Renowned as the 'Land of Cashews', Kollam also known as Quilon is an old seaport town situated on the Arabian coast. This scenic tourist destination on the banks of the Ashtamudi lake, is the southern gateway to the backwaters in Kerala. Earlier known as Desinganadu, it used to be a main commercial center as well as a city of palaces. The Malayalam era is calculated from the origin of Kollam in the 9th century. The towns later history is interwoven with the Portuguese; the first Europeans to set up trade, Dutch and English rivalry for control of the Indian ocean trade routes and the commodities grown in this part of the subcontinent. The time honored Malayalam proverb “Kollam kandavanu illam venda” (Once you have seen Kollam, you would no more need your home) gives the idea of the picturesque city that holds attractive places of interest, beaches, water falls, places of worship etc. The beach sands of the district have concentrations of heavy minerals like Ilmenite, Rutile, Monasite and Zircon and that offers scope of utilisation for industrial purpose. 'Leelathilakam' and 'Unnuneelisandesam' are two important literary gifts of 14th century Kollam to Kerala and other cultural contributions of historical importance include Ramanattam and Krishnattam. Having 2,492 sq. kms area, Kollam district ranks seventh in the state.