![Vascodagama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Vascodagama.JPG)
The Kozhikode (
Malayalam: ), also known as Calicut, was the kingdom of the
Zamorin of Calicut, in the present-day Indian state of
Kerala. Present-day
Kozhikode is the second largest city in Kerala, as well as the headquarters of
Kozhikode district.
Kozhikode was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices during the
Middle ages and probably as early as
Classical antiquity. The port at
Kozhikode held the superior economic and political position in medieval Kerala coast, while Kannur,
Kollam
Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city i ...
, and
Kochi, were commercially important secondary ports, where the traders from various parts of the world would gather.
[''The Portuguese, Indian Ocean and European Bridgeheads 1500–1800''. Festschrift in Honour of Prof. K. S. Mathew (2001). Edited by: Pius Malekandathil and T. Jamal Mohammed. Fundacoa Oriente. Institute for Research in Social Sciences and Humanities of MESHAR (Kerala).] It was once the capital of an independent kingdom by the same name and later of the erstwhile
Malabar District. The port at Kozhikode acted as the gateway to medieval
South Indian coast for the
Persians, the
Arabs, the
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
, and finally the
Europeans
Europeans are the focus of European ethnology, the field of anthropology related to the various ethnic groups that reside in the states of Europe. Groups may be defined by common genetic ancestry, common language, or both. Pan and Pfeil (2004) ...
.
Foundation
![Map of Kampili kingdom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Map_of_Kampili_kingdom.png)
The ancient port of
Tyndis which was located on the northern side of
Muziris
Muziris ( grc, Μουζιρίς, Old Malayalam: ''Muciri'' or ''Muciripattanam'' possibly identical with the medieval ''Muyirikode'') was an ancient harbour and an urban centre on the Malabar Coast. Muziris found mention in the ''Periplus of ...
, as mentioned in the ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'', was somewhere around
Kozhikode.
Its exact location is a matter of dispute.
The suggested locations are
Ponnani
Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...
,
Tanur,
Beypore-
Chaliyam-
Kadalundi-
Vallikkunnu
Vallikkunnu is a village in Tirurangadi Taluk of Malappuram district in the state of Kerala, India with an area of 25 km2. It is located 5 km north of Parappanangadi town and comes under the jurisdiction of Parappanangadi Police Sta ...
, and
Koyilandy.
Tyndis was a major center of trade, next only to
Muziris
Muziris ( grc, Μουζιρίς, Old Malayalam: ''Muciri'' or ''Muciripattanam'' possibly identical with the medieval ''Muyirikode'') was an ancient harbour and an urban centre on the Malabar Coast. Muziris found mention in the ''Periplus of ...
, between the Cheras and the
Roman Empire.
Pliny the Elder (1st century CE) states that the port of ''
Tyndis'' was located at the northwestern border of ''Keprobotos'' (
Chera dynasty).
[Gurukkal, R., & Whittaker, D. (2001). In search of Muziris. ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'', ''14'', 334–350.] The
North Malabar region, which lies north of the port at ''
Tyndis'', was ruled by the kingdom of
Ezhimala during
Sangam period.
According to the ''
Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'', a region known as ''
Limyrike'' began at ''
Naura Naura may refer to:
* Naura, India, a town in the Nawanshahr district of Punjab
* Naura Ayu (born 2005), Indonesian singer
* NAURA Technology Group, Chinese company that manufactures semiconductor chip production equipment
* Michael Naura (193 ...
'' and ''
Tyndis''. However the
Ptolemy mentions only ''
Tyndis'' as the ''
Limyrikes starting point. The region probably ended at
Kanyakumari; it thus roughly corresponds to the present-day
Malabar Coast. The value of Rome's annual trade with the region was estimated at around 50,000,000
sesterces
The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an ancient Roman coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it was a large brass coin.
The na ...
.
Pliny the Elder mentioned that ''
Limyrike'' was prone by pirates. The
Cosmas Indicopleustes mentioned that the ''
Limyrike'' was a source of peppers.
During the
Sangam period (3rd4thcenturyBC), the land where
Kozhikode now stands was an uninhabited region of the
Chera Empire. This land, part of the larger
Tamilakam partly fell within the ''Kudanad'' (Western land; west of Kongunad) to the south and partly within ''Puzhinad'' (marshy tract) to the north. The dominion of the Cheras extended as far as present-day
Vatakara, beyond which lay the kingdom of Eli (
Ezhi). The ports of the Chera empire played an important role in fostering trade relations between Kerala and the outside world. According to scholars, Tyndis or Tondi (present-day
Kadalundi or
Ponnani
Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...
