Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations -- Weights, Measures, and Currency -- Glossary -- Maps -- Introduction -- Inspiration for Research -- A Note on Sources -- Points of Discussion -- Chapter One: Getting to Know Places and Peoples: Cochin circa 1750 -- Locating Fort Cochin -- Ports North of Fort Cochin -- Ports South of Fort Cochin -- Fort Cochin: A Fortified Town -- Dutch Administration of Fort Cochin -- The Port of Cochin -- The Peoples in and around Fort Cochin -- Within the Walls -- Outside the Walls -- Conclusion -- Chapter Two: The Metamorphosis of the Malabar Command (1750-1784) -- Changing Times: Europe and India -- Power Struggle in Europe -- The Scenario in India -- The Malabar Coast -- A Dance for the Bride -- VOC and Pepper from Malabar -- Profitability of the Malabar Command -- Batavia's Ill-founded Doubts -- From Black Pepper to Brown Soil -- Advocates of Landed Wealth -- Batavia's Men -- A Reassessment -- Conclusion -- Chapter Three: The Social World of Fort Cochin -- Mestizos and Merchants -- Households and Family Units -- Servants of the Company -- Daughters, Wives, and Widows -- Living in Fort Cochin -- In Search of Livelihood -- The Circle of Life -- Daily Life -- Public Institutions -- The Court of Justice -- Church, School, and Orphanage -- Leper House and Hospital -- Conclusion -- Chapter Four: Days of Reckoning (1784-1795) -- Winds of Change -- England and the EIC -- The Dutch Republic and the VOC -- The State of Affairs of the Malabar Command -- Sale of the Malabar Command -- The Commander Leads -- The Take-over of Fort Cochin -- Contact for Conquest -- Declaring Loyalties -- A Surrender? -- Conclusion -- Chapter Five: Life after the VOC -- Primary Changes after the Take-over -- The British Administration -- First Reactions of the Inhabitants -- New Opportunities -- Leaving Fort Cochin -- A Season of Lovers -- Staying On.

The Peoples Re-visited -- Conclusion -- Chapter Six: Adapting to British Cochin (1798-1830) -- Ongoing War -- The Demolition of Fort Cochin -- At Home in British Cochin -- Lingering Shadows -- New Prosperity or Wishful Thinking? -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Appendices -- 1: Memorandum of gardens and lands belonging to the VOC on the coast of Malabar, dated 1781 -- 2: List of people living in Fort Cochin towards the end of 1792 -- 3: List of people in the orphanage on the Heerenstraat in 1792, whose estates were being managed by the Orphan Board -- 4: Number of households per street (1792) -- 5: List of Residents of Cochin on 5 April 1814 -- 6: A few grave-stones of Dutch persons connected with Fort Cochin that could be traced in Malabar up to mid-nineteenth century -- 7: VOC and EIC Commanders, Governors, and Governors-General -- 8: Family-tree of families of Cochin -- I. Weyerman Family-tree -- II. Daimichen Family-tree -- III. Lunel Family-tree -- IV. Van Spall Family-tree -- V. Weinsheimer Family-tree -- Bibliography -- Index -- List of Maps -- 1: Map of present-day Cochin -- 2: Map of the Malabar Coast -- List of Tables -- 1.1: The number of employees in India and Ceylon prior to 1750 -- 1.2: The number of employees in India and Ceylon (1751-1789) -- 1.3: Households and population of Fort Cochin (1700 and 1730) -- 1.4: Employees of the VOC in Cochin (1750 and 1755) -- 1.5: Qualified employees of the VOC in Cochin (1750 and 1755) -- 1.6: VOC commanders and governors of Malabar (1747-1795) -- 2.1: Average yearly amounts of pepper in pounds bought by the VOC in Malabar (1740-1787) -- 2.2: Amounts of pepper in pounds bought in Malabar and other places by the VOC averaged per year (1740-1749=100) -- 2.3: Malabar local financial results in guilders (1749-1794).

2.4: Gross profit and expenses of Malabar (1749-1784), according to VOC book-keeping system, added up for every five years -- 3.1: Persons in Fort Cochin as part of households in Fort Cochin (1760 and 1790) -- 3.2: Size of households in Fort Cochin (1760 and 1790) -- 3.3: Slaves in Fort Cochin (1760 and 1790) -- 3.4: Slaves per household (1760 and 1790) -- 3.5: Qualified employees of the VOC in Fort Cochin (1760-1785) -- 3.6: Total number of employees of the VOC in Fort Cochin (1760-1785) -- 3.7: Number of VOC Employees (on land) in Fort Cochin (1750-1788) -- 3.8: Company servants in Fort Cochin and their places of origin (1760 and 1788) -- 3.9: Single women in Fort Cochin (1760 and 1790) -- List of Figures -- 2.1: Malabar local financial results in guilders (1661-1700) -- 2.2: Malabar net profit and loss (1661-1795) -- 2.3: Malabar local financial results in guilders (1749-1794) -- 3.1: Population composition of Fort Cochin (1760 and 1790) -- 3.2: VOC employees in Fort Cochin (1750-1788) -- 3.3: Qualified employees of the VOC in Fort Cochin (1760-1785) -- 3.4: Composition of VOC employees in Fort Cochin (1760 and 1788) -- List of Illustrations -- 1: A view of Cochin by James Forbes, 14 Feb. 1772 -- 2: Dutch houses in Fort Cochin -- 3: View of Cochin with the Union Jack by William Alexander, circa 1800 -- 4: Gravestones of VOC personnel and family members in Fort Cochin.