| Zamorins of Calicut സാമൂതിരി-ഏറാടി |
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| Extent of the kingdom of Samoothiris, at the end of 15th century | ||||
| Capital | Nediyiruppu Calicut Ponnani |
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| Language(s) | Malayalam, Sanskrit | |||
| Government | Feudal state | |||
| History | ||||
| - Established | c. 12th century | |||
| - Disestablished | 1766 | |||
| History of South Asia |
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Stone age (7000–1400 BCE)
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Bronze Age (7000–1300 BCE)
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Iron age (1200–26 BCE)
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Classical period (1–1279 CE)
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Late medieval age (1206–1596 CE)
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Early modern period (1526–1858 CE)
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Other states (1102–1947 CE)
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Colonial period (1505–1961 CE)
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Kingdoms of Sri Lanka (543 BCE–1948 CE)
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Nation histories
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Regional histories
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Zamorin (Samoothiri; Malayalam: സാമൂതിരി) is the title used by the Hindu Eradi Samanthan kshatriya rulers of the erstwhile late medieval feudal kingdom of Kozhikode (Nediyirippu Swarūpam) located in the present day state of Kerala, India.
The Samoothiris ruled between the 12th and 18th century AD based in Kozhikode, the most important trading port on the Malabar Coast and were the most powerful kings of Kerala during the Middle Ages. They were a close ally of the Muslim-Arabs, the primary traders on the Coast in the Middle Ages. After the disintegration of the Chera kingdom in early 12th century, the Saamoothiris were the only rulers who were capable of and came close to establishing a pan-Kerala state. The relative absence of family quarrels and splits as in other Nair Royal families like Kingdom of Kochi and Kolathunad was one of the factors in the dramatic success of the Samoothiris. The Samoothiris had their second capital at Ponnani and held most of the other important trading ports on the across Coast. The Kunhali Marakkars, the Muslim admirals, were the naval chiefs of the Samoothiris. The control over these ports provided the Samoothiri a vast income of foreign money and they fought numerous battles with their local neighbors, prominently with Valluvanad and Kingdom of Kochi, for supremacy over the ports and the fertile banks of the Bharathappuzha. The wars with an alliance of Valluvanad and Perumpadapu is related to the famous Mamankam festivals.
The Portuguese trader and navigator Vasco da Gama visited the Saamoothiri of Kozhikode on May 18, 1498, opening the sailing route directly from Europe to India. But, later in the history the Samoothiris turned out to be the worst rivals of the Portuguese on the Malabar coast.
The local legend goes that during the legendary partition of Kerala, the Chera dynasty king didn't give any land to his most trusted Nair lieutenant, the Eradi (Eradis were hereditary governors of Eralnad province in the Chera kingdom). Due to his feeling of guilt, the king gave his personal sword (Odaval) and his favourite prayer conch (which was broken) to his lieutenant and told him to occupy as much as land he can, with all his might. So, the general conquered his neighboring Nair states and created a powerful kingdom for himself. As a token of his respect to the Chera king, the Samoothiris adopted the logo of two crossed swords, with a broken conch in the middle and a lighted lamp above it. Soon this became the official emblem of Malabar, until 1766 AD, when Mysore state under the leadership of Hyder Ali defeated the Samoothiris and annexed the state.
The Saamoothiri initiated the annual Revathi Pattathanam at the Tali Siva temple in Calicut. The present Saamoothiri is His Highness P. K. S. Raja of Puthiya Kovilakam (Thiruvannur).[1]
The term Samoothiri (complete ശ്രീമദ്, സകലഗുണസമ്പന്നരാന, സകല ധർമ്മ പരിപാലകരാന, അഖണ്ഡിതലക്ഷ്മി പ്രസന്നരാന, മാഹാമെരുസമാനധീരരാന, മിത്രജനമനോരഞ്ജിതരാന രാജമാന്യ രാജശ്രീ കോഴിക്കോട് മാനവിക്രമസാമൂതിരി മഹാരാജാവ്) came into use only after the 15th century, in the writings of Abdul Razzak.
Ibn Battuta visited the country in the 14th century and only refers to the rulers as Kunnalakkonathiri or Punthureshan. However, then the Eradis assumed the title of Samudrāthiri ("one who has the sea for his border"). The title Samudrāthiri was shortened to Sāmoothiri over time in common usage. Some argue that it originated from the name of an Eradi minister of the Cheras (called Chozhisamudri).
According to K. V. Krishna Ayyar, a historian, the city of Kozhikode was founded on a marshy tract along the Malabar coast in 1034 AD. The Eradis with their capital at Nediyiruppu (somewhere around present Kondotty) were land-locked and sought an outlet to the sea. The Eradis subsequently moved their capital to the coastal marshy lands of Kozhikode, then also called Thrivikramapuram.
During Classical antiquity and the Middle Ages, Calicut was dubbed the "City of Spices" for its role as the major trading point of eastern spices.[2] The name Kozhikode is thought to be derived from Koyil (Palace) + Kota (Fort) meaning 'Fortified Palace'. The place was also referred to as Chullikkad meaning 'shrubby jungle' probably referring to the marshy nature of the land. Others have called the city by different names. The Arabs called it Kalikooth, Tamils called the city Kallikkottai, for the Chinese it was Kalifo. The word Kozhikode(Calicut) is also thought to have derived from a fine variety of hand-woven cotton cloth called Calico that was exported from the port of Kozhikode.
Ponnani was the second capital of the Samoothiris, further south on the Malabar coast.
The Zamorin's family, being Eradis are connected to several other Eradi clans who are resident in Nilambur, Ponnani and nearby localities in Malappuram district. The second in line successor to the throne is known as Eralppad (Eranad Ilamkur Nambiyathiri Thirumulpad) and he resides in Eranad (northern parts of present day Malappuram district) itself. The third was Eranad Moonnamkur Nambiyathiri Thirumulpad, the fourth known as Itattoornad Nambiyathiri Thirumulpad and the fifth Nediyiruppu Mootta Eradi Thirumulpad.
The most important of the Zamorin's samanthans (vassals) included Elaya Vakayil Vellodi, Thalachanna Nayar of Calicut and the Menon of Eranad.[3]
The Zamorins used these titles and no records indicate the actual personnel name of the king. There is one more title namely Virarayan. This title seems to be acquired when Zamorins annexed Valluvanad to Zamorins territory. The title Virarayan is a form derived from Rayeran, a name of Valluvanad seen even in 9th century AD, in Panniyur inscriptions of Cheras.
The Samoothiris were originally the Nair rulers of a province (or a fiefdom) of the Later Chera Kingdom (800–1102 AD) called Eralnad and were known as the Eradis. According to legends, two Eradi brothers known as Manikkan and Vikraman established a local ruling family at Nediyiruppu, near present-day Kondotty.[4] Eralnad was only a small fiefdom, one of the states that made up the Chera kingdom.[5] The others included Kolathunadu, Perumpadappu, and Venad.
Around the early years of the 10th century, king of Kongunad attacked the Chera kingdom through the Palakkad Gap. But, the Kongu army was defeated by the combined armies of Nedumpurayoor, Valluvanad, Eralnad and Perumpadappu led by the Later Chera king. In honor the Valluvanad Raja received Kurissi Vilayan Chathanur and Kaithala villages from Nedumpurayoor. This event is even now celebrated as a historical event in Chittur taluk where the fight took place.
In the break up the Later Chera Kingdom around the 12th century AD, several of its chieftains and governorates became independent.
But, according to a Nambuthiri-Brahmin legend called Keralolpathi ("Genesis of Kerala"), the last of the Chera kings partitioned his kingdom among his feudatories and army officers (Eradis were one of them) and secretly left for Mecca with some Arab traders, embraced Islam and lived the rest of his life in obscurity in Arabia. Although there is no solid basis for the last king's conversion to Islam and the Hajj, it is a possibility that following his mysterious disappearance, the land was partitioned and that the governors of different nadus (fiefdoms) gained independence, proclaiming it as their gift from the last sovereign. But, during this partition of the Kingdom, the last Chera didn't give any land to his most trusted Nair lieutenant, the Eradis Manikkan and Vikraman. Due to the feel of guilt, the king gave his personal sword (Odaval) and his favorite prayer conch which was broken, to his lieutenant and asked him to occupy as much as land he can with his might.
There is some ambiguity regarding the exact course of events that led to the establishment of Eradi's rule over Kozhikode, their later capital.
According to A. Sreedhara Menon, a historian, after the Later Cheras, Calicut and its suburbs formed part of the Polanad ruled by the Porlatiri. The Eradis of Nediyiruppu in Eralnad were land-locked and sought an outlet to the sea to initiate trade and commerce with the distant lands. To accomplish this, the Eradis marched with their Nairs towards Panniyankara and besieged the Porlatiri in his headquarters, resulting in a 48-year long war.
The Eradis emerged victorious in their conquest of Polanad and shifted there headquarters from Nediyiruppu to Calicut. Eradis built a fort at a place called Velapuram to safeguard his new interests. The fort most likely lent its name to Koyil Kotta (the precursor to Kozhikode). If A. Sreedhara Menon was correct, the Eradis marched towards the coastal fiefdom of Polanad and the Porlathiri, the ruler of Polanad (Porakilanad) was killed during 48 year long war. Even the Nambuthiri-Brahmin legend says that having been gifted with the royal sword and the injunction "Chattum konnum adakki kolka" ("conquer by courting and conferring death") by the last Chera (according to Keralolpathi), so the Ernadi waged war against the Porlatiri (Porakilar Adhikari) and captured Panniyankara.