) to the south of Kozhikode was a flourishing seaport. During the 9th century, this region became a part of the Second Chera Empire. The Cheras (also known as Perumals) ruled the territory until 1102.
The rise of Calicut as a major trading centre and a port city does not seem to have happened before the 13th century. The
Zamorin of Calicut was originally the ruler of
Eranad
Eranad also known as Ernad refers to the erstwhile province in the midland area of Malabar, consisting of Malappuram and nearby regions such as Anakkayam, Manjeri, Kondotty, Nilambur, etc. Currently Eranad Taluk is a Taluk in Malappuram distric ...
, which was a minor principality located in the northern parts of present-day
Malappuram district
Malappuram (), is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, with a coastline of . It is the most populous district of Kerala, which is home to around 13% of the to ...
.
His headquarters was
Nediyiruppu in
Kondotty.
Later it was the ''Eradi'' (The ruler of
Eranad
Eranad also known as Ernad refers to the erstwhile province in the midland area of Malabar, consisting of Malappuram and nearby regions such as Anakkayam, Manjeri, Kondotty, Nilambur, etc. Currently Eranad Taluk is a Taluk in Malappuram distric ...
), who came to be known as Zamorin, and developed the port at
Kozhikode.
Eranad
Eranad also known as Ernad refers to the erstwhile province in the midland area of Malabar, consisting of Malappuram and nearby regions such as Anakkayam, Manjeri, Kondotty, Nilambur, etc. Currently Eranad Taluk is a Taluk in Malappuram distric ...
was ruled by a
Samanthan Nair clan known as
Eradis, similar to the
Vellodis of neighbouring
Valluvanad and
Nedungadis of
Nedunganad. The rulers of Eranad were known by the title ''Eralppad''/''Eradi''. While the first reference to the
Kingdom of Calicut
The Kozhikode (Malayalam: ), also known as Calicut, was the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut, in the present-day Indian state of Kerala. Present-day Kozhikode is the second largest city in Kerala, as well as the headquarters of Kozhikode distr ...
and
Saamoothiri
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited by ...
is made by
Ibn Battuta
Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...
in his accounts (1342–1347), there is no reference to Calicut by
Marco Polo
Marco Polo (, , ; 8 January 1324) was a Venetian merchant, explorer and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road between 1271 and 1295. His travels are recorded in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'' (also known as ''Book of the Marv ...
, who visited Kerala towards the end of the 13th Century. He does, however, mention the kingdom of Eli. This provides a clue to a plausible date for the rise of Calicut as a major kingdom on the Kerala coast. Nevertheless, Prof. Krishna Ayyar has assigned 1034CE as the year of the foundation of the city.
[Ayyar, K.V. Krishna, The Zamorins of Calicut- From the Earliest Times to A.D.1806(1938), Calicut.]
According to the ''
Keralolpathi'' (''Genesis of Kerala''), the last of the Chera kings,
Cheraman Perumal
Perumal (the 'Great One') is the name of a Hindu deity.
It was also a medieval Indian royal title of:
*Western Ganga dynasty Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala''. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171.
**Sripurusha
**Rajamalla
**Nitim ...
, partitioned the kingdom among his feudatories and secretly left for
Mecca with some Arab traders where he embraced
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
and lived the rest of his life in obscurity in
Arabia. The date of this partition is a significant turning point in the history of Kerala. It is now clear that the Cheraman Perumals ruled in the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries and that the last Cheraman Perumal was Rama Varma Kulasekhara (1089–1102). Although there is no basis for the last Perumal's conversion to Islam and pilgrimage to Mecca, it is now accepted that following his mysterious disappearance the land was partitioned and that the governors of different ''Nadus'' (fiefdoms) gained independence, proclaiming it as their 'gift' from the last sovereign.
M.G.S. Narayanan
Muttayil Govindamenon Sankara Narayanan, commonly known as M. G. S. Narayanan (born 20 August 1932) is an Indian historian, academic and political commentator. He headed the Department of History at Calicut University (Kerala) from 1976 to 1990 ...
