Kozhikode District - History

Kozhikode is a historical town with a hoary past. From time immemorial, the city attracted travellers, with its charming physical features and prosperity. Even today , the glory of Kozhikode(Calicut) has not faded.

Kozhikode was the capital of Malabar during the time of Zamorins who where ruling before the British Rule in India. It was trading in spices like black pepper and cardamom with the Jews, Arabs, Phoenicians, Chinese , Dutch and Portuguese more than 500 years ago.

The political history of Kozhikode is a story of treacherous and ill conceived conspiracies hatched by the Western powers. Vasco De Gama landed at Kappad in May 1498, as the leaders of a trade mission from Portugal and was received by the Zamorin himself.

As Kozhikode offered full freedom & security, the Arab & the Chinese merchants preferred it to all other ports.

The globe-trotter Ibn Batuta (A.D. 1342-47) quotes:
"We came next to Kalikut, one of the great ports of the district of Malabar, and in which merchants of all parts are found."

The history of Kozhikode district as an administrative unit begins from January 1957. When the states of the Indian Union were reorganised on linguistic basis on 1st November, 1956, the erstwhile Malabar district was separated from Madras state (Tamil Nadu) and added to the new unilingual state of Kerala. But malabar district was found to be too uniwieldy for administrative purposes. Consequently the state government ordered the formation of three districts with certain changes in the boundaries of some of the taluks. The Kozhikode district thus came into existence on 1st Jnauary 1957,orginally consisting of five taluks, Viz, Vadakara, Koyilandy, Kozhikode, Ernad & Tirur. With the formation of malapuram district on 1st june 1969 & Wayandu on 1st November 1980, kozhikode district now consist of one revenue division , three taluks, twelve blocks, 77 panchayats and 117 villages.

The Zamorins

The Udaiyavar of Ernad, whose headquarters was at Nediyiruppu wanted an outlet to the sea and after fighting with the Polatthiri King for 48 long years conquered the area around Ponniankara and build a fort at a place called Velapuram. Thus the city of Calicut came into existence sometime in the 13th Century AD.

With the accession of Calicut, the status of Nediyirippu increased and he come to be known as Swami Nambiyathiri Thirumulpad, which gradually became Samuri or Samuthiri over the years. The Europeans called him Zamorin.
According to K.V. Krishna Iyer, the rise of calicut is at once a cause and a consequence of Zamorin's ascendancy in Kerala. By the end of the century, Zamorin was at the zenith of his powers with all princes and chieftains of Kerala north of Cochin acknowledging his suzerainty.