However, M.G.S. Narayanan, another historian, in his book, Calicut: The City of Truth states that the Eradi was in fact a favourite of the last Later Chera king as the Eradi was at the forefront of the wars with the Chola-Pandya forces to the south of his kingdom and led the army to victory. The king therefore granted him, as a mark of favor, a small tract of land on the sea-coast in addition to his hereditary possessions (Eralnad). This patch of wasteland is called Chullikkad(as in the Keralolpathi). To corroborate his assertion that Eradi was in fact a favourite of the last Later Chera, M.G.S. Narayanan cites a stone inscription of the last Chera discovered at Kollam in south Kerala. It refers to Nalu Taliyum, Ayiram, Arunurruvarum, Eranadu Vazhkai Manavikiraman, mutalayulla Samathararum- "The four Councillors, The Thousand, The Six Hundred, along with Mana Vikrama-the Governor of Eranad and other Feudatories." So, M.G.S. Narayanan seems to indicate that Kozhikkode lay in fact beyond and not within the kingdom of Polanad and there was no need of any kind of military movements for Calicut. The Eradis subsequently moved their capital to the coastal marshy lands and established the city of Kozhikode, then also called 'Thrivikramapuram'.
Kingdom of Kodungallur (Airur dynasty) one of the Samoothiri's oldest vassals circa from 13th century.[6]
Even the stories about the origin of the Kadathanadu Dynasty is associated with wars of the Samoothiri with Polanad. When the Samoothiri attacked Polanad, he exiled a Polarthiri royal princess from his territory and she was welcomed in Kolathunad, the Samoothiri's rivals, and after the marriage with Kolathiri prince with this princess the Kadathanadu Dynasty originated. The name Kadathanad refers to as the passing way between Kolathunad and Calicut.[6]
However, the events coincided with a flood of the Periyar River in about 1341 AD that led to silting of the harbour of Muziris flourishing trade with the Arab, Roman and Chinese empires. The near destruction of Muziris led to the rise in prosperity of Kochi (Cochin) and Kozhikode. The Eradi assumed the title of Samudrāthiri ("one who has the sea for his border") and continued to rule from Kozhikode. The title Samudrāthiri was shortened to Sāmoothiri over time in common usage. Access to the sea helped the Eradi chief, who was by now called the Saamoothiri develop the city into one of the major trading centers of the Eastern world abounding in a wide variety of goods like pepper, textiles, lac, ginger, cinnamon, myrobalans, and zedoary. Vessels of various sizes from around the world, like Chinese junks, arrived on the shores of Calicut.
The Samoothiris changed to the most powerful kings in Kerala during the Middle Ages and harboured greater ambitions to extend their rule over the whole of Kerala. This motivated them to enter into battles with neighbouring kingdoms with great success.
Before the Thirunavaya wars the Saamoothiri annexed the states of Parappanad and Vettathunad.
Between 1353 and 1363 AD, the Saamoothiri fought a series of battles with several smaller states (mainly the kingdoms of Perumpadappu (Rajas of Kochi as they came to be known later) and Walluvanad) in what is called the Thirunavaya Wars. The technical reason for the wars were the Panniyur-Chovvaram Row. In this wars Samoothiri captured two strategic places from their enemies. The places were Vanneri and Thirunavaya respectively from Perumpadappu and Valluvanad. Vanneri was, in fact, the capital of Perumpadappu Rajas. The Perumpadappu Rajas subsequently shifted their capital to Thiruvanchikulam (Mahodayapuram). The Saamoothiri was also successful in capturing Thirunavaya and he styled himself as Rakshapurusha ("Protector of the People"). The grudges held by the defeated princes of Valluvanad was the foundation of the bloody Mamankam festivals.
Samoothiri continued to pursue his expansionist aims into surrounding dominions. He followed a policy of conferring conquered lands to the feudatories of the defeated kings. Saamoothiri's military power led to the subjugation without confrontation of rival feudatories like Dharmoth Panicker, Pulappatta Nair and Kavalappara Nair of the Vellatiri. The regions of Malappuram, Nilambur, Vallappanattukara and Manjeri came under the dominion of the Saamoothiri. The Eralpad (Samoothiri prince) ruled these areas as the supreme commander, and was based at Karimpuzha.
Saamoothiri's attack on Perumpadappu was repelled by the combined forces of Perumpadappu Rajas and Vellatiri. Nedunganad, a small princely state between Valluvanad and Palakkad was won over with ease and the Nedungattiri, the Raja of Nedunganad was afforded certain rights of supervision over the temple of Cherplassery with a subsistence allowance.
In 1405 AD, Saamoothiri's army again defeated the Perumpadappu Rajas (Rajas of Kochi as they came to be known later) who then shifted their capital from Thiruvanchikulam (Mahodayapuram) to Kochi. Zamorin conquered Thrikkanamathilakam and it became a threat for Mahodayapuram (Thiruvanchikulam), and this may be the reason that Perumpadapu Swaroopam changed their capital to Cochin.
Panthalur and Kottakkal under Karuvayoor Moosad, the chief marshal and preacher of Moopil Nairs came under Saamoothiri's rule soon thereafter. Kottakkal, known as White Fort in Sanskrit, Venkalikotta and Venkitta Kotta in Malayalam, was a small military base of the Kingdom of Valluvanad. The annexation followed a bloody war which lasted 12 years. Karuvayoor Moosad assassinated Thinayancherry Elayath, one of the ministers of the Samoothiri. Saamoothiri's army finally trapped the Moosad at Padapparamba, captured him and put him to death. Then Moonnarpadu Thampuran, the cousin of the Samoothiri killed Karuvayoor Moosad in combat and restored control of the fort. The descendants of the thampuran dwelt in Kottakkal thereafter. The loss of this brave and fiercely loyal chief minister was the greatest blow to the Vellaattiri post Thirunavaya Wars. The newly acquired regions was subsequently ruled by Varakkal Paranambi, a minister of Saamoothiri.
This was followed by the Raja of Kochi accepting the over lordship of the Saamoothiri and became a feudatory of the latter. The wars on Valluvanad by the Saamoothiri continued for longer duration.
Kolathiri was Samoothiri's another local rival. Calicut and Kolathunad fought numerous wars before the arrival of the Portuguese. Later, this rivalry paved the way for an anti-Samoothiri alliance between the Portuguese and the Kolathiri.[6]
Edappally (Elangallur) was a Samoothiri's vassal in the south. In battles between Cochin and the Samoothiri they were with the Samoothiri. Edappally kings always wanted to regain Kochi and Vypinkara from the Cochin, which were lost from them decades ago, and the Samoothiri tried hard to do the task but was never successful in his attempts.[6]
But, then Deva Raya II (reigned 1424-1446 CE) of Vijayanagara Empire conquered the entire present day Kerala state. He defeated (1443) the ruler of Kollam as well as other chieftains such as Samoothiri. Fernão Nunes says that the Samoothiri and even the kings of Burma ruling at Pegu and Tenasserim paid tribute to the king of Vijayanagara Empire. Apparently by late 1430, Saamoothiri invited the Timurid dynasty ruler of Persia Shah Rukh for an emissary to visit Malabar in order to improve commerce. So, Abdur Razzaq, the ambassador who visited southern India in 1443 wrote that overall Deva Raya II has extended the Vijayanagara Empire from Orissa to Malabar.
Later, the kings of Kerala rebelled against their Vijayanagara overlords, Deva Raya II quelled rebelling feudal lords, the Samoothiri and the Venattadi. But, as the Vijayanagara power diminished in the next fifty years, Samoothiri again rose to prominence in Malabar coast.
In 1498, Saamoothiri built a fort at Ponnani during his conquest of the nadus.
From the early fifteenth century, the nautical school of Henry the Navigator had been extending Portuguese knowledge of the African coastline. From the 1460s, the goal had become one of rounding that continent's southern extremity to gain easier access to the riches of India (mainly black pepper and other spices) through a reliable sea route.
On 8 July 1497 Vasco da Gama led a fleet of four ships with a crew of 170 men from Lisbon. Vasco da Gama was sent by King Manuel I of Portugal with a fleet of four ships to find the sea route to India. Gama's fleet was equipped by Captain Bartolomeu Dias, who had previously sailed to the tip of South Africa in 1488, but had to turn back from going onwards to India due to a mutiny on his ship. Dias, who was used to dealing with African tribes that inhabited the West coast of Africa at that time, equipped the fleet with goods like glass beads, copper bowls, tin bells, tin rings, striped cotton cloth, olive oil, and sugar that had proved useful to him in trade with the tribes. Gama could not offer the Saamoothiri any substantial gift (which was customary for new traders). The distance traveled in the journey around Africa to India and back was greater than around the equator.[7][8] The navigators included Portugal's most experienced, Pero de Alenquer, Pedro Escobar, João de Coimbra, and Afonso Gonçalves. It is not known for certain how many people were in each ship's crew but approximately 55 returned, and two ships were lost.
In February 1498, Vasco da Gama continued north, landing at the friendlier port of Malindi - whose leaders were then in conflict with those of Mombasa - and there the expedition first noted evidence of Indian traders. Gama and his crew contracted the services of a pilot whose knowledge of the monsoon winds allowed him to bring the expedition the rest of the way to Calicut (Kozhikode), located on the southwest coast of India. Sources differ over the identity of the pilot, calling him variously a Christian, a Muslim, and a Gujarati. One traditional story describes the pilot as the famous Arab navigator Ibn Majid, but other contemporaneous accounts place Majid elsewhere, and he could not have been near the vicinity at the time.[9] Also, none of the Portuguese historians of the time mention Ibn Majid.