,Calicut: The City of Truth(2006) Calicut University Publications
There is some ambiguity regarding the exact course of events that led to the establishment of the
zamorin's rule over Calicut. According to Prof. A. Sreedhara Menon (who entirely rejects the story of Cheraman Perumal's disappearance, his conversion to Islam and the subsequent gifts to his feudatories), immediately following the 'fall' of the Rama Kulasekhara, Calicut and its suburbs formed part of the Polanad Kingdom ruled by the ''Porlatiri'', which was a vassal state to the
Kolathunadu based at
North Malabar. The Eradis of Nediyirippu in Ernad (somewhere around present Kondotty) were land-locked and sought an outlet to the sea to initiate trade and commerce with distant lands. To accomplish this, the Eradis marched with their ''
nairs'' towards Panniyankara and besieged the ''Porlatiri'' in his headquarters, resulting in a 50-year war. The Eradis emerged victorious in their conquest of Polanad. After this,
Menokki
Menoky (or Menoki) is a title of Nair in the Indian state of Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-s ...
s were made as the ruler of ''Polanad'' and came to terms with the troops and people. After this, the town of Calicut was founded close to the palace at Tali. Then, the Eradis shifted their headquarters from Nediyirippu to Calicut. The Governor of Ernad built a fort at a place called Velapuram to safeguard his new interests. The fort most likely lent its name to ''Koyil Kotta'' the precursor to Calicut.
![Stellardiagram-Zhengho](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Stellardiagram-Zhengho.jpg)
However,
M.G.S. Narayanan
Muttayil Govindamenon Sankara Narayanan, commonly known as M. G. S. Narayanan (born 20 August 1932) is an Indian historian, academic and political commentator. He headed the Department of History at Calicut University (Kerala) from 1976 to 1990 ...
in his book, Calicut: The City of Truth states that the Governor of Eranad, Mana Vikrama (who became the Zamorin of Calicut later) was, in fact, a favourite of the last Ceraman Perumal, Rama Kulasekara as the former was at the forefront of the wars with the
Chola
The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...
-
Pandya forces to the South and led the army to victory.
The King, therefore, granted him, as a mark of favour, a small tract of land on the sea-coast in addition to his hereditary possessions. This patch of wasteland is called ''Cullikkad'' in the ''Keralolpathi''. To corroborate his assertion that Mana Vikrama was, in fact, a favourite of the last Perumal, Narayanan cites a stone inscription of the last ruler (1102) discovered at Kollam in South Kerala. It refers to ''Nalu taliyum ayiram arunurruvarum eranadu vazhkai Manavikiraman mutalayulla camantarum''-'The four Councillors, The Thousand, The Six Hundred, along with Mana Vikrama, the Governor of Eranad and other Feudatories'.
However, the Eradis being land-locked lacked direct access to the coastline as the territory of Polanad (''Porakilanad'') lay between Eranad and Calicut. Having been given the royal sword and the injunction ''Cattum konnum adakki kolka'' (conquer by courting and conferring death) by the last Ceraman (according to Keralolpathi), the Ernad ''Utayavar'' (Governor) waged war against the Porlatiri (''Porakilar Adhikari'') and attacked Panniyankara.
M.G.S seems to indicate that the land sought by the Ernadis, lay in fact beyond and not within the kingdom of Polanad.
With the conquest of Polanad, the status of the ''Utayavar'' (Governor) increased and he came to be known as Swami Nambiyathiri Thirumulpad and the Kingdom of Calicut also came to known as ''Nediyiruppu Swarupam'' after the original house of the Eradis at Nediyiruppu. The king's title gradually evolved into ''Samoothirippadu'' or
Saamoothiri
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited by ...
or ''Saamoori'' over the years. The Europeans called him Zamorin. The foundation of the city of Calicut was therefore laid during the initial years of the 12th century. The
Sweetmeat Street (''Mittayi Theruvu'') was an important trading street under Zamorin's rule.
In the 14th century, Kozhikode conquered larger parts of central Kerala after the seize of
Tirunavaya region from
Valluvanad, which were under the control of the king of
''Perumbadappu Swaroopam'' (Cochin). The ruler of
Perumpadappu was forced to shift his capital (c. CE 1405) further south from
Kodungallur to
Kochi. In the 15th century, the status of Cochin was reduced to a vassal state of Kozhikode, thus leading to the emergence of Kozhikode as the most powerful kingdom in medieval
Malabar Coast.
The history of Kozhikode can roughly be divided into several periods marked by a few epoch-making events. These include the city's establishment, the arrival of the Portuguese, the arrival of the Dutch, the Mysorean Invasion, the rise of British Power, the beginning of the
Indian Independence Movement and finally freedom from British rule in 1947.
