Kozhikode History, India

Malabar Coast has been famous amongst the Indians as well as those foreign traders who used to perform spice trade from India. Malabar Coast has been serving the needs of spice traders for last two millenniums. This is a proof how important this port used to be during those early years of Indian History.

This again gives a proof to the growing importance of Kozhikode on the International front. Kozhikode was famous as an independent kingdom during the 14th century. Its ruler was Samoothirippadu (the easier anglicized version of this name Zamorin is often used). Same is the reason why Kozhikode was many times called by the name of City of Zamorins during those early years. Many documents and manuscripts are a proof for all this.

It was the year 1498 when the Vasco Da Gama, the famous Portuguese Traveler discovered the sea route to Kozhikode and this made Kozhikode famous in other countries. Vasco Da Gama had actually landed on Kappad which is a port located around 25 kilometers from Calicut. Slowly he started to discover places around this port and this is when he discovered Kozhikode. This visit of Vasco Da Gama discovered that sea route which was later on used by the Europeans to perform trade from and to the country of India for over 100 years to come.

Initially during the 16th Century the Zamorin rulers resisted the entry of Portuguese on this land but by the year 1509 these rulers were pinched down by the Portuguese thus establishing their control over the port. It was the mid years of 17th century when the Dutch had started to enter Malabar Coast and start taking control of this region.

Hyder Ali, the famous ruler of Mysore, captured Kozhikode somewhere in the year of 1766 and this wasn’t appreciated by the British Rulers. As a result, India had to face 4 Anglo Mysore Wars which continued for years. It took some time but finally Kozhikode was totally under the control of Mysore.

After the independence of India, the Madras Presidency was changed to the state of Madras. By 1956, Kerala was formed and the Malabar District was split into small districts called as Kozhikode, Kannur, and Palakkad by 1957.