The fleet arrived in Kappad near Calicut, India on 20 May 1498. The King of Calicut, the Saamoothiri (Samoothiri), who was at that time staying in his second capital at Ponnani, returned to Calicut on hearing the news of the European fleets's arrival. The navigator was received with traditional hospitality, including a grand procession of at least 3,000 armed Nairs, but an interview with the Samoothiri failed to produce any concrete results. The presents that da Gama sent to the Samoothiri as gifts from Dom Manuel—four cloaks of scarlet cloth, six hats, four branches of corals, twelve almasares, a box with seven brass vessels, a chest of sugar, two barrels of oil and a cask of honey—were trivial, and failed to cut any ice. While Samoothiri's officials wondered at why there was no gold or silver, the Muslim merchants who considered da Gama their rival suggested that the latter was only an ordinary pirate and not a royal ambassador![10] Vasco da Gama's request for permission to leave a factor behind him in charge of the merchandise he could not sell was turned down by the King, who insisted that da Gama pay customs duty—preferably in gold—like any other trader, which strained the relation between the two. Annoyed by this, da Gama carried a few Nairs and sixteen Mukkuva fishermen off with him by force.[11] Nevertheless, da Gama's expedition was successful beyond all reasonable expectation, bringing in cargo that was worth sixty times the cost of the expedition.
Vasco da Gama set sail for home on 29 August 1498. Eager to leave he ignored the local knowledge of monsoon wind patterns, which was still blowing onshore. Crossing the Indian Ocean to India, sailing with the monsoon wind, had taken Gama's ships only 23 days. The return trip across the ocean, sailing against the wind, took 132 days, and Gama arrived in Malindi on 7 January 1499.
Although the Saamoothiri received the Portuguese warmly, relations between the two soured soon. This was because the Portuguese at the outset demanded a trade monopoly and also the expulsion of Muslim traders from Kozhikode.
The first India Armada, commanded by Vasco da Gama, arrived in Portugal in the summer of 1499, in a rather sorry shape. Although he came back with a hefty cargo of spices that would be sold at an enormous profit, Vasco da Gama had failed in the principal objective of his mission - negotiating a treaty with Calicut, the spice entrepot on the Malabar Coast of India.
On the orders of King Manuel I of Portugal, arrangements immediately began to assemble a Second Armada in Cascais and placed under the command of Pedro Álvares Cabral. Determined not to repeat Gama's mistakes, this one was to be a large and well-armed fleet - 13 ships, 1500 men - and laden with valuable gifts and diplomatic letters to win over the potentates of the east. The fleet included Sancho de Tovar, Nicolau Coelho, Pêro de Ataíde, Bartolomeu Dias and others. Cabral's instructions were several-fold. Cabral's instructions were precisely to succeed where Gama had failed, and to this end was entrusted with magnificent gifts to present to the Samoothiri. Cabral was under orders to establish a feitoria (factory) in Calicut, to be placed under Aires Correia, the designated factor for Calicut.
August 22, 1500 - After an uneventful ocean crossing, Cabral's six ships land in Anjediva Island (Angediva, Anjadip), where they rest and recuperate, repair and repaint the ships.
September 13, 1500 - Sailing down the Indian coast, Cabral's expedition finally reaches Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode). Gaily decorated boats come out to greet them, but remembering Gama's experience, Cabral refuses to go ashore until hostages are exchanged. He dispatches Afonso Furtado and the four Calicut hostages taken by da Gama the previous year, to negotiate the details of the landing. This eventually done, Cabral finally finally goes ashore himself and meets new Samoothiri of Calicut (Manavikraman Raja, the wary old Samoothiri that da Gama had met, had recently died). The Portuguese are better-prepared this time - Cabral presents the young Samoothiri with much finer and more luxurious gifts than Gama had brought, and more respectful and personalized letters of address from King Manuel I of Portugal.
A commercial treaty is successfully negotiated, and the Samoothiri gives Cabral a security-of-trade certificate etched on a silver plate. The Portuguese are allowed to establish a feitoria in Calicut and Aires Correia, the designated factor for Calicut, goes ashore with some 70 men. Once the factory is set up, Cabral releases the ship hostages as a sign of trust. Correia immediately sets about buying spices in Calicut's markets for the ships to take home.
October?, 1500 - Not long after, the Samoothiri of Calicut dispatches a service request to Cabral's idling fleet. Arab merchants allied with rival state of Cochin are returning from Ceylon with a cargo of war elephants destined for the Sultan of Cambay (Khambhat, Gujarat). Claiming it to be illegal contraband (and the Samoothiri could probably use the elephants himself), Cabral is asked if he can intercept them. Cabral sends one of his caravels, brimming with cannon, under Pêro de Ataíde (nicknamed 'Inferno'), to capture it. Hoping for a spectacle, the Samoothiri himself comes down to the beachfront to witness the engagement, but leaves in disgust when the Arab ship deftly slips past Ataide. But Ataíde gives chase and eventually catches up with it near Cannanore and successfully seizes the vessel. Cabral presents the captured ship, with its nearly-intact elephant cargo (one pachyderm was killed in the engagement), to the Samoothiri as a gift.
December, 1500 - After two months of operation, factor Aires Correia has only been able to buy enough spices to load two of the ships. He complains to Cabral his suspicions that the guild of Arab merchants in Calicut have been colluding to shut out Portuguese purchasing agents from the city's spice markets. This is not unlikely. Arab traders had reportedly used similar collusive tactics to drive out Chinese merchants earlier in the 15th C. It would make sense if they tried doing so again - particularly as the Portuguese had arrived trumpeting their hatred of 'the Moors' and demanding trading privileges and preferences, a clear danger to their own trade.
[Historians cite murkier elements to this, in particular, that the Portuguese traders might have been unwitting counters in on-going quarrels between competing older and newer Arab merchant guilds in the city and/or used as pawns in the personal power struggles among the Samoothiri's leading advisors, etc. There were certainly more dimensions to this affair, the full details of which will likely never be clearly known.]
Cabral presents the complaint to the Samoothiri, and requests that he crack down on the Arab merchant guild or enforce Portuguese priority in the spice markets. But the Samoothiri refuses to intervene in the matter - or rather makes only some vague promises, but disdains to get actively involved in the matter, as Cabral demands.
December 17, 1500 - Frustrated by the Samoothiri's inaction, Cabral decides to take matters into his own hands. On the advice of Aires Correia, Cabral orders the seizure of an Arab merchant ship from Jeddah, then loading up with spices in Calicut harbor, claiming that as the Samoothiri had promised the Portuguese priority in the spice markets, the cargo is rightfully theirs. Incensed, the Arab merchants around the quay immediately raise a riot in the city and direct mobs to attack the Portuguese factory. The Portuguese ships, anchored out in the harbor and unable to approach the docks, helplessly watch the unfolding massacre. After three hours of fighting, some 53 (some say 70) Portuguese are slaughtered by the mobs - including the factor Aires Correia, the secretary Pêro Vaz de Caminha, and three (some say five) of the Franciscan friars. Around twenty Portuguese then in the city manage to escape the riot by jumping into the harbor waters and swimming to the ships. The survivors report to Cabral that the Samoothiri's own guards were seen either standing aside or actively helping the rioters.
December 18–22, 1500 - Incensed at the attack on the factory, Cabral waits one day for redress by the Samoothiri. When this isn't forthcoming, he takes his revenge. The Portuguese seize around ten Arab merchant ships then in harbor, confiscating their cargoes, killing their crews, and burning their ships. Then, accusing the Samoothiri of sanctioning the riot, Cabral orders a full day shore bombardment of Calicut, doing immense damage to the unfortified city (estimates of Calicut casualties reach up to 600). Cabral proceeds to bomb the nearby Calicut-owned port of Pandarane as well.[12]
December 24, 1500 - Cabral leaves smoldering Calicut, unsure of what to do next. At the suggestion of Gaspar da Gama (the Goese Jew who had been accompanying the expedition), Cabral sets sail south along the coast towards Cochin (Cochim, Kochi), a small city-state at the outlet of the brackish Vembanad lagoon in the Kerala backwaters. Half-in-vassalage and half-at-war with Calicut, Cochin had long chafed at the dominance of its larger neighbor and was looking for an opportunity to break away.
Arriving in Cochin, a Portuguese emissary, accompanied by a Christian picked up in Calicut, are set ashore to make contact with the Trimumpara Raja (Unni Goda Varda), the Hindu prince of Cochin.[13] The Portuguese are greeted warmly - the bombardment of hated Calicut outweighing the earlier matter of the war elephants. All the cordialities and hostage-swapping quickly fulfilled, Cabral himself goes ashore and negotiates a treaty of alliance between Portugal and Cochin, directed against Calicut. Cabral promises to make the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin the ruler of Calicut, upon that city's capture.
A Portuguese factory is set up in Cochin, with Gonçalo Gil Barbosa as chief factor (the pre-designated Aires Correia having perished in the Calicut riot). A smaller, poorer city, the spice markets of Cochin are not nearly as well supplied as Calicut, but the trade is good enough to begin loading ships. The stay in Cochin is not without incident - the factory is set ablaze one evening (probably at the instigation of Arab traders in the city), but the Trimumpara Raja will not countenance a repeat of the events of Calicut. He cracks down on the arsonists, takes the Portuguese under his protection (the factors stay in his palace), and assigns his personal Nairguard to escort the Portuguese factors in the city's markets and protect the factory against any further incidents.
Early January 1501 - While in Cochin, Cabral receives missives from the rulers of Cannanore (Canonor, Kannur, further north, another of Calicut's reluctant vassals) and Quilon (Coulão, Kollam, further south, once a great Syrian Christian merchant city, entrepot for cinnamon, ginger and dyewood). They commend Cabral's actions against Calicut, and invite the Portuguese to trade in their cities instead. Not wishing to offend his gracious Cochinese host, Cabral politely declines the invitations, promising only to visit those cities at some future date.
While still at Cochin, Cabral receives yet another invitation, this one from nearby Cranganore (Cranganor, Kodungallur). Once a great city on the northern end of the Vembanad lagoon, capital of the Chera dynasty of Kerala, Cranganore had since fallen on hard times. Mother nature delivered Cranganore two severe blows - silting up the channels that connected Cranganore to the waterways, and breaking open a competing sea outlet by Cochin in the 14th C.[14] Cochin's rise had been principally due to the re-routing of commercial traffic away from Cranganore. Nonetheless, the remaining merchants of the dwindling city still maintained their old connections to the Kerala pepper plantations in the interior. Finding the supply in Cochin running low, Cabral takes up the offer to top up their cargo at Cranganore.