Arrival of the Portuguese
![Demon of Calicut](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Demon_of_Calicut.jpg)
This single event marked an epoch in the history of Kerala and India, not because Vasco da Gama 'discovered the sea route to India' as is in the common parlance (since the Chinese, the Middle East and the African kingdoms already traded directly with India) but unlike the others, the Portuguese yearned for political power and imperial domination. Vasco da Gama's fame is more often argued as due to historical reasons for which he was hardly responsible
[Panickar.K.M, A History of Kerala(1959) Annamalai University] in that he was accompanied by a Portuguese-speaking Arab merchant provided by the Sultan of
Melinda
Melinda is a feminine given name.
Etymology
The modern name ''Melinda'' is a combination of "Mel" with the suffix "-inda". "Mel" can be derived from names such as Melanie meaning "dark, black" in Greek, or from Melissa (μέλισσα) meaning ...
in East Africa.
Vasco da Gama
Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea.
His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...
was sent by the King of Portugal Dom
Manuel I and landed in Calicut at
Kappad in 17 May 1498. Following the discovery of sea route from Europe to
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 ...
in 1498, the Portuguese began to expand their territories and ruled the seas between
Ormus and the
Malabar Coast and south to
Ceylon
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, but an interview with the Zamorin failed to produce any concrete results. Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the King, who insisted that da Gama pay customs duty like any other trader, straining the relationship between the two. The next expedition was sent by the King of Portugal under the leadership of
Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500. His agent secured a settlement to erect a factory at Calicut. This, however, precipitated matters between the Arabs and the Portuguese. The Portuguese capture of Arab vessels and ensuing massacre was retaliated by the locals who burned down the factory and butchered half of the Portuguese on land. Cabral sailed for
Cochin, where he was cordially received and allowed to load his ships. Vasco da Gama reached Calicut the second time with 15 ships and 800 men in February 1502. In January 1502, the
First Battle of Cannanore
The First Battle of Cannanore was a naval engagement between the Third Portuguese Armada under João da Nova and the naval forces of Calicut, which had been assembled by the Zamorin against the Portuguese in order to prevent their return to Por ...
between the
Third Portuguese Armada and
Kingdom of Cochin under
João da Nova and Zamorin of
Kozhikode's navy marked the beginning of Portuguese conflicts in the Indian Ocean. When da Gama's call to expel all Muslims from Calicut was vehemently turned down, he bombarded the city and captured several rice vessels, cutting off the crew's hands, ears and noses.
![Calicut 1572 (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Calicut_1572_%28cropped%29.jpg)
With rising bonhomie between the Maharaja of Cochin and the Portuguese, there followed several wars in which the Portuguese propped up Cochin and Cannanore against the Zamorin. Scores of men perished in these wars on all sides starting in 1503 and continuing till the early 1570s. In February 1509, the defeat of the joint fleet of the
Sultan of Gujarat, the
Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, and the
Zamorin of
Calicut with support of the
Republic of Venice and the
Ottoman Empire in
Battle of Diu
The Battle of Diu was a naval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian Sea, in the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, and the Zamorin ...
marked the beginning of
Portuguese dominance of the
Spice trade and the Indian Ocean. In the same year,
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
was appointed the second Viceroy of the Portuguese possessions in the East. A new fleet under
Marshall Coutinho
Marshall may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria
Canada
* Marshall, Saskatchewan
* The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia
Liberia
* Marshall, Liberia
Marshall Islands
* Marshall Islands, an ...
arrived with specific instructions to destroy the power of Calicut. The Zamorin's palace was captured and destroyed and the city was set on fire. But the King's forces rallied fast to kill Marshall Coutinho and wounded Albuquerque. Albuquerque nevertheless was clever enough to patch up his quarrel and entered into a treaty with the Zamorin in 1513 to protect Portuguese interests in Kerala. Hostilities were renewed when the Portuguese attempted to assassinate the Zamorin sometime between 1515 and 1518. From the 1520s the Zamorin's naval fleet was administered by the
Kunjali Marakkars who inflicted heavy damages to Portuguese property till 1589. King Zamorin was assisted mainly by four ministers namely Mangatachan the Chief Minister, Dharmoth Panicker, Army Chief and Teacher of Martial Arts, Kuthiravatathu Nair, Finance Minister and Kunjali Marakars, Chief of Naval Force.
