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The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regions of the subcontinent, which includes the southern tip of Goa, Kanara region of Karnataka, all of Kerala and Kanyakumari region of Tamil Nadu.
Kuttanad, which is the point of the lowest altitude in India, lies on the Malabar Coast. Kuttanad, also known as The Rice Bowl of Kerala, is among the few places in the world where cultivation takes place below sea level. The peak of Anamudi, which is also the point of highest altitude in India outside the Himalayas, lies parallel to the Malabar Coast on the Western Ghats.
The region parallel to the Malabar Coast gently slopes from the eastern highland of Western Ghats ranges to the western coastal lowland. The moisture-laden winds of the Southwest monsoon, on reaching the southernmost point of the Indian subcontinent, because of its topography, divide into two branches; the "Arabian Sea Branch" and the "Bay of Bengal Branch".
The "Arabian Sea Branch" of the Southwest monsoon first hits the Western Ghats,
Until the arrival of the British people, the term Malabar was used in foreign trade circles as a general name for Kerala.
Earlier, the term Malabar had also been used to denote Tulu Nadu and Kanyakumari, which lie contiguous to Kerala in the southwestern coast of India, in addition to the modern state of Kerala. The people of Malabar were known as Malabars. The term Malabar is often used to denote the entire southwestern coast of India.Additionally, European traders and scholars referred to Tamils of Eelam as Malabars. In the 18th century, J. P. Fabricius described his Tamil-English Dictionary as the "Dictionary of Malabar and English".
In ancient times the term Malabar was used to denote the entire south-western coast of the Indian peninsula. The region formed part of the ancient kingdom of Chera dynasty 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 Zamorin of Kozhikode, Kolathunadu, Perumbadappu Swaroopam, Venad, Kingdom of Valluvanad of Kingdom of Valluvanad.
The name Malabar Coast is sometimes used as an all-encompassing term for the entire Indian coast from Konkan to the tip of the subcontinent at Kanyakumari. It stretches approximately 845 kilometers (525 miles) along the southwestern coast of India. It extends from the southern tip of Goa to Kanyakumari, encompassing the coastal regions of Karnataka and Kerala. 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 referred to as the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests.
Malabar is also used by ecologists to refer to the Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests of southwestern India (present-day Kerala).
The Western Ghats mountain range lie parallel to the coast on the eastern highland and separate the plains from the Deccan Plateau. These mountains recognised as one of the world's eight "hottest hotspots" of biological diversity and is listed among UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The peak of Anamudi in Kerala is the highest peak in India outside the Himalayas, is at an elevation of . The chain's forests are considered to be older than the Himalaya mountains.
Malabar's western coastal belt is relatively flat compared to the eastern region, and is criss-crossed by a network of interconnected brackish canals, lakes, estuaries,
and rivers known as the Kerala Backwaters. The Kuttanad region, also known as The Rice Bowl of Kerala, has the lowest altitude in India. The country's longest lake Vembanad Lake, dominates the backwaters; it lies between Alappuzha and Kochi and is about in area. Around eight percent of India's waterways are found in Kerala.
The Monsooned Malabar coffee bean comes from this area.
Because of their orientation to the sea and to maritime commerce, the Malabar coast cities feel very Multicultural, and have been home to some of the first groups of Jews (known today as Cochin Jews), Syrian Christians (known as Saint Thomas Christians), Muslims (presently known as Mappilas), and Anglo-Indians in India. The Jews of India: A Story of Three Communities by Orpa Slapak. The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. 2003. p. 27. . The Clash of Cultures in Malabar : Encounters, Conflict and Interaction with European Culture, 1498-1947 Korean Minjok Leadership Academy, Myeong, Do Hyeong, Term Paper, AP World History Class, July 2012
According to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, a region known as Limyrike began at Kannur and Tyndis. However, the Ptolemy mentions only Tyndis as the Limyrike's starting point. The region probably ended at Kanyakumari; it thus roughly corresponds to the present-day Malabar Coast. The value of Rome's annual trade with the region was estimated at 50,000,000 sesterces.According to Pliny the Elder, goods from India were sold in the Empire at 100 times their original purchase price. See [6] Pliny the Elder mentioned that Limyrike was prone by pirates.Bostock, John (1855). "26 (Voyages to India)". Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. London: Taylor and Francis. The Cosmas Indicopleustes mentioned that the Limyrike was a source of .Indicopleustes, Cosmas (1897). Christian Topography. 11. United Kingdom: The Tertullian Project. pp. 358–373. Das, Santosh Kumar (2006). The Economic History of Ancient India. Genesis Publishing Pvt Ltd. p. 301. In the last centuries BCE the coast became important to the Greeks and Romans for its spices, especially Malabar pepper. The Cheras had trading links with Ancient China, Western Asia, Egypt, Greece, and the Roman Empire. Cyclopaedia of India and of Eastern and Southern Asia. Ed. by Edward Balfour (1871), Second Edition. Volume 2. p. 584. In foreign-trade circles the region was known as Male or Malabar. Muziris, Tyndis, Naura (near Kannur), and Nelcynda were among the principal ports at that time.