The visit to Cranganore turns out to be an eye-opener for the Portuguese, for among the city's remaining inhabitants are substantial established communities of Malabari Jews and Syrian Christians. The encounter with a clearly recognizable Christian community in Kerala confirms to Cabral what the Franciscan friars had already suspected back in Calicut - namely, that Vasco da Gama's earlier hypothesis about a 'Hindu Church' was mistaken. If real Christians have existed alongside Hindus in India for centuries, then clearly Hinduism must be a distinct and separate religion, 'heathen idolaters', as the Portuguese friars characterized them, rather than a 'primitive' form of Christianity. Two Syrian Christian priests from Cranganore apply to Cabral for passage to Europe (one of them, known as José de Cranganore or Joseph the Indian (Josephus Indus), will provide instrumental intelligence about India to the Portuguese.[15]
January 16, 1501 - News arrives that the Samoothiri of Calicut had assembled and dispatched a fleet of around 80 boats against the Portuguese in Cochin. Despite the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin's offer of military assistance against the Calicut fleet, Cabral decides to precipitously lift anchor and slip away rather than risk a confrontation. Cabral's armada leave behind the factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa and six assistants in Cochin. In their hasty departure, the Portuguese inadvertently take along two of the Trimumpara's officers (Idikkela Menon and Parangoda Mennon), who had been serving as noble hostages aboard the vessels.
Heading north, Cabral's armada takes a wide sweep to avoid Calicut, and pays a quick visit to Cannanore. Cabral is warmly received by the Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore who, eager for a Portuguese alliance, offers to sell the Portuguese spices on credit. Cabral accepts the cargo but pays him nonetheless (not a splendid cargo - only low-quality ginger, as it turns out, but Cabral is appreciative of the gesture.)
His ships now filled with spices, Cabral decides not to visit Quilon, as he had earlier promised, but to make way back home to Portugal. Late January, 1501 - Cabral takes aboard an ambassador from Cannanore, and starts his ocean crossing back to East Africa. On the way, the Portuguese capture a Gujarati ship, replete with a magnificent cargo. They steal the cargo, but spare the crew, once they realize they are not Arabs
So, in December 1500 the Saamoothiri expelled the Portuguese from Kozhikode due to their demand for a monopoly, and they moved to a trading post at the city of Kochi were they were warmly welcomed.
The Third India Armada was assembled in 1501 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of João da Nova. Nova's armada was relatively small and primarily commercial in objective. The objective of the Third Armada was wholly commercial. Their mission was to go to India, load up with spices, and return home. It was expected to be uneventful. Early August 1501 - Nova's armada arrives in Kilwa (Quiloa). where they are greeted on the beach by the degradado António Fernandes (Ataide's note said Fernandes was to be found in Mombasa; either Fernandes had travelled from there to Kilwa, or Ataíde was simply confused.) From the letters Cabral had left with Fernandes, João da Nova learns more of the details of the falling out with the Samoothiri of Calicut, the Portuguese factory at Cochin and the friendly relations with Cannanore and Quilon. November, 1501 João da Nova's Third Armada alights in India, on an island off the Malabar coast, either Angediva or Santa Maria, and begin making their way down the Indian coast towards Kerala, capturing two Arab merchant ships near Mount d'Eli, on the way.
The two month delay between the Third Armada's departure from the African coast (prob. August–September, 1501) and the first date known of its activities in India (November, 1501) is unusual and has been subjected to much speculation.[16] It is unlikely that the Armada lingered in Africa, as the monsoon would not have allowed a crossing at that late date. It is possible they simply took a long recuperative rest at Angediva/Santa Maria, or called in at nearby ports such as Batecala (Bhatkal) (as suggested by the chronicler Gaspar Correia) to do some trading and maybe some piracy too, before heading south to Cannanore.
On the other hand, it has been hypothesized that during this interlude, Nova might have launched some exploratory ventures in the area during, in particular taken a wide swing far south, below Cape Comorin, to see if he could locate the fabled island of 'Taprobana' (Ceylon), the world's main source of cinnamon (see below.)
The Third Armada arrives in Cannanore (Cananor, Kannur) sometime in November. They are well-received by the Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore, who immediately urges João da Nova to load up his ships with spices from that city's markets. Nova side-steps the offer courteously, noting that he must first collect the supplies already acquired by the Portuguese factory in Cochin (Cochim, Kochi). Nonetheless, before setting off, Nova drops off a few agents, with instructions to initiate arrangements to purchase spices (principally ginger and cinnamon) in the Cannanore markets, to be picked up later.
[It is sometimes said that Nova established the Portuguese factory in Cannanore at this point. Although the factor he left behind was Paio Rodrigues, a private agent of D. Álvaro of Braganza and the Marchionni consortium, not an employee of the Casa da India (the crown trading house). The Casa (and thus the Portuguese Crown) would only install a factor in Cannanore on the next expedition (4th Armada).
On the way to Cochin, Nova pounces on three merchant ships, including one owned by the Samoothiri himself, at the mouth of Calicut harbor, seizing their cargoes and burning the vessels in plain view of the city. Some valuable silver Indian nautical instruments and navigational charts were among the loot seized from these ships.
Arriving in Cochin, João da Nova encounters the factor left behind by Cabral, Gonçalo Gil Barbosa. Barbosa reports trading difficulties in the local markets. Indian spice merchants require payment in cash (silver principally), but Cabral had left him only with a stock of Portuguese goods (cloth mainly), expecting him to use the revenues from their sale to buy up the spices. But European goods have little vent in Indian markets, and Barbosa was still saddled with his unsold stock, unable to raise the cash to buy the spices. Barbosa seems to suspect that the Arab merchants guild has engineered a boycott of Portuguese goods on Indian markets. He also reports that the Raja Trimumpara of Cochin, despite his alliance and protection of the factory, is in fact infuriated at the Portuguese because Cabral's Second Armada had departed so suddenly (without cordialities and taking two noble Cochinese hostages with them).
The lack of silver cash seems to be the pressing problem that Nova did not anticipate. He certainly did not bring much cash with him, having also expected to sell Portuguese goods in India to raise it.[17]
Nova immediately sets sail back to Cannanore, to see if the agents he left there had any more success, but they are facing much the same problem - Portuguese merchandise is going unsold, and the spice merchants are demanding payment in silver. The Third Armada's mission is on the verge of failure, when the Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore intervenes, and places himself as security for the sale of spices to the Portuguese on credit. This breaks the deadlock and allows the Portuguese to finally load up on the spice markets.
Late December 1501 – Having loaded up with the spices he could get on credit in Cannanore (plus whatever cargoes he managed to steal by piratical attacks on Malabari ships), João da Nova makes preparations to leave India.
December 31, 1501 - As he about to set out of Cannanore, João da Nova's Third Armada is cornered in the bay by a fleet dispatched by the Samoothiri of Calicut, composed of nearly forty large ships, plus some 180 small paraus and zambuks, an estimated armed Malabari force of 7,000 men.[18]
The Raja of Cannanore urges João da Nova to stay under his protection and avoid a fight. But Nova, noticing the landside breeze in his favor, decides to attempt a break-out. After a few rounds of cannon open a little hole in the Calicut line, Nova orders his four ships into a column formation and charges through it, cannon blasting on either side. The powerful Portuguese cannonades and carracks' height foil Malibari attempts to throw grappling hooks and board the Portuguese quartet. As the Portuguese column continues out to sea, Nova continues firing his cannon relentlessly at his pursuers. The Calicut fleet, less seaworthy, begins to splinter and lag behind. As the Third Armada pulls away, the prospect of a grapple dims, and the battle is limited to a ranged artillery duel. The Malabari ships quickly realize their Indian cannon cannot match the range and speed of reloading of the Portuguese cannon, and begin to turn away. At this point, Nova gives a brief chase, before finally breaking up the engagement on January 2, 1502.
On the whole, after two days of fighting, the Third Armada had sunk five large ships and about a dozen oar-driven boats. But they inflicted a great deal of damage on the remaining Malabari vessels, while sustaining very little damage themselves.
Although João da Nova had not come prepared for a fight, the two-day naval battle off Cannanore was the perhaps the first significant Portuguese naval engagement in the Indian Ocean. It was not the first clash between Portuguese and Indian ships - Gama's First Armada and Cabral's Second Armada had their share. But earlier encounters had been largely with poorly-armed merchant ships, scrawny pirates and isolated squads, targets a single, well-armed fighting caravel could see off without much difficulty. This time, the Samoothiri of Calicut had attacked directly, stretching his sinews to deploy the best his navy could offer against a small group of relatively lightly armed Portuguese merchant carracks. The results were disheartening to the Malabari sea-king.
The Battle of Cananore made abundantly clear the great disparity between European and Indian technology in ship design and artillery - a gap that, in subsequent years, the Portuguese would repeatedly exploit and the Samoothiri of Calicut was desperate to close. To nullify the Portuguese naval superiority, the Samoothiri would have to stick to land or look abroad - to the Arabs, the Turks and Venetians.
The battle is also historically notable for being one of the earliest recorded deliberate uses of a naval column, and for resolving the battle by cannon alone. These tactics would become increasingly prevalent as navies evolved and began to see ships less as carriers of armed men, and more as floating artillery. In that respect, this has been called the first 'modern' naval battle (at least for one side).[19] May 21, 1502 On the return journey, João da Nova discovers the uninhabited island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean, naming it after saintly empress who's day it was. The expedition of the Third Armada had not been a resounding success. Although there was no significant loss of ships or men, they came back with less spices than anticipated (letters insinuate that cargo holds came back partially empty).