In 1503, the Portuguese had built a fort in
Chaliyam with the consent of the Raja of the
Kingdom of Tanur (Vettattnad) from where they re-established supremacy over Indian waters. It provided the Portuguese ample opportunities to harass the Zamorin and enter the heart of his kingdom in the event of war. The Chaliyam fort was 'like a pistol held at the Zamorin's throat'. The Zamorin attacked Chaliyam and recaptured the fort in 1571 coinciding with the defeat of the ruler of
Vijayanagara, an ally of the Portuguese. The Portuguese were forced to abandon the fort, which was then completely demolished. The fall of Chaliyam fort marked the beginning of the end for the Portuguese in the great game of the East. The Portuguese approached the Zamorin again in 1578 for reconciliation. By 1588 they were settled in Calicut and in 1591 built a church on land donated by the Zamorin (who even laid the foundation stone). The Zamorin's growing friendship was nevertheless a result of his gradual estrangement with the Kunjali Marakkars.
By 1663, the Portuguese flag ceased to fly in Kerala as the Dutch arrived at the scene and captured all their strongholds of Quilon, Cranganore, Purakkadm, Cochin and Cannanore.
Arrival of the Dutch
In 1602, the
Zamorin sent messages to
Aceh
Aceh ( ), officially the Aceh Province ( ace, Nanggroë Acèh; id, Provinsi Aceh) is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a s ...
promising the Dutch a fort at
Kozhikode if they would come and trade there. Two factors, Hans de Wolff and Lafer, were sent on an Asian ship from Aceh, but the two were captured by the chief of
Tanur, and handed over to the Portuguese.
[Sanjay Subrahmanyam. "The Political Economy of Commerce: Southern India 1500–1650". Cambridge University Press, 2002] A Dutch fleet under Admiral
Steven van der Hagen arrived at Kozhikode in November 1604. It marked the beginning of the Dutch presence in Kerala and they concluded a treaty with
Kozhikode on 11 November 1604, which was also the first treaty that the
Dutch East India Company made with an Indian ruler.
By this time the kingdom and the port of
Kozhikode was much reduced in importance.
The treaty provided for a mutual alliance between the two to expel the Portuguese from Malabar. In return the
Dutch East India Company was given facilities for trade at Kozhikode and
Ponnani
Ponnani () is a municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the estuary of Bharatappuzha (Riv ...
, including spacious storehouses.
It provided for a mutual alliance between the Zamorin and the Dutch to expel the Portuguese from Indian soil. In return, they were given facilities for trade at Calicut, including spacious storehouses. The Dutch could not, however, stay for long. Their force weakened after constant wars with Marthanda Varma of Travancore (until 1753) and was forced to surrender to a British force that marched from Calicut to Cochin on 20 October 1795 (as part of the larger
Napoleonic Wars between
Holland and England in Europe).
Travancore became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful
Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of
Purakkad in 1755.
The Mysore invasions
Hyder Ali ascended the throne of Mysore in 1761. By 1764, he obtained a pledge of neutrality from the British at
Tellicherry in the event of a conflict with the Kerala powers. In February 1766, Hyder Ali marched into northern Kerala. Except for a few decisive battles, he faced meagre opposition and entered Calicut. The Zamorin sent the members of his family to Ponnani, blew up his palace and to avoid the humiliation of surrender committed self-immolation. A revenue officer named Madanna was appointed Civil Governor of Malabar with headquarters at Calicut. The rebellion soon broke out and the Mysorean garrison was besieged by the Nairs. Hyder Ali rushed to crush the rebellion devastating the countryside and employed draconian measures to suppress the Nairs including defrocking of their social status Successfully achieving his objectives, he had to return to Mysore soon to deal with the
Maratha threat. Rebellion broke out again. Hyder Ali engaged in diplomacy this time through Madanna and agreed to withdraw his forces for which a war indemnity was to be paid to him. But he made a second attempt in December 1773 and re-established his authority in Malabar. However, with the help of the British, the Nairs led by the famous
Ravi Varma of Padinjare Kovilakam, wiped out the Mysorean garrison in Calicut by 1778. By 1783 Tipu Sultan established his authority over Northern Kerala. He planned to shift the capital from Calicut to the south of the city on the banks of the river
Chaliyar and even named it 'Farookhabad' now called
Feroke. This ambitious plan soon failed. In November 1788, Calicut was attacked by the Nairs under
Ravi Varma of the Padinjare Kovilakam. Tipu returned in 1789 to re-establish his authority. This, however, brought him in direct conflict with the
British based in
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
, which resulted in four
Anglo-Mysore Wars. Calicut and the surrounding districts were among the territories ceded to the British after the
Third Anglo-Mysore War by the Treaties of Seringapatam with the British on 22 February and 18 March 1792. The newly acquired possessions on the
Malabar Coast were organised into the
Malabar District of
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
, and Calicut became the district capital.
