Malabar region

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Malabar
region
Fruit shop in Kannur
Fruit shop in Kannur
Malabar is located in Kerala
Malabar
Malabar
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Country India
State Kerala
 • Density 816/km2 (2,110/sq mi)
Languages
 • Official Malayalam, English
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
ISO 3166 code ISO 3166-2:IN
Vehicle registration KL-09 to KL-14, KL-18, KL-49 to KL-60, KL-65 and KL-70 to KL-73
No. of districts 6 (Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode, Malappuram, Palakkad, Wayanad)
Largest cities Kozhikode, Kannur
Literacy 91.74%
Climate Tropical (Köppen)

Malabar region is an area of southern India lying between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The name is thought to be derived from the Malayalam words mala (hill) and vaaram (range, region), westernised into -bar. Malabar District was a part of the British East India Company-controlled state. It included the northern half of the state of Kerala and some coastal regions of present-day Karnataka. The area is predominantly Hindu, but the majority of Kerala's Muslim population (Mappila) also live in this area, as well as a sizable ancient Christian population.[1] The name is sometimes extended to the entire south-western coast of the peninsula, called the Malabar Coast. Malabar is also used by ecologists to refer to the tropical and subtropical moist broad-leaf forests of south-western India (present-day Kerala). Kozhikode is considered as the capital of Malabar.

In ancient times, the term Malabar was used to denote the entire south-western coast of the Indian peninsula. But today, Malabar is only used for the former Malabar district, or northern districts of Kerala state.

The Malabar region lies along the south-west coast of the Indian peninsula and forms the northern part of present-day Kerala state. Malayalam is the chief language of the region, and the ancestors of today's population have inhabited the region for centuries. Tulu speakers can be found mainly in the northern Kasaragod District and neighbouring Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. The region formed part of the ancient kingdom of Chera until the early 12th century. Following the breakup of the Chera Kingdom, the chieftains of the region proclaimed their independence. Notable among these were the Kolathiris of North Malabar, Zamorins of Calicut, the Coylot Wanees Country of northeast and coastal Ceylon (including Puttalam) and the Valluvokonathiris of Walluvanad. The Zamorin of Calicut became the most powerful of the kings in the region by the 13th century primarily due to flourishing international trade at Calicut and Beypore port. The region came under British rule in the 18th century, during the Anglo-Mysore Wars.

During the British rule, Malabar's chief importance lay in producing pepper.[2] The area was divided into two categories as North and South. North Malabar comprises present Kasaragod and Kannur Districts, Mananthavady Taluk of Wayanad District and Vadakara and Koyilandy Taluks of Kozhikode District. Left-over area is South Malabar.

At the conclusion of the Anglo-Mysore wars, the region was organized into a district of Madras Presidency. The British district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, much of Palakkad. The administrative headquarters was at Calicut (Kozhikode). With India's independence, Madras presidency became Madras State, which was divided along linguistic lines on 1 November 1956, whereupon Kasaragod region was merged with the Malabar immediately to the north and the state of Travancore-Cochin to the south to form the state of Kerala. Prior to that, Kasaragod was a part of Dakshina Kannada district of Madras Presidency.

Arabian sea in Kozhikode or Calicut

North Malabar and South Malabar

The boundary between North Malabar and South Malabar is considered to be Elathur village in Kozhikode District. Elathur is distinguished by the presence of the Korappuzha River. The Korapuzha is generally considered as the cordon sanitaire between the North Malabar and South Malabar in the erstwhile Malabar District. Until the 20th century the Nair women of North Malabar crossing the Korapuzha and going south or marrying a person from South Malabar was considered a taboo and those who violated faced Bhrasht (Ostracism) and forfeiture of caste.

Malabar Coast

Backwaters in the Malabar, c.a. 1913

The Malabar Coast, in historical contexts, refers to India's southwest coast, lying on the narrow coastal plain of Karnataka and Kerala states between the Western Ghats range and the Arabian Sea. The coast runs from south of Goa to Cape Comorin on India's southern tip.

The Malabar Coast is also sometimes used as an all-encompassing term for the entire Indian coast from the western coast of Konkan to the tip of the subcontinent at Cape Comorin. It is over 525 miles or 845 km long. It spans from the south-western coast of Maharashtra and goes along the coastal region of Goa, through the entire western coast of Karnataka and Kerala and reaches till Kanyakumari. It is flanked by the Arabian Sea on the west and the Western Ghats on the east. The Southern part of this narrow coast is the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests.

The Malabar Coast features a number of historic port cities. Notable among these are the Muziris, Beypore and Thundi (near Kadalundi) during ancient times and Kozhikode (Calicut), Cochin, and Kannur in the medieval period and have served as centers of the Indian Ocean trade for centuries. Because of their orientation to the sea and to maritime commerce, the coastal cities of Malabar are very cosmopolitan and have hosted some of the first groups of Christians (now known as Saint Thomas Christians), Jews (today called as Cochin Jews), and Muslims (at present known as Mappilas) in India.

Geographically, the Malabar Coast, especially on its westward-facing mountain slopes, comprises the wettest region of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains.

European settlements in India

Malabar rainforests

The Malabar rainforests include these ecoregions recognized by biogeographers:

  1. the Malabar Coast moist forests formerly occupied the coastal zone, up to the 250 meter in elevation (but 95% of these forests no longer exist)
  2. the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests grow at intermediate elevations
  3. the South Western Ghats montane rain forests cover the areas above 1000 meters

The Monsooned Malabar coffee bean comes from this area.

See also

References

  1. "Kerala". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2008. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 8 June 2008
  2. Pamela Nightingale, ‘Jonathan Duncan (bap. 1756, d. 1811)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009

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