The Fourth India Armada was assembled in 1502 on the order of King Manuel I of Portugal and placed under the command of D. Vasco da Gama. It was Gama's second trip to India. It was designed as a punitive expedition, targeting Calicut, to avenge the travails of the 2nd Armada and the massacre of the Portuguese factory in 1500. The Second India Armada, commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral, had arrived in Portugal in the summer of 1501 in a terrible shape. Ship and human losses were tremendous, its mission objectives failed. As a result, King Manuel I of Portugal ordered a new fleet to be assembled, the 4th India Armada, armed to the teeth, with the explicit objective of bringing Calicut to heel.[20] he 4th Armada was composed of 20 ships and between 800 and 1800 men.[21] Mid-August, 1502 - After its Indian Ocean crossing, the Fourth Armada alights near the opulent port of Dabul (north of Goa).[22] These are the territorial waters of the powerful Muslim sultan Adil Shah (Hidalcão) of Bijapur. Expecting trouble, the fighting ships hoist up their lateen sails and load up their cannon. But no one comes out to challenge them, so they begin coasting south along the Indian coast towards Kerala.[23]
Late August/Early September 1502 - Business in Batecala done, Vasco da Gama sets sail towards Cannanore. They anchor in around Mount d'Eli, the common touch-point for ships on the Jedda-Calicut route, evidently intending to catch some prizes before proceeding.
September 29, 1502 - After prowling around Mt. d'Eli for nearly a month with little success (they captured only one minor ship[24]), captainGil Matoso (on the São Gabriel), spots a large merchant ship carrying Muslim pilgrims returning from Mecca (or going to it, chronicles contradict). The ship, the Miri, is identified as belonging to a certain al-Fanqi, one of wealthier men of Calicut and said by some to be the Meccan factor in Calicut.[25] Matoso chases the pilgrim ship down,[26] which surrenders rather quickly, probably imagining that its master had enough money to ransom it off. But Vasco da Gama shrugs off all the offers. As the Portuguese crew plunder the ship and transfer its cargo, it quickly becomes evident that Gama intends to burn the ship with all its passengers - men, women and children - on board. When Gama proves deaf to their pleas for mercy, the passengers frantically attack the Portuguese men-at-arms with their bare hands. To no avail.
October 3, 1502 - a day, eyewitness Thomé Lopes states, "I will never forget for the rest of my days".[27] The pilgrim ship thoroughly plundered, on Gama's orders, the passengers are locked in the hold and the ship burnt and sunk by artillery. It takes several days to finally go down completely. Portuguese soldiers row around the waters on longboats mercilessly spearing survivors.[28]
The sinking of the Miri is an act that will instantly cement Gama's cruel and fearsome reputation, and generate a great deal of hatred for the Portuguese in India. Gama defended his act as "vengeance" for the Calicut massacre of 1500, arguing that the ship's owner, as a prominent person in Calicut, was 'doubtlessly' responsible for the sinister counsel to the Samoothiri that led up to it.[29]
Of the eyewitnesses, all mention it, but only Thomé Lopes openly condemns the act, claiming Gama acted "with great cruelty and without any mercy whatsoever".[30] The chroniclers don't shy away from describing the event and their unease is evident. Although Barros and Castanheda reiterate Gama's justification of the act as revenge for Cabral, they don't seem to embrace it themselves.[31] Indeed, Barros, Góis and Osório claim the ship belonged to the Sultan of Egypt, who was in no way responsible for the events in Calicut, thus subtly suggesting Gama may have made a mistake.[32] Gaspar Correia is a little more open in his disapproval. He notes that several of the Portuguese captains were appalled by Gama's decision and tried to persuade him against it (if only because they would forego a hefty ransom).[33] Correia gives a heart-rending account of the desperate and valiant resistance of the doomed passengers.[34] Poet Luís de Camões passes over the incident in silence, evidently feeling it detrimental to the heroic portrait of Vasco da Gama.[35]
Estimates of those killed on the Miri hover around 300.[36] Portuguese chroniclers are eager to report that 20 children were spared this fate, and brought back by the 4th Armada to Lisbon, where they will be baptized and raised as friars at the Nossa Senhora de Belém.[37] Among the eyewitnesses Thomé Lopes and the anonymous Flemish sailor make no mention of this small mercy, although Matteo de Bergamo does point it out.[38]
October 18, 1502 - Vasco da Gama's armada finally reaches Cannanore (Canonor, Kannur), and delivers the Cannanore ambassador that had gone to Lisbon with Cabral's 2nd Armada.[39] The Kolathiri Raja of Cannanore invites Gama to come ashore for an elaborate reception, but Gama replies that he swore a personal oath not to set his foot on Indian soil again until his vengeance on Calicut was sated. As a result, the rajah orders a wooden scaffold to be built over the seashore, where they can meet in person without violating the vow.[40]
Gama presents the raja with royal letters and munificent gifts (a jeweled sword, a brocaded armchair) and discussions immediately begin. A commercial treaty is negotiated, establishing a Portuguese crown factory in Cannanore, and arranging a fixed-price schedule, which the Raja personally guarantees, for the sale of spices to the Portuguese.
[The negotiation for the commercial treaty did not go smoothly, particularly the fixed price clause. The Kolathiri Raja protested that he had no power over market prices nor the right to dictate how private merchants disposed of their property.[41] Gama had to resorted to feints, threats and then sailed out of Cannanore in anger.[42] Barros credits the role of Paio Rodrigues, the Portuguese factor (private, not crown, an employee of the private employee of D. Álvaro of Braganza and the Marchionni consortium), that had been left behind in Cannanore by João da Nova's Third Armada at the beginning of the year. After Gama stormed off and ordered sail out of the city, Paio Rodrigues mediated between the Kolathiri Raja and the Captain-Major and finalized the treaty [43]
Correia points out this is the treaty where the Portuguese cartaz system was first introduced.[44] Henceforth, every merchant ship along the Malabar coast had to present a certificate signed by a Portuguese factor (in Cannanore, Cochin, etc.), or else be subject to attack and seizure by a Portuguese patrol. This licensing system would be subsequently adopted later on other Portuguese-controlled coasts (e.g. East Africa, Malacca, Brazil), with differing degrees of success.[45] It will be largely maintained until the 18th C.
October 25, 1502 - Fleet departs Cannanore. Chroniclers differ a little on the subsequent sequence of events. While still in Cannanore, Gama had sent Pedro Afonso de Aguiar to Calicut in advance, with the warning that he had come to settle scores for the mistreatment of Cabral and to get compensation for the overruning of the Calicut factory in 1500. In response, the Samoothiri of Calicut sent back a string of messengers to Cannanore (and along the way to Calicut), each delivering promises that the Samoothiri was willing to settle matters with Gama, and compensate the Portuguese for the loss of their factory goods.[46] On the other hand, Gama also receives a message from Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, the Portuguese crown factor in Cochin, warning him that it was all a tactical ruse, that the Samoothiri of Calicut had also dispatched a circular letter to all the lords of the Malabar Coast instructing them to close their ports and markets to the Portuguese.[47]
October 29, 1502 - Gama's large armada finally arrives before the harbor of Calicut (Calecute, Kozhikode). The Samoothiri dispatches an emissary, a Brahmin (dressed as a Christian friar) on a boat to Gama.[48] The Brahmin reports that the Samoothiri had arrested twelve of those responsible for the 1500 riot, and offers a peace and friendship treaty and the opening of a discussion of the restoration of the trade goods seized from the Portuguese factory, albeit noting that the Samoothiri has also suffered property damages from Portuguese actions and that he intends to deduct it from the final account.[49] Gama is angered, feeling that the Samoothiri has changed his tone from his earlier messages, and demands the property taken from the factory be restored in full and brought to his ship, and that all Muslim merchants must be expelled from the Calicut, before any discussion about a treaty begins.[50]
While awaiting the Samoothiri's reply, Gama seizes a nearby idling zambuq and some fishing boats that had unwisely ventured into Calicut harbor, taking some fifty fisherman captive.[51] This action evidently angers the Samoothiri, who sends a stern reply to Gama, noting that Gama had already taken severalfold times more property from Calicut ships, and slaughtered ten times more of his citizens (on the Miri, etc.) than the Portuguese lost in the 1500 riot. Despite being the net sufferer and the clamor of his citizens for revenge, the Samoothiri is prepared to forgive and forget and start anew.[52] The Samoothiri also replies that Calicut is a free port and he has no intention of expelling 'the Moors'.[53] Moreover, the Samoothiri orders Gama to release his 'hostages', that he will not subject himself to negotiation conditions and that if Gama is unhappy with his offer, then he should leave Calicut harbor at once, for the Samoothiri has not given him permission to anchor there, or at any other port in India.[54]
October 31, 1502 - Infuriated by the reply, Gama sends out a strongly worded ultimatum, declaring that the Samoothiri's permission means nothing to him, that he has until noon the next day to deliver the Portuguese factory goods to his ship.[55] Gama uses this overnight interlude to send his boats out to sound the harbor of Calicut to find optimal firing positions. That same night, Calicut forces set about frantically digging entrenchments, erecting a protective timber palisade and laying cannon along the harbor shore.[56]
November 1, 1502 - At noon, having received no reply, Gama orders that his Malabari prisoners strung up by their necks from the shipmasts, allocating a few to each ship.[57] Calicut crowds approach the beach to watch the grisly spectacle. Then the armada advances into the harbor and opens fire. The bombardment is principally aimed at clearing the beach and trenches.[58] The Malabari shore cannon are too few, their range and power too weak, to provide an effective reply.[59] The bombardment continues until nightfall. That night, the corpses of the hung Malabaris are taken from masts, their feet and hands severed off and sent by a small boat to the beach, with an insulting message to the Samoothiri, including a demand that the Samoothiri reimburse the Portuguese for the powder and shot expended on destroying his city.[60]
November 2, 1502 - The city bombardment resumes the next morning. The mostly poor dwellings on the shore having been razed the previous day, the Portuguese cannons now have a clear view of central city and the statelier homes of the richer citizens of Calicut and bring their larger ordnance to bear.[61] The city is relentlessly bombarded all morning - some 400 large rounds and an indeterminate number from the smaller caliber guns [62] At noon, when the Portuguese pause for lunch, a small group of Malabari vessels tries to attack the idling squad, but are quickly seen off.[63]
November 3, 1502 - Barros reports that the two-day bombardment had sufficiently crippled the city that several of the captains urge Gama to authorize a landing of troops to sack Calicut. But Gama, still hopeful the Samoothiri might come to terms, turns down their request, believing a sack would only esclate matters to the point of no return.[64] So, the next morning, vengeance satisfied, Gama sets sail out of Calicut harbor.