British domination
The arrival of
British in Kerala can be traced back to the year 1615, when a group under the leadership of Captain
William Keeling
Captain William Keeling (1577 – 19 September 1619), of the East India Company, was a British sea captain. He commanded the ''Susanna'' on the second East India Company voyage in 1604. During this voyage his crew was reduced to fourteen men and ...
arrived at Kozhikode, using three ships.
It was in these ships that Sir
Thomas Roe went to visit
Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
, the fourth
Mughal emperor, as
British envoy.
The British concluded a treaty of trade under which, among others, the English were to assist Calicut in expelling the Portuguese from Cochin and Cranganore, a term that the British never fulfilled. In 1664, Zamorin gave the English permission to build a factory in Calicut but did not extend any other favours as he was by now growing suspicious of all European traders. The English maintained neutrality in the conflict between Mysore and the Kerala powers in 1766 and was an important factor which facilitated early success to Hyder Ali. However, tensions between the English and Mysore arose soon. The English army under Major Abington helped
Ravi Varma of Padinjare Kovilakam in the recapture of Calicut in 1782 from Mysore. The
East India Company however did not stand by Lord Cornwallis' promise to the exiled rulers that they will be restored after the expulsion of Tipu. By 1792, the whole of Malabar including Calicut came under the British dominion. Ravi Varma now turned against the company but was soon captured in 1793. The rebellion continued even after the capture of Ravi Varma till 1797. Under
British Raj, it acted as the headquarters of
Malabar District, one of the two districts in the western coast of erstwhile
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
. During the
British rule, Malabar's chief importance lay in producing
pepper
Pepper or peppers may refer to:
Food and spice
* Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plant
** Black pepper
* ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae
** Bell pepper
** Chili ...
. Kozhikode municipality was formed on 1 November 1866 according to the Madras Act 10 of 1865 (Amendment of the Improvements in Towns act 1850)
of the
British Indian Empire, making it the first modern municipality in the state.
National movement
The city also witnessed several movements as part of the struggle for Indian independence from the British. A conference of the Congress was held at Calicut in 1904 with C. Vijayaraghavachariar in the chair. A branch of the
All India Home Rule League founded by
Ms. Annie Besant started functioning in the city. In 1916, Sri K.P.Kesava Menon staged a walk out of the Town Hall when he was denied permission by the Collector Mr Innes to address the meeting in
Malayalam. The period saw a rise in political journalism as well. The ''
Mathrubhumi'' in March 1923 and ''Al Amin'' in October 1924 were started by Sri K.P.Kesava Menon and Muhammad Abdur Rahiman respectively to foster the spirit of Nationalism. On 12 May 1930, Satyagrahi's assembled at Calicut beach under the leadership of Muhammad Abdur Rahiman to break the 'Salt laws' were attacked by the police injuring more than 30 people. K.P.Krishna Pillai and R.V.Sharma defended the National flag from forcible seizure by the police on this occasion. During the Second Civil Disobedience Movement (1932), all four hundred delegates who attended the All Kerala Political Conference in September 1932 were arrested. The incident wherein Mrs L.S.Prabhu (of
Thalassery), who courted arrest during the conference, was ordered to surrender all her gold ornaments including the ''tali'' or
mangalsutra received nationwide condemnation. Calicut was also a major centre for the rising Communist Party of Malabar (1939) and the
Quit India Movement
The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...
(1942). Kerala chapter of the Communist Party was formed in a secret meeting held at Kallai Road in the year 1937.
After Indian Independence in 1947, Madras Presidency was renamed the
Madras State. In 1956 when the Indian states were reorganised along linguistic lines, Malabar District was combined with the state of
Travancore-Cochin to form the new state of Kerala on 1 November 1956. Malabar District was later split into the districts of
Kannur,
Kozhikode, and
Palakkad on 1 January 1957. Kozhikode was upgraded as a Municipal Corporation in 1962, making it the second-oldest Municipal Corporation in the state.
See also
*
Saamoothiri
The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edited by ...
References
Further reading
*
* M. G. S. Narayanan, ''Calicut: The City of Truth Revisited'' Kerala. University of Calicut, 2006
* A. Sreedhara Menon, ''A Survey of Kerala History'', (1967), Madras, 1991
* (The English translation of the historic book
Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen written about the society of Kozhikode by
Zainuddin Makhdoom II during sixteenth century CE)
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Kozhikode
Colonial Kerala