the Madras railway at the expense of the state to connect Ernakulam with Shoranur.
History.—What is now the native state of Cochin formed, until about the middle of the 9th century A.D., part of the ancient Chera or Kerala kingdom (see Kerala). Its port of Kodungalur (Kranganur, the ancient Muziris), at the mouth of the Periyar, was from early times one of the chief centres for the trade between Europe and India; and it was at Malankara, near Kodungalur, that the apostle Thomas is traditionally said to have landed. The history of Cochin is, however, like that of the Kerala kingdom generally, exceedingly obscure previous to the arrival of the Portuguese. The rajas of Cochin, who are of pure Kshatriya blood, claim descent from the Chera king Cheraman Perumal, the last of his race to rule the vast tract from Gokarn in North Kanara to Cape Comorin. About the middle of the 9th century this king, according to tradition, resigned his kingdom, embraced Islam, and went on pilgrimage to Arabia, where he died. Towards the end of the century the Chera kingdom was overrun and dismembered by the Cholas. It was in 1498 that Vasco da Gama reached the Malabar coast; and in 1502 the Portuguese were allowed to settle in the town of Cochin, where they built a fort and began to organize trade with the surrounding country. By the end of the century their influence had become firmly established, largely owing to the effective aid they had given to the rajas of Cochin in their wars with the Zamorin of Calicut. The Syrian Christians, forming at that time a large proportion of the population, now felt the weight of Portuguese ascendancy; in 1599 Menezes, the archbishop of Goa, held a synod at Udayamperur (Diamper), a village 12 m. south-east of Cochin, at which their tenets were pronounced heretical and their service-books purged of all Nestorian phrases. In 1663, however, Portuguese domination came to an end with the capture of Cochin by the Dutch, whose ascendancy continued for about a hundred years. In 1776 Hyder Ali of Mysore invaded the