[In his somewhat different account,[65] Gaspar Correia doesn't report the hanging of the prisoners; instead, after the bombardment, while still anchored before the harbor of the smoldering city, the Fourth Armada captures a Coromandel merchant convoy of 2 large ships and 27 small boats unlucky enough to turn up at Calicut at that very moment. Seizing the convoy, Gama orders the cargoes transferred, the crews tied, their teeth beaten out, their noses and hands cut off and the ships set alight. The Brahmin emissary (still being held by the Portuguese) is sent back to shore with a bag full of severed hands and a note for the Samoothiri telling him to "make a curry out of them".[66]]
The violent treatment meted out by Vasco da Gama sends shockwaves throughout the Malabar coast. Merchant ships in Indian ports hurriedly leave the area or go into concealment. All shipping along the coast essentially freezes.
Before leaving Calicut, Gama assembles a squadron of five or six fighting ships under Vicente Sodré and his brother Brás Sodré, with some 200 soldiers (mainly crossbowmen), to maintain the blockade on Calicut harbor, and patrol the coast preying on Calicut shipping. The exact composition of the patrol squadron differs in the sources, and it seems there is some reshuffling of captains in the process. The following is only one possible list, compiled from different sources, and should not be taken as authoritative:
| Captain | Ship | Notes |
| 1. Vicente Sodré | São Rafael | naveta previously commanded by factor Diogo Fernandes Correia |
| 2. Brás Sodré | Vera Cruz | naveta prev. comm. by Rui da Castanheda |
| 3. Pêro de Ataíde | Bretoa? | naveta prev. comm. by Francisco da Cunha 'Marecos'? |
| 4. Fernão Rodrigues Bardaças | Santa Marta | caravel |
| 5. Pêro Rafael | Garrida | caravel |
| 6. Diogo Pires | Fradeza | caravel prev. comm. by João Lopes Perestrello? |
[The patrol squadron captains are taken from the lists in Castanheda,[67] Góis[68] and Osório[69] Other sources are not so explicit.[70] The ship names are tentatively deduced from Gaspar Correia, who, as usual, deviates in naming the captains.[71]
November 3, 1502 His blockade of Calicut in place, Vasco da Gama arrives in Cochin (Cohim, Kochi) with the bulk of the armada. He is received by Trimumpara ruler of Cochin, not without a touch of anxiety. But cordialities soon set that to rest. The Nair hostage taken accidentally by the 2nd Armada the previous year is delivered, along with the letter of the other Nair who stayed back in Lisbon.
Gama concludes negotiates a new commercial treaty with the ruler of Cochin, this time with a fixed-price schedule, like at Cannanore. Diogo Fernandes Correia, the new designated factor for Cochin, relieves Cabral's factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa (now slated to be transferred to Cannanore) and sets about his business buying spices for the return journey.
While conducting business at Cochin, Vasco da Gama receives a letter from the queen-regent of Quilon (Coulão, Kollam), on behalf of her young son, the raja Govardhana Martanda. The queen invites the Portuguese fleet to load up with spices at Quilon. Gama declines politely, noting that he cannot do anything without the permission of his Cochinese hosts. As a result, the queen-regent dispatches a messenger to the prince of Cochin. Trimumpara Raja prevaricates at first, fearing that competition from Quilon's more amply-supplied markets will hurt his own. But Cochin's slender supply is worrying the Portuguese factors. At length, an agreement is reached between all parties: Gama is to dispatch only two ships to load up with spices at Quilon, and promises not to set up a permanent factory in that city. The two ships, carrying temporary factor João de Sá Pereira, the first Portuguese to enter Quilon, will load up quickly, and return to Cochin within ten days.
It is reported that while at Cochin, Gama also receives a message from Syrian Christian community of nearby Cranganore offering to place themselves under the protection of the King of Portugal.
December, 1502-January, 1503 While Vasco da Gama is winding up business in Cochin, and preparing to sail back to Cannanore, Trimumpara Raja of Cochin summons Gama with a piece of disturbing intelligence. The Samoothiri of Calicut had hired the services of a Red Sea Arab privateer 'Cojambar' (Khoja Ambar), who had brought several large Arab ships, and slipped past the Portuguese blockade. The Arab ships have joined a fighting fleet assembling at Calicut, under the command of Calicut admiral 'Coja Casem' (Khoja Kassein), intending to ambush the Portuguese on the way to Cannanore.
The Calicut fleet is estimated at 20 large ships, 40 gun-mounted sambuks (large dhows) and an innumerable number of smaller oar-powered boats, carrying several thousand armed men. Although a large Calicut fleet had failed against the much smaller 3rd Armada of João da Nova the previous year, the Samoothiri might have calculated that the addition of the Arab Red Sea ships and more experienced captains might tip the balance - particularly against the heavily loaded and less-maneuverable large naus of the 4th Armada.
The Raja of Cochin urges Gama to avoid the fleet and just set sail for Portugal at once. But Vasco da Gama refuses to revise his plans, claiming he needs to retun to Cannanore to deposit a factor there and pick up a cargo of ginger he had ordered. Nonetheless, he dispatches a message to Vicente Sodré's squadron of fighting caravels, then patrolling near Cannanore, to join him in Cochin.
While this discussion is going on, a Brahmin arrives in Cochin, with an offer of peace from the Samoothiri, proposing to let bygones be bygones and 'restart' the Calicut-Portuguese relationship afresh. But Gama refuses and accuses the Brahmin of being a spy. Gama has him tortured, mutilated (ears cut off and dog ear's sewn on) and sent back to Calicut.
Early February, 1502, After a final audience with Raja Trimumpara, taking aboard his ambassador to the Lisbon court, leaving Diogo Fernandes Correia as factor in Cochin, and taking Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, to serve as factor in Cannanore, Gama's fleet (around ten fully laden ships) finally leaves Cochin. They are soon joined by Sodré's caravel squadron, and set sail warily towards Cannanore, guns ready for the Calicut ambush.
Gama and Sodré spot the Calicut fleet of Coja Casem and Arab privateer Cojambar, near the coast, out of Calicut harbor. In one of the first recorded instances of a naval line of battle, Gama's spice naus and escort caravels sail in a line end-to-end, concentrating all their immense firepower as they pass against the twenty large Arab ships of Cojambar, before they can get organized, sinking a number of them and doing immense damage to the remainder. Although the Arab squadron is out of commission too soon, Coja Casem nonetheless proceeds forward with his fleet of Malabari sambuks, hoping to use their speed to outmaneouver the guns of the heavy-laden naus and reach for the grapple. But Gama sends the escort caravels under Vicente Sodré to intercept them in their tracks, while the cargo naus hurry on toward Cannanore. Although the caraveils are outnumbered, it isn't much of a battle. The fight is essentially over when Pero Rafael and Gil Matoso quickly board and capture Coja Casem's flagship (oddly, found with a lot of women and children on board). The Calicut fleet breaks up and rushes back to port. The pursuing caravels capture a number of sambuks, which they proceed to tow and set on fire before Calicut. The long-prepared ambush has been foiled. Danger dispelled, the caravels proceed to Cannanore to make junction with the main fleet.
The Battle of Calicut, like the previous year's naval battle of Cannanore, once again demonstrated the critical importance of the technical superiority of Portuguese ships and naval artillery. But it also demonstrated to the Portuguese that the Samoothiri of Calicut was not as easy to intimidate as they had expected. Despite the terror actions, the bombardment and the naval blockade, the Samoothiri steadfastly refused to capitulate to Vasco da Gama's terms. On the contrary, the hiring of an Arab privateer fleet demonstrated a certain resourcefulness and willingness to continue fighting and take the fight to the Portuguese.
The hiring of Cojambar was also a foreboding. The Samoothiri clearly understood he had to appeal to foreigners to help close the technical gap between Indian and Portuguese forces. Surely it would only be a matter of time before the Samoothiri got his hands on Arab, Turkish and Venetian technology, and more substantial support from these great powers than just a Red Sea pirate or two?
If the battle of Calicut impressed something on Vasco da Gama, it was precisely that the Portuguese in India were living on borrowed time, that it was going to take more resources than he had to bring the Samoothiri to heel and secure continued Portuguese access to the spice markets. And that was the message he would bring back to Lisbon.
In the meantime, his priority was to do everything he could to maintain the Portuguese toe in India - that is, to protect the Portuguese factories and Indian allies of Cochin and Cannanore, from the Samoothiri's inevitable revenge the moment the 4th Armada left.
Arriving in Cannanore, Gama leaves Cabral's old factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa, and two assistants, Bastião Álvares and Diogo Nunes. With the permission of the Kolithiri Raja of Cannanore, Gama erects a small palisade around the factory. Some 200 armed men (others report merely 20) are to remain with the factory.
More troubling, however, is the India patrol squadron. Back in Lisbon, Vincent Sodré had been given a commission (regimento) by king Manuel I of Portugal instructing him to lead a patrol of five or six caravels in the Gulf of Aden, and prey on the rich Arab prizes going in and out of the Red Sea. But Vasco da Gama, realizing the vulnerability of Cochin and Cannanore, invokes rank as captain-major of the armada and orders Sodré to set that mission aside, and maintain his patrol on the Indian coast, to defend the Portuguese factories and their Indian allies against any reaction by the Samoothiri. Late February, 1503 Vasco da Gama sets sail with his ten (or twelve) laden ships back to Lisbon. [Note: some chronicles put Gama's departure from Cannanore on December 28, 1502, meaning all the events described earlier must be compacted within that shorter time period.]
