Alappuzha district (), is one of the 14 districts in the Indian state of Kerala. It was formed as Alleppey district on 17 August 1957, the name of the district being changed to Alappuzha in 1990. Alappuzha is the smallest district of Kerala. Alleppey town, the district headquarters, was renamed Alappuzha in 2012.
A town with canals, backwaters, beaches, and lagoons, Alappuzha was described by George Curzon, the British Governor-General of India in the beginning of the 20th century CE, as the "Venice of the Eastern world." The district is best known for its picturesque Kerala Backwaters, by which it is well connected to other parts of Kerala, including the tourist destination of Kumarakom, the district being a well known tourist destination in India. It is also known for its coir factories, as most of Kerala's coir industries are situated in and around the Alappuzha town.
The Vembanad lake, which lies below the sea level, is the longest lake in the Indian peninsula, and the district of Alappuzha lies between this lake and the Arabian Sea.
The district was home to the Communist-led Punnapra-Vayalar uprising against the Divan of the British Princely state of Travancore in the 1940s.
[Mariners club Alleppey (MCA)] established in the year 2024, by a group of seafarers sailing in the merchant navy.[https://www.instagram.com/mca_alleppey?igsh=MWV2c2R2ZWZndDZ0dg==]
when the modern Alappuzha district was formed. Alappuzha district was formed on 17 August 1957 and consisted initially of seven taluks, namely Cherthala, Ambalappuzha, Kuttanad, Chengannur, Karthikappally and Mavelikkara.
The name Ᾱlappuzha is a toponym. ‘Ᾱlayam’ means ‘home’ and ‘puzha’, according to Dr. Herman Gundert's dictionary, means ‘watercourse’ or ‘river’. The name refers to the network of waterways and backwaters in Alappuzha and its surrounding areas. The district is bounded on the north by Kochi and Kanayannur taluks of Ernakulam district, on the east by Vaikom, Kottayam and Changanassery taluks of Kottayam district and Thiruvalla, Kozhencherry and Adoor taluks of Pathanamthitta district, on the South by Kunnathur and Karunagappally taluks of Kollam district and on the west by Laccadive Sea.
Present-day Alappuzha district comprises six taluks, namely Cherthala, Ambalappuzha, Kuttanad, Karthikappally, Chengannur and Mavelikkara. The area of the district is . Its headquarters is located at Alappuzha.
History
thumb|[[Raja Kesavadas Statue at Changanassery]]
The present-day town of Alappuzha owes its existence to Raja Kesavadas during the second half of the 18th century CE. However the district of Alappuzha had an important position in the classical Malayalam literature. Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala, was well known from the early Sangam period itself.
Classical antiquity
left|thumbnail|The [[Lighthouse at Purakkad]]
History records that the region which now constitutes the modern-day district of Alappuzha had trade relations with the ancient Greece, the ancient Rome, the ancient Levant, the ancient Arabian peninsula, and the Ancient Egypt during the Sangam period in the early centuries of the Common Era.
The ancient port town of Barace which is recorded as an important centre of the Indian Ocean trade in the ancient Greco-Roman travelogues such as the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (written around 50 CE) is often identified with the modern-day coastal town of Purakkad on the mouth of the Pamba River in the Alappuzha district.
Early members of the Chera dynasty had their home in Kuttanad and were sometimes known as the Kuttuvans.
The feudal monarch of Chempakasseri was at its zenith during the reign of Pooradam Thirunal Devanarayanan, a great scholar and a poet who was also the author of the literary work Vedantha Ratnamala. It is said that Ambalappuzha Sri Krishna Temple, at Ambalappuzha, was constructed and the idol of Lord Krishna installed during that time. Chempakassery was ruled by Brahmin monarchs during the medieval period. It was a branch of the ancient Ay kingdom. The 19th century social reformer Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker hails from the modern-day district of Alappuzha.
The first modern factory for the manufacture of Coir mats and mattings was also established in 1859 at Alappuzha. The Alappuzha Town Improvement Committee was set up in 1894.
thumbnail|The [[Communist memorial column in memory of the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising which occurred in 1946 against the Divan of the British Princely state of Travancore.
Forest and wildlife
thumbnail|The [[Pathiramanal island – a view from Muhamma]]
Alappuzha was the only district in Kerala without public forest land. But that changed in 2013, when of land at Veeyapuram was declared as reserved forest by the Forest and Wildlife Department.
