Punnaikkayal (called Punicale by the Portuguese), is a harbour city in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

, India. Punnaikkayal seems to have been the main Portuguese possession on the southern Coast of India for a period of 50 years after their arrival from 1551, when they established 2 hospitals, a seminary, and the next year a mud fort.''A political and general history of the district of Tinnevelly'' Robert Caldwell p.72
/ref> The first Tamil Printing press was set up at Punnaikkayal in 1579. The Tamil Types had been made by Fr. Joam de Faria. Fr.

Henrique Henriques Henrique Henriques (also known as Anrique Anriquez) (1520–1600) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary who spent most of his life in missionary activities in South India. After his initial years in Goa he moved to Tamil Nadu where he mast ...

himself composed the following books in Tamil: ''Thambiran Vanakkam'', ''Kiriiciththiyaani valvakkam'', ''Confessionario'' (in Tamil: Kompeciyoonaayaru), and the ''

Flos Sanctorum ''Flos'' is a genus of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae. The species of this genus are commonly known as plushblues and are found in the Indomalayan realm. Species *''Flos diardi'' (Hewitson, 1862) - shining plushblue, bifid plushblue *''F ...

'' in Tamil, whose title has not come down to us, though we have the whole book. Punnaikkayal was the site of an Ottoman attack against the Portuguese possessions of the coast of India in 1553. The Ottomans raided the Pearl Fishery Coast of South India around

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital and ...

, where the Portuguese were attempted to establish trade. They were assisted by the

Marakkar Marakkar/Maricar/Marecar/Marikkar/Markiyar/Marican/Marecan (Malayalam:Marakkar; Tamil: Marrakayar)( Sinhalese: Marakkala), is a South Asian Muslim community found in parts of the Indian states of Kerala (The Malabar Coast), Tamil Nadu (the Palk ...

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

, and had the tacit agreement of Vittula Nayak of

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

.''Maritime India-Trade, Religion and Polity In the Indian Ocean''
by

Pius Malekandathil Pius Malekandathil (born 1960) is an Indian historian and a priest of the Syro-Malabar Church. He is a professor at the Centre for Historical Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is a leading expert in medieval history of India an ...

p.117 52 Portuguese were captured at Punnaikayal, and churches burnt down.

died at Punnaikkayal in 1600. Historical World Record of Being The First Dedicated Tamil Printing Press in the world, build in Punnaikkayal by Rev. Fr. Henrique Henriques (1520-1600) of the Jesuit Missionaries (aka. Society of Jesus) in the 16th Century and to print the book titled "Flos Sanctorum" (Adiyar Varalaaru) in Tamil language in 1586, as Universel Achievers book of Records ISO Official world record certification organization Confirmed on 18th November, 2021. Notable People from Punnaikkayal Bishop Francis Tiburtius Roche

Notes

{{reflist Villages in Thoothukudi district

See also

Notes