Complex sentence: At the same time, the very nearest place Alleppey was a cosmopolitan city having a population of above 13,000, but within a few decades Kottayam developed into a large town and it became the cultural as well as the print media capital of Kerala.
Split into simpler sentences: At the same time, the very nearest place Alleppey was a cosmopolitan city having a population of above 13,000. But within a few decades Kottayam developed into a large town and it became the cultural as well as the print media capital of Kerala.