Pathiramanal island on the Vembanad lake of Alappuzha district is famous for rare migrating birds.
Administration
thumb|Alappuzha District Court
thumb|Alleppey Bar Association
Alappuzha city is the administrative headquarters of the Alappuzha district. The district is divided into two revenue divisions-Alappuzha and Chengannur.
Legislative representation
There are two Lok Sabha constituencies in Alappuzha: Alappuzha and Mavelikara.
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Taluks
The district is divided into two revenue divisions which together incorporate six Taluks within them.
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- Taluks in the Chengannur Revenue Division are:
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!#
!Collector
!Number of days
|-
| 1 || Sriram Venkitaraman || 7
|-
| 2 || P. Venugopal || 20
|-
| 3 || P. M. Abraham || 38
|-
| 4 || V. Retheesan || 42
|-
| 5 || V. K. Vasudevan || 73
|-
| 6 || K. J. John || 85
|-
| 7 || Mini Antony || 100
|-
| 8 || P. Venugopal || 102
|-
| 9 || Adeela Abdulla || 141
|-
| 10 || Renu Raj || 144
|-
| 11 || K. R. Viswambharan || 170
|-
| 12 || R. Girija || 176
|-
| 13 || M. Anjana || 196
|-
| 14 || Paul Antony || 212
|-
| 15 || K. B. Warrier || 228
|-
| 16 || Saurabh Jain || 230
|-
| 17 || P. Venugopal || 240
|-
| 18 || Romanus Horo || 261
|-
| 19 || T. V. Anupama || 281
|-
| 20 || E. Shahul Hameed || 282
|-
| 21 || K. M. Abraham || 305
|-
| 22 || V. R. Padmanabahan || 309
|-
| 23 || P. Velayudhan nair || 315
|-
| 24 || N. C. Surendran || 350
|-
| 25 || P. Sreedhara Menon || 352
|-
| 26 || M. N. Gunavardhanan || 363
|-
| 27 || Veena N. Madhavan || 371
|-
| 28 || Suhas S. || 377
|-
| 29 || K. B. A. Hameed || 379
|-
| 30 || A. K. K. Nambiar || 396
|-
| 31 || S. Ayyappan Nair || 397
|-
| 32 || Pradeepkumar || 416
|-
| 33 || M. N. Gunavardhanan || 419
|-
| 34 || Kshatrapati Shivaji || 439
|-
| 35 || K. Ramunni Menon || 444
|-
| 36 || N. Kaleeswaran || 462
|-
| 37 || K. Narayanan || 463
|-
| 38 || M. Dandapani || 463
|-
| 39 || V. J. Kurian || 481
|-
| 40 || T. V. Swaminathan || 530
|-
| 41 || K. Rose || 590
|-
| 42 || A. Alexandar || 637
|-
| 43 || P. Venugopal || 646
|-
| 44 || K. R. Muraleedharan || 649
|-
| 45 || K. Bhaskaran Nair || 684
|-
| 46 || V. K. Balakrishnan || 686
|-
| 47 || C. P. Ramakrishna Pillai || 695
|-
| 48 || Jose Cyriac K. || 760
|-
| 49 || R. Narayanan || 795
|-
| 50 || T. G. Rajendran || 895
|-
| 51 || K. M. Ramanandan || 931
|-
| 52 || P. Bharathan || 988
|-
| 53 || K. Sivasankaran Nair || 993
|-
| 54 || N. Padmakumar || 1039
|-
| 55 || K. Balakrishna Kurup || 1146
|}
Demographics
{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Area
| 1414 km<sup>2</sup> – 3.64% of area of the state
|-
| Population
| 2,127,789 – 6.61% of the population of the state (2011)
|-
| Population density || 1504/km<sup>2</sup> (2011)
|-
| Literacy || 97.36%–94.24% (2011)
|-
| Sex ratio || 1100 females/1000 males
|-
| Urbanization || 29.46%
|}
According to the 2011 census, Alappuzha district has a population of 2,127,789, roughly equal to the nation of Namibia or the US state of New Mexico. This gives it a ranking of 216th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of .
It has the highest population density among all districts of the state. It is 29.46% urbanized, and is the smallest district in Kerala.