The 'Malabar region' lies along the southwest coast of
India and forms the northern part of the present-day state of
Kerala.
Malayalam is the chief language of the region.
Location
The Malabar region is in
southern India between the
Western Ghats and the
Arabian Sea, making up the northern half of the state of
Kerala. Geographically the name is sometimes extended to the entire southwestern coast of
peninsular India to the area called the
Malabar Coast or the Malabari Coast . The land is
tropical wet forests typical of southwestern India.
History
The ancestors of today's
Dravidian population have inhabited the Malabar region for centuries. The region formed part of the ancient kingdom of
Chera. It became part of the
Hindu Vijayanagara empire in the
15th century. With the breakup of the empire in the mid-
16th century, the Malabur region came under the rule of a number of local chieftains notably the
Kolathiris of
Kannur,
Zamorins of Calicut, and the
Valluvokonathiris of
Walluvanad. In the
18th century, during the
Anglo-Mysore Wars, the Malabar region came under
British rule.
When the Anglo-Mysore wars concluded, the Malabar region became part of a province of
British India known as the
Madras Presidency. This province included the present-day
Kannur District,
Kozhikode District,
Wayanad District,
Malappuram District, most of
Palakkad District and a small part of
Thrissur District.
The administrative headquarters was in Calicut, known today as
Kozhikode.
With India's independence, Madras Presidency was renamed
Madras State. It was subsequently split up along
linguistic lines in
1953. Under the
States Reorganisation Act of
1956, the states of
Kerala and
Mysore were carved out of the Madras state and the remaining part was renamed
Tamil Nadu.
The Malabar region was included in Kerala state in the reorganisation.
References
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