The return journey is quick and relatively smooth, with only one stop in Mozambique Island.
March, 1503 - As soon as Vasco da Gama's 4th Armada leaves India, as predicted, Raja Trimumpara of Cochin receives intelligence that the Samoothiri of Calicut is at this very moment preparing a landward invasion of Cochin. Portuguese factor Diogo Fernandes Correia urges Vicente Sodré to keep the caravel patrol squadron close to Cochin. But Vicente Sodré, eager for the easy plunder of the Arab Red Sea shipping, dismisses the rumors, Correia reminds him of Gama's orders, to no avail - Sodré pulls out his old royal regimento and orders the coastal patrol to follow him out to the Red Sea.[72] It is said that at least two of the captains of the coastal patrol refuse Sodré's orders, and willingly surrender the command of their ships rather than disobey Gama's original orders.
Basing themselves only on Vasco da Gama's report, the 6th Armada that set out in early 1504 was equipped more purposefully, bringing more soldiers and ships to protect the Portuguese factories in Cochin and Cannanore. As noted explicitly in his regimento, Lopo Soares de Albergaria was under strict orders to accept no peace with the Samoothiri of Calicut, and do what he could to harass Calicut.[73] Ataide's letter gave Lopo Soares the news of India up until February, 1504. What Lopo Soares did not know (but probably could guess) was that at this very moment there was a desperate battle going on in Cochin. In March, the Samoothiri of Calicut had launched a massive attack on Cochin, intending to capture the city and seize the Portuguese timber fortress. He brought some 57,000 troops, equipped with many Turkish firearms and Venetian guns. The tiny Portuguese garrison at Cochin, some 150 men under the command of Duarte Pacheco Pereira, by clever positioning, individual heroics and quite some luck, managed to fend off attack after attack by the Samoothiri's army and fleet in the ensuing months. The last assault was launched in early July, after which the humiliated Samoothiri called off the invasion.
August, 1504 - Crossing the Indian Ocean, the 6th Armada of Lopo Soares de Albergaria arrives at Anjediva island. There they find two Portuguese ships repairing - those of António de Saldanha and Rui Lourenço Ravasco. They had been part of the third squadron of last year's 5th Armada. They relate their sorry tale - how they got lost and separated in Africa, how they spent the winter season harassing East African ports and Red Sea shipping, and howw they were only able to undertake their Indian Ocean crossing this summer. They have no idea of the whereabouts of the third ship of their squadron, that of Diogo Fernandes Pereira, having lost track of it nearly a year ago.
[As it happens, Diogo Fernandes Pereira had wintered in Socotra by himself and undertook a solo crossing to India earlier in May; he arrived in Cochin just in time to help Duarte Pacheco fend off the last few assaults of the Samoothiri.]
Late August/Early September, 1504 - Saldanha and Lourenço accompany Lopo Soares' 6th Armada down the coast to Cannanore. Arriving there, they finally hear fuller reports from factor Gonçalo Gil Barbosa of the battle of Cochin. Lopo Soares sets sail at once.
September 7, 1504 - The 6th Armada appears before Calicut. Lopo Soares dispatches a message demanding they hand over any and all Portuguese prisoners to him; moreover, he demands that they also deliver the two Venetian engineers who had been helping the Samoothiri build European cannon. The Samoothiri is absent from the city at the moment, but his ministers are willing to release the Portuguese prisoners. The Italians, however, they cannot. Restless, Lopo Soares has the 6th Armada subject Calicut to forty-eight hours of continuous shore bombardment, causing great damage.
Satisfied, the 6th Armada proceeds south to Cochin. They are met before Fort Manuel by the Trimumpara Raja and the tired Portuguese garrison. But Duarte Pacheco himself is not there at the moment - he had recently left on a jaunt to Quilon, to check on the Portuguese factory there. Greetings and gifts are exhanged - including a sizeable chunk of money sent by Manuel I of Portugal to bolster the Trimumphara Raja's treasury.
With the Cochin spice markets starved by the recent siege, Lopo Soares sets about collecting spices from elsewhere. Four or five ships (Lopes da Costa, Aguiar, Coutinho, Abreu and perhaps another) are sent down to Quilon to load up. Two ships (Pêro de Mendonça and Vasco Carvalho) are sent out to patrol the coast south of Calicut, and seize whatever merchant ships they can (and take their spice cargoes), while Tristão da Silva, joined by five bateis (pinnaces) are dispatched on patrol duty inside the lagoon.
Hearing of the armada's arrival, Duarte Pacheco (then in Quilon) sets sail back to Cochin, and meets Lopo Soares on September 14 (October 22 according to Castanheda).
October, 1504 While in Cochin, Lopo Soares receives reports that the Samoothiri of Calicut has dispatched a force to fortify Cranganore, the port city ruled by a vassal of Samoothiri, at the northern end of the Vembanad lagoon, and the usual entry point for the Samoothiri's army and fleet into the Kerala backwaters. Reading this as a preparation for a renewed attack on Cochin after the 6th Armada leaves, Lopo Soares decides on a preemptive strike. He orders a squadron of around ten fighting ships and numerous Cochinese bateis and paraus, to head up there. The heavier ships, unable to make their way into the shallow channels, anchor at Palliport (Pallipuram, on the outer edge of Vypin island), while those ships, bateis and paraus that can continue on.
Converging on Cranganore, the Portuguese-Cochinese fleet quickly disperses the Samoothiri's forces on the beach with cannonfire, and then lands an amphibian assault force - some 1,000 Portuguese and 1,000 Cochinese Nairs, who take on the rest of the Samoothiri's forces in close combat. The Samoothiri's forces are defeated and driven away from the city.[74]
The assault troops capture Cranganore, and subject the ancient city, the once-great Chera capital of Kerala, to a thorough and violent sacking and razing. Deliberate fires were already started by squads led by Duarte Pacheco Pereira and factor Diogo Fernandes Correa, while the main fighting was still going on. They quickly consume most of the city, save for the Syrian Christian quarters, which are carefully spared (Jewish and Muslim homes are not given the same consideration).
In the meantime, the Calicut fleet, some 5 ships and 80 paraus, that had been dispatched to save the city are intercepted by the idling Portuguese ships near Palliport and defeated in a naval encounter.[75]
Two days later, the Portuguese receive an urgent message from the ruler of Tanur (Tanore), whose kingdom lay to the north, on the road between Calicut and Cranganore. The raja of Tanur had come to loggerheads with his overlord, the Samoothiri, and offered to place himself under Portuguese suzerainity instead, in return for military assistance. He reports that a Calicut column, led by the Samoothiri himself, had been assembled in a hurry to try to save Cranganore, but that he managed to block its passage at Tanur. Lopo Soares immediately dispatches Pêro Rafael with a caravel and a sizeable Portuguese armed force to assist the Tanurese. The Samoothiri's column is defeated and dispersed soon after its arrival.
The raid on Cranganore and the defection of Tanur are serious setbacks to the Samoothiri, pushing the frontline north and effectively placing the Vembanad lagoon out of the Samoothiri's reach. Any hopes the Samoothiri had of quickly resuming his attempts to capture Cochin via the backwaters are effectively dashed.
No less importantly, the battles at Cranganore and Tanur, which involved significant numbers of Malabari captains and troops, clearly demonstrated that the Samoothiri was no longer feared in the region. The Battle of Cochin had broken his authority. Cranganore and Tanur showed that Malabaris were no longer afraid of defying his authority and taking up arms against him. The Portuguese were no longer just a passing nuisance, a handful of terrifying pirates who came and went once a year. They were a permanent disturbance, turning the old order upside down. A new chapter was being opened on the Malabar coast. Late December, 1504 His naus loaded with spices from Cochin, Quilon and stolen merchant ships, Lopo Soares prepares his departure from Cochin. Duarte Pacheco Pereira, the hero of the battle of Cochin, is slated to be relieved. (It is said the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin was beside himself with grief and did everything he could to persuade Lopo Soares to let Duarte Pacheco stay on; but bowing to inevitability, the Trimumpara offered Duarte Pacheco a free cargo of pepper as personal reward for his services. Duarte Pacheco, knowing how the Trimumpara Raja had been personally impoverished by the war, refused to take it.)
Duarte Pacheco's replacement as capitão-more of Fort Manuel of Cochin is nobleman Manuel Telles de Vasconcelos (or Manuel Telles Barreto, according to Barros). Lopo Soares leaves Manuel Telles with three (possibly four) ships: one nau, and two caravels, under the commands of Diogo Pires and Pêro Rafael (and possibly Cristovão Jusarte (Lisuarte Pereira?)), all veterans of the battle of Cochin. Lopo Soares annexes what remains of the earlier fleets (e.g., Diogo Fernandes Pereira, Antonio de Saldanha, etc.) into the 6th Armada. Overall, Lopo Soares is bringing back to Lisbon two more ships than he left with.
December 31, 1504 - Setting out from Cochin, the 6th Armada first heads north, intending to dock briefly at the port of Ponnani, in order to pay his respects to his new ally, the raja of Tanur. While negotiating entry at the port (Ponnani doesn't actually belong to Tanur, which is further inland), Lopo Soares receives a message that a large Arab-Egyptian fleet ('Moors from Cairo and Mecca') - some 17 Arab ships, 4000 men - had arrived at Pandarane (Pantalyini Kollam), a spacious port just north of Calicut.[76] They had not come on a military mission, but only to evacuate expatriate Arab merchants and their families from Calicut and bring them home to Egypt and Arabia.
