Kozhikode District - History

History

The History of the district is inevitably intertwined with the history of the city of Kozhikode. Calicut is the anglicized form of Kalikooth, the name used by Arabs to refer to Kozhikode. It was also called the Cock Fort, a usage that may have come from kozhi (Rooster) kodu (fortified). According to the historian K.V. Krishnan Iyer, the word Kozhikode is derived from koyil (palace) kodu (fortified), meaning 'Fortified Palace'.

The ports of the Malabar Coast have participated in the Indian Ocean trade of spices, silk, and other goods for over two millennia. Kozhikode emerged as the centre of an independent kingdom in the 14th century, whose ruler was known as the Zamorin.

During the Yong Le era of the Ming Dynasty of China, Admiral Zheng He and his treasure fleet visited Kozhikode. Their visits were documented by on-board Arab language translators Ma Huan, Fei Xin and Gong Zheng. Each one of them published a book documented their visits to various countries, including Calicut. Ma Huan's book "Ying yai Sheng lan" (translated into English as The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores) contains the following observations of Kozhikode:

• Calicut was a large kingdom on the West Ocean, bordering Coimbatore kingdom to the east, Kochi to the south, and Honavar to the north.
• The king of Calicut (Vana Vikraman) was a Brahmin and a Buddhist. His chiefs were Muslims (This we now know is an incorrect observation. The king of Calicut was always a Nair and a Hindu. His chiefs were both Muslims and Hindus).
• The throne passes to the king's sister's son.
• In the fifth year of Yong Le 1407, the emperor of Ming dynasty ordered Admiral Zheng He to deliver an imperial honor to King of Calicut, with grant of silver seal, and promoted the chiefs with titles and awards of hats and girdles of different grades.
• Admiral Zheng He erected a pavilion with ceremonial stone tablet in Calicut to celebrate this event.
• The king minted fanam (panam) coins of 60% gold and also silver coins as currency.
• The people of Calicut were honest and trustworthy.
• The people of Calicut made silk out of silkworm, and dyed silk into different colors.
• The main produce of Calicut were turnips, onions, ginger, eggplants in four seasons; also red and white rice, but no wheat.
• The king of Calicut ordered craftsmen to draw fifty ounces of gold into hair-like fine threads, and weaved them into ribbon to make a gold girdle embedded with pearls and precious stones of all sort of colors, and sent envoy Naina (Narayana) to present the gold girdle to the Ming emperor as tribute.
• According to Ming dynasty Imperial Guard Recruitment Record, Nanking area town guard chief Shaban was a native of Calicut. He was recruited to join Zheng He's expedition, and was promoted on his return. Another officer Shasozu from Nanking military division was also a native from Calicut, who joined Zheng He's expedition and too was promoted. Admiral Zheng He later re-visited Calicut several times. On April of 1433 during his 6th and last expedition, he died in Calicut. The ceremonial stone tablet erected by Zheng He stood at least another two hundred years in Calicut; Jesuit Godinho de Eredia wrote that he saw this tablet in 1613.

Trade with several kingdoms of Asia, Africa and the middle- east made Kozhikode a popular trading centre. Vasco da Gama landed at Kappad (18 kilometers north of Kozhikode) in May 1498, as the leader of a trade mission from Portugal and was received by the Zamorin himself. During the 16th century the Portuguese set up trading posts to the north in Kannur and to the south in Kochi. However, the Zamorin resisted the establishment of a permanent Portuguese presence in the city. In 1503 a Portuguese trading post was built in Chaliyam on the mouth of the river Chaliyar with the consent of the King of Vettat (Tirur). The fort was used by the Portuguese to attack Zamorin's interests. The Zamorins later allied with the Dutch to weaken the Portuguese and by the mid-17th century the Dutch had captured the Malabar Coast spice trade from the Portuguese. In 1766 Hyder Ali of Mysore captured Kozhikode and much of the northern Malabar Coast, and came into conflict with the British based in Madras, which resulted in four Anglo-Mysore Wars.