Colachal (Tamil: குளச்சல்) is located within the administrative jurisdiction of Kanyakumari District. Colachel is a second grade Municipal town situated on the west coast of Kanyakumari District. It is a port on the Malabar coast, 20 km north-west of Kanya Kumari (Cape Comorin), the southernmost tip of peninsular India.

It is an ancient port town, Vasco-Da-gama called it ‘Colachi’. Before the State re-organization in 1956, it was part of the Travancore State. It was a Dutch colony which came under Travancore. After the defeat of the Dutch by King Marthandavarma in 1751, a victory pillar had been erected near the beach in commemoration of the victory. The town is bounded on the south by Arabian Sea. It has Pampoori Vaikal in its Western side. Nagercoil the headquarters of Kanyakumari District is 20 km away from this town in the North East Direction.

A dramatic and virtually unknown past, in an area of bucolic calm surrounded by spectacular hills: that is Colachel, a name that should be better known to us. For this is where, in 1741, an extraordinary event took place the Battle of Colachel. For the first, and perhaps the only time in Indian history, an Indian kingdom defeated a European naval force.