History
| Formerly part of | ||
|---|---|---|
|
|
||
|
|
||
|
|
||
Calicut is a town with a long recorded history. From time immemorial, the city has attracted travelers with its prosperity. It has traded in spices like black pepper and cardamom with Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, and Chinese for more than 500 years. As Calicut offered full freedom and security, the Arab and the Chinese merchants preferred it to all other ports. The globe-trotter Ibn Batuta (A.D. 1342-47) said:
"We came next to Kalikut, one of the great ports of the district of Malabar, and in which merchants of all parts are found."
Calicut was the capital of Malabar during the time of Zamorins (in Malayalam Samoothiri), who ruled the region before the British took over.
The city's first recorded contact with Europe was when Vasco da Gama landed at Kappad (18 km north) in May 1498, as the leaders of a trade mission from Portugal. He was received by the Zamorin himself.
Read more about this topic: Calicut
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“If man is reduced to being nothing but a character in history, he has no other choice but to subside into the sound and fury of a completely irrational history or to endow history with the form of human reason.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“Don’t give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can’t express them. Don’t analyse yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)