History of Kozhikode
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Kozhikode (Malayalam: [koiko] ( )), formerly known as Calicut , is a city in the southern Indian state of Kerala. It is the third largest city in Kerala and the headquarters of Kozhikode district. Kozhikode has had a long and illustrious history- that of resplendent trade, poignant invasions and liberation struggles. It was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices[1] during the Middle ages and probably as early as Classical antiquity. Kozhikode was once the capital of an independent kingdom by the same name and later of the erstwhile Malabar District.
Contents
1 Foundation 2 Arrival of the Portuguese 3 Arrival of the Dutch 4 The Mysore invasions 5 British domination 6 National movement 7 See also 8 References
Foundation
See also: Revathi Pattathanam During the Sangam period, 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 Image of Calicut, India from Georg north. The dominion of the Cheras extended till present day Vadakara, Braun and Frans Hogenberg's atlas beyond which was the kingdom of Eli (Ezhi). The ports of Chera empire Civitates orbis terrarum, 1572 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) 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 CE. The rise of Calicut as a major trading centre and a port city does not seem to have happened before the 13th century. While the first references to the Kingdom of Calicut and Saamoothiri is made by Ibn Battuta in his accounts (13421347), there is no reference to Calicut by Marco Polo who visited Kerala towards the end of the
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13th Century. He however mentions the kingdom of Eli. This certainly provides a clue to the plausible date for the rise of Calicut as a major kingdom on the Kerala coast. Nevertheless, Prof. Krishna Ayyar has assigned CE 1034 as the year of foundation of the city.[2] According to the Keralolpathi (Genesis of Kerala), the last of the Chera kings, Cheraman Perumal partitioned the kingdom among his feudatories and secretly left for Mecca with some Arab traders, embraced Islam 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 the last Cheraman Perumal was Rama Varma Kulasekhara (CE 10891102). Although there is no basis for the last Perumal's converion to Islam and pilgrimage to Mecca, it is now accepted that following his mysterious disappearance the land was certainly partitioned and that the governors of different nadus (fiefdoms) gained independence, proclaiming it as their 'gift' from the last sovereign.[3] There is some ambiguity regarding the exact course of events that led to the establishment of Zamorin's rule over Calicut. According to Prof. A. Sreedhara Menon (who entirely rejects the story of Cheraman Perumals 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.[4] The Eradis of Nediyirippu in Ernad (somewhere around present Kondotty) where land-locked and sought an outlet to the sea to initiate trade and commerce with the distant lands.[5] To accomplish this, the Eradis marched with their Nairs towards Panniankara and besieged the Porlatiri in his headquarters, resulting in a 50-year long war. The Eradis emerged victorious in their conquest of Polanad and shifted there 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. However, M.G.S. Narayanan 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-Pandya forces to the South and led the army to victory.[3] 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 (CE 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[6] being land-locked lacked direct access to the coast line 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.
Zheng He's navigation chart from Hormuz to Calicut, 1430
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With the conquest of Polanad, the status of the Utayavar (Governor) increased and he became 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 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 history of Kozhikode can the roughly 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
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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.
British domination
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The British reached Calicut in 1615 under Captain William Keeling and 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 foreign(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 Engraving of the coast of Calicut Cornwallis' promise to the exiled rulers that they will be restored after the (James Forbes, 1813) 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. A series of twenty-two riots perpetrated by individuals or groups of Mappilas began to characterise the early British period in and around Calicut, a common feature of which was murder of Hindu janmis (landlords) and desecration of Hindu temples. In 1855, H.V. Conolly, the district magistrate of Malabar was murdered by four Mappila convicts at Calicut. The riots culminated in the 'Malabar rebellion'(1921) against the British with acts of violence targeting Hindus as well. While it was widely believed in the initial years that the riots were the result of issues of land tenures and tenant rights, it is now generally agreed that apart from poverty and agrarian grievances, religious bigotry(encouraged by the Khilafat Movement) and the loss of valuable social status to the Mappilas with the ouster of the Mysore rulers, played an important role too.
National movement
The city was also witness to 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 with the aim of fostering 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 nation- wide condemnation. Calicut was also a major centre for the rising Communist Party of Malabar (1939) and the Quit India Movement (1942). Ater 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.
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See also
Saamoothiri
References
1. ^ "Lectures 2627" (http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/history/lecture26/lec26.html). Purdue University. Retrieved 2009-09-23. 2. ^ Ayyar,K.V. Krishna, The Zamorins of Calicut- From the Earliest Times to A.D.1806(1938),Calicut. 3. ^ a b M.G.S. Narayanan,Calicut: The City of Truth(2006) Calicut University Publications 4. ^ Sreedhara Menon.A,A Survey of Kerala History(1967),p.152. D.C.Books Kottayam 5. ^ Bhratya sthalanma patrik (http://books.google.co.in/books?id=EBG2AAAAIAAJ) (page 44) published by Place Names Society of India 6. ^ Divakaran, Kattakada (2005). Kerala Sanchaaram. Trivandrum: Z Library. 7. ^ Panickar.K.M, A History of Kerala(1959) Annamalai University
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