Contemporary Sangam literature describes Roman ships coming to Muziris in Kerala, laden with gold to exchange for Malabar pepper. One of the earliest western traders to use the monsoon winds to reach Kerala was Eudoxus of Cyzicus, around 118 or 166 BCE, under the patronage of Ptolemy VIII, king of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. Roman establishments in the port cities of the region, such as a temple of Augustus and barracks for garrisoned Roman soldiers, are marked in the Tabula Peutingeriana, the only surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus.The term Kerala was first epigraphically recorded as Ketalaputo (Chera dynasty) in a 3rd-century BCE rock inscription by emperor Ashoka of Magadha."Kerala." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 26 December 2011. It was mentioned as one of four independent kingdoms in southern India during Ashoka's time, the others being the Chola Empire, Pandya Empire and Satyaputras.
The Cheras transformed Kerala into an international trade centre by establishing trade relations across the Arabian Sea with all major Mediterranean and Red Sea ports as well those of the Far East. The dominion of Cheras was located in one of the key routes of the ancient Indian Ocean trade. The early Cheras collapsed after repeated attacks from the neighboring Chola Empire and Rashtrakutas.During the early Middle Ages, Nambudiri Brahmin immigrants arrived in Kerala and shaped the society on the lines of the caste system. In the 8th century, Adi Shankara was born at Kalady in central Kerala. He travelled extensively across the Indian subcontinent founding institutions of the widely influential philosophy of Advaita Vedanta. The Cheras regained control over Kerala in the 9th century until the kingdom was dissolved in the 12th century, after which small autonomous chiefdoms, most notably the Kingdom of Kozhikode, arose. The 13th century Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, would visit and write of his stay in the province. The port at Kozhikode acted as the gateway to medieval coast for the Chinese people, the , the Portugal, the Dutch, and finally the British.
In 1498, Vasco Da Gama established a sea route to Kozhikode during the Age of Discovery, which was also the first modern sea route from Europe to South Asia, and raised Portuguese settlements, which marked the beginning of the colonial era of India. European trading interests of the Dutch, French and the British East India companies took centre stage during the in India. Travancore became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. Paliath Achan of Cochin and Travancore united to expel the Zamorin from Kochi territories. Under Martanda Pillai's leadership, Nair Brigade, with General de Lannoy's guidance, successfully captured Thrissur in the Battle of Thrissur in 1763. Despite fierce resistance, the Zamorin's troops retreated, leading to their eventual evacuation from Cochin Territory. In pursuit of peace, the Zamorin agreed to indemnify Travancore for war expenses and vowed perpetual friendship, marking a triumph of strategy and valor led by Pillai.
After the Dutch were defeated by Travancore king Marthanda Varma, the British crown gained control over Kerala through the creation of the Malabar District in northern Kerala and by allying with the newly created princely state of Travancore in the southern part of the state until India was declared independent in 1947. The state of Kerala was created in 1956 from the former state of Travancore-Cochin, the Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara District of Madras state.
Malabar District, a part of the ancient Malabar (or Malabar Coast) was a part of the British East India Company-controlled state. It included the northern half of the state of Kerala and the islands of Lakshadweep. Kozhikode is considered as the capital of Malabar. 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 Vatakara and Koyilandy Taluks of Kozhikode District. The left-over area is South Malabar aka kozhikode Taluk it's included present kozhikode and Thamarassery taluk, south wayanad it's included present kalpetta and sulthan battery places, Eranad Taluk Taluk which comes under present Malappuram District, Palakkad District and Chavakkad taluk of Thrissur district.
During the British rule, the Malabar's chief importance laid in producing Malabar pepper, tiles, and Coconut.Pamela Nightingale, 'Jonathan Duncan (bap. 1756, d. 1811)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009 In the old administrative records of the Madras Presidency, it is recorded that the most remarkable plantation owned by Government in the erstwhile Madras Presidency was the Teak plantation at Nilambur planted in 1844. The District of Malabar and the ports at Beypore and Fort Kochi had some sort of importance in the erstwhile Madras Presidency as it was one of the two districts of the Presidency that lies on the Western Malabar Coast, thus accessing the marine route through Arabian Sea. The first railway line of Kerala from Tirur to Beypore in 1861 was laid for it.
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