Changnachery, a small town 18 km south of Kottayam and 78 km north of Kollam, played a major role in the development of the Syro-Malabar church in India.

In the 4th century, followers of the Church of St Thomas Christians, later called the Syro-Malabar church, migrated from Persia to India. One of the first towns they settled in was Changnachery, which still has a large population of Syrian Christians.