Merchants from West Asia and Southern Europe established coastal posts and settlements in Kerala.[70] The Israeli (Jewish) connection with Kerala started in 573 BCE.[71][72][73] Arabs also had trade links with Kerala, starting before the 4th century BCE, as Herodotus (484–413 BCE) noted that goods brought by Arabs from Kerala were sold to the Israelis [Hebrew (Jews)] at Eden.[5] In the 4th century, the Knanaya or Southist Christians also migrated from Persia and lived alongside the early Syriac Christian community known as the St. Thomas Christians who trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century.[74][75] Mappila was an honorific title that had been assigned to respected visitors from abroad; Israelite (Jewish), Syrian Christian, and Muslim immigration account for later names of the respective communities: Juda Mappilas, Muslim Mappilas, and Nasrani Mappilas.[76][77] The earliest Saint Thomas Christian Churches,[78] Cheraman Jumu'ah Masjid (traditionally dated to "629 CE" by the Mappilas)—regarded as "the first mosque of India"[79]—and Paradesi Synagogue (1568 CE)—the oldest active synagogue in the Commonwealth of Nations[80]—were built in Kerala.[81]