Kochi

Kochi ([koˈtʃːi ]), also known as Cochin (KO-chin), is a major port city on the south-west coast of India by the Arabian Sea and is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of Kerala. It is often called Ernakulam, which refers to the mainland part of the city. With a total metropolitan population of 2.1 million. It is the second largest city corporation in Kerala, with a corporation limit population of 612,343 and is part of an extended metropolitan region, which is the largest urban agglomeration in the state. Kochi city is also a part of the Greater Cochin region and is classified as a Tier-II city by the Government of India. The civic body that governs the city is the Cochin Municipal Corporation, which was constituted in the year 1967, and the statutory bodies that oversee its development are the Greater Cochin Development Authority (GCDA) and the Goshree Islands Development Authority (GIDA).

Known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi was an important spice trading centre on the west coast of India from the 14th century. Occupied by the Portuguese in 1503, Kochi was the first of the European colonies in colonial India. It remained the main seat of Portuguese India until 1530, when Goa was chosen instead. The city was later occupied by the Dutch and the British, with the Kingdom of Cochin becoming a princely state. Kochi ranks first in the total number of international and domestic tourist arrivals in Kerala. Kochi has been ranked the sixth best tourist destination in India according to a survey conducted by the Nielsen Company on behalf of the Outlook Traveller magazine. Kochi was one of the 28 Indian cities found to be among the emerging 440 global cities that will contribute 50% of the world GDP by the year 2025, in a 2011 study done by the McKinsey Global Institute.

Cochin chicken

The Cochin or Cochin China, is a breed of chicken. The name Cochin came from the original Chinese name 九斤黄(in pinyin: jiujin huang), meaning nine-catty yellow, erroneously conflated with the then-current names for what are now parts of southern India and Vietnam, where jin is a traditional Chinese measurement of weight. In China itself, the name 九斤黄 is actually used for any large chicken or even a dish made from one.

History

This chicken was originally bred in China and later exported to Britain and America in the mid 19th century.

As a very distinctive breed of chicken, it apparently created a bit of a craze among poultry lovers in the English-speaking world, effectively launching poultry fancy as we know it today.

Not only was this breed one of the largest seen, with cocks weighing up to 5 kg (11 lb), but also its soft and very plentiful plumage, similar to the Japanese Silkie, makes the bird conspicuous by exaggerating its already large size. It was successfully bred into other birds.

Cochin (typeface)

Cochin is a Transitional serif typeface. It was originally produced in 1912 by Georges Peignot for the Paris foundry G. Peignot et Fils (future Deberny & Peignot) and was based on the copperplate engravings of French 17th century artist Nicolas Cochin, from which the typeface also takes its name. The font has a small x-height with long ascenders. Georges Peignot also created the design 'Nicolas-Cochin' as a looser variation in the same style.

The typeface is used in the Harry Potter covers produced by Bloomsbury Publishing.

In 1977 Cochin was adapted and expanded by Matthew Carter for Linotype, and this is the version best known today as a system font on OS X. Other companies issued versions of the design in the metal type era.

The original and 'Nicolas-Cochin' designs were also digitised by LTC and Linotype, and other versions are available from others including URW++, which adds an additional black weight not available from Linotype.Sol Hess designed a bold design in the same style. Badr is an Arabic font from Linotype by Osman Husseini which uses Cochin for its Latin alphabet.