Calculating that the ships are probably loaded with the evacuating rich families' valuable belongings and treasures, Lopo Soares cannot resist. The naus being too loaded with spices to manoeuvere properly, Lopo Soares decides to send them on to Cannanore, and attack the Pandarane fleet with just two caravels and 15 Malabari bateis (pinnaces), loaded with around 360 Portuguese soldiers.[77] It is a bold venture, but Lopo Soares traps the Egyptian fleet in Pandarane harbor and in the subsequent ferocious battle, succeeds in capturing and plundering the Arab fleet, killing some 2,000 defenders in the process. Portuguese casualties are not light - at 23 dead, 170 wounded, that is about half the force, more than Duarte Pacheco lost in all his encounters at Cochin a few months earlier.[78]
Early January, 1505 After a brief stop in Cannanore, Lopo Soares and the 6th Armada set sail back across the Indian Ocean.
In 1505, the first Portuguese viceroy D. Francisco de Almeida arrived in India with a golden crown sent by King Manuel I of Portugal to reward the steadfastness of the Trimumpara Raja of Cochin in his Portuguese alliance. But the old Trimumpara Raja had abdicated by this time and taken up a life of religious devotion; it was his heir, Candagora, who was crowned in a solemn ceremony by Almeida as 'King of Cochin'.
By 1506, the Saamoothiri had built a fleet of 200 ships to fight the Portuguese, as well as an efficient artillery with the help of Italian cannon manufacturers.[79] This fleet was defeated in 1506 by the Portuguese Lourenço de Almeida in the Battle of Cannanore.[79]
By 1507, the Samorin had rebuilt his forces and intended to cooperate with the Egyptian Mamluk fleet. The Battle of Chaul led to the defeat of the Portuguese.[79] The Saamoothiri joined a coalition led by the Muslim Sultan of Gujarat, Mahmud Begara in the Battle of Diu in 1509 but were defeated by the Portuguese. A struggle by the Raja's navy led by his famous admiral, Kunjali Marakkar ensued and lasted several years. The Portuguese had built the Chaliyam fort just south of Calicut with the permission of the Raja of Vettattnad (Tirur) in 1530 AD from where the Portuguese attacked Saamoothiri's interests with impunity. The subsequent Rajas collaborated with the Dutch to defeat the Portuguese- Kochi coalition during 1661.
In 1570, the Sultan of Bijapur, Ali Adil Shah I entered into an alliance with the Sultan of Ahmadnagar, Murtaza Nizam Shah and the Samoothiri of Kozhikode for a simultaneous attack on the Portuguese territories of Goa, Chaul and Mangalore. He attacked Goa in 1571 and ended Portuguese influence in the region. The Bijapur sultans were especially known for their loathing of Christianity.
A Dutch fleet led by Steven van der Hagen arrived in Calicut in November 1604 and marked the beginning of the Dutch presence on the Indian coast and concluded a treaty on Nov 11, 1604. It provided for a mutual alliance between the two to expel the Portuguese from Indian soil. In return they were given facilities for trade at Calicut, including spacious storehouses. The Dutch had a more favourable relation with the Calicut and were provided greater participation in the ongoing trade. But, Samoothiri later occupied Kodungallur from the Dutch (The Dutch had had the fort from the Portuguese after end of Portguese in the great game in the East). Only after a treaty on December 17, 1717, the Dutch got the fort from the Samoothiri. So, the Dutch moved to Cochin for an alliance.
The Dutch could not however stay for long. Their force weakened after constant wars with Marthanda Varma of Travancore (until 1753) and were forced to surrender to a British force that marched from Calicut to Cochin on Oct 20, 1795 (as part of the larger Napoleonic Wars between Holland and England in Europe).
The British reached Calicut in 1615 under Captain William Keeling and concluded a treaty of trade under which, among others, the English were to assist Calicut in expelling the Portuguese from Cochin and Cranganore, a term that the British never fulfilled. In 1664, Samoothiri gave the English permission to build a factory in Calicut but did not extend any other favours as he was by now growing suspicious of all foreign(European) traders.
Samoothiti attacked Kodungallur in 1666 and 1668. In these attacks, the Paravur Dynasty was with the Dutch. Paravur dynasty were the allies of Cochin for a long time. But, sometimes, as other city states did, they were with the Samoothiri. Between 1701 and 1710, there were wars with the Cochin and the Samoothiti. This time the Dutch were with the Cochin and Paravur was with the Samoothiti. At the end, a treaty was signed between the Cochin and the Samoothiti.[6]
Soon, the peace was broken and the war continued. Dutch, supporting the Cochin, blocked the Samoothiri at Chetwai. Simultaneously, the Paravur king attacked Cranganore fort, owned by the Dutch. Samoothiri was ordered him to attack the Kodungallur fort to immediately end the war as the time for the Mamankam was soon. So, A peace deal was signed and the Dutch got Pappinivattom and Chetwai. So, all the vassals from Kodungallur to Chetwai now came under the Dutch. To defend the attacks of the Samoothiri, The Dutch started to build a fort in Chetwai in 1714 which will later fame as the Chetwai Fort. The Cochin supported the construction and Samoothiri so worried that he captured the fort within a year with help of the British at Thalassery. All the attempts of the Dutch to recapture the fort failed and at the end the fort was given to them as the a result of the peace treaty in 1718. The alliance of Samoothiri and Paravur king continued.[6]
Again war continued in 1756 when the Samoothiri defeated the Dutch and Chetwai, Pappinivattom, Enamakkal, Paravur kingdom, Alangat kingdom (Mangatt), Thrissur, and Mullurkarra ceded to the Samoothiri. Most of the vassals on the side of Cochin joined with the Samoothiri and he kept some forces at Alangat.
But, the coalition forces of Dutch and Cochin retaliated by the forces from Batavia, and the support of Travancore lead by King Marthandavarama. Travancore, joined the forces as a result a treaty, defeated the Samoothiri at Paravur and Alangot and when at the end the Travancore forces stormed to Malabar, the Samoothiri agreed a peace deal. As a result of the previous treaty between Cochin and Travancore, Paravur and Alangot became a part of Travancore.[6]
Hyder Ali ascended the throne of Mysore in 1761. By 1764, he obtained a pledge of neutrality from the British at Tellicherry in the event of a conflict with the Kerala powers. In the February 1766, Hyder Ali marched into northern Kerala. With the help of Ali Raja in 1763, Hyder Ali over ran smaller principalities in North Malabar and set up a confrontation with the Zamorin, the major ruler of the region. With active support of Kombi Achan (Raja of Palakkad), the Muslim forces of Mysore marched towards Calicut from the south.
Raja of Palakkad was an old enemy of the Samoothiri. Samoothiri had destroyed the Tharoor fort during his attacks on Tharoor.[6] Only then, the Tharoor Royal family moved to Palakkad. When the wars with Palakkad continued the Raja invited Hyder Ali at the end, very regretfully indeed. Hyder Ali send Makhdoom Ali, his commander, to Palakkad. But, soon Raja understood the big mistake of inviting foreign powers to Kerala.[6] During the 1766 invasion of Hyder Ali, even the king of Palakkad was killed and later when Hyder Ali's son Tipu Sultan divided Palakkad, the Mankara portion was on the side of the Samoothiri.
The Zamorin decided to face the mighty enemy with his numerically and militarily inferior forces rather than escaping to Travancore like the neighbouring Kolathiri. In 1767, as the Mysoreans edged closer to the outer reaches of the city, the Zamorin sent most of his relatives to safe haven in Ponnani and to avoid the humiliation of surrender committed self- immolation by setting fire to his palace, the Mananchira Kovilakam.[80] Following the tragedy, the second line successor to the throne, the Eranalppad Kishen Raja, continued his military action against the Mysorean forces from South Malabar and eventually forced Hyder Ali to cede many parts of Malabar to local rulers, who were supported by the British East India Company.[81]
During the 1780s, Ravi Varma Raja, the Eralppad of Calicut led a successful rebellion against the Mysore forces. Though Tipu conferred on him a jaghire (vast area of tax-free land) mainly to appease him, the Zamorin prince, after promptly taking charge of the jaghire, continued his revolt against the Mysore power, more vigorously and with wider support. He soon moved to Calicut, his traditional area of influence and authority, for better co-ordination. Tipu sent a large Mysore army under the command of M. Lally and Mir Asrali Khan to defeat the Zamorin prince at Calicut. It is believed that Ravi Varma Raja assisted several members of the priestly community (almost 30,000 Namboothiris) to flee the country and take refuge in Travancore, to escape the atrocities of Tipu.
Ravi Varma Raja helped the British defeat the Mysore Army and in return was promised full powers over Calicut. But after the defeat of Tippu Sultan, the British reneged on the promise. An irate Eralppad and his nephew, Ravi Varma Unni Raja II (Ravi Varma Unni Nambi) stabbed the Dewan Swaminatha Iyer (who later recovered with the help of English doctors) and fled to Wynad, where they joined the guerilla army of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja. Ravi Varma Raja I died in the guerilla warfare, while his nephew committed suicide upon capture by the British.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 1034–1042 | The founding of Calicut |
| 1101–1200 | War with Vellatri for the Mamankam |
| 1342–1347 | Ibn Batuta at Calicut |
| 1402–1410 | Ma Huan at Calicut |
| 1498 May 27 | Vasco Da Gama along with three ships and 170 men, lands at Kappakadavu, a beach town situated about 16 km from Kozhikode, and is welcomed by the then Saamoothiri, Manivikraman Raja. |
| 1500 December | Saamoothiri expels Portuguese forces from Kozhikode. |
| 1500 December 24 | Portuguese (led by Pedro Álvares Cabral) take refuge at port of Kochi, where the Kochi Raja placates them with spices for trade. |
| 1501 January | Portuguese conclude a treaty with Tirumulpad, the King of Kochi, allowing them to open a factory there. |
| 1502 August | Vasco Da Gama returns to India to try to control the Saamoothiri. He bombards Kozhikode and burns a Calicut ship, the Meri, full of Muslim pilgrims from Mecca [2]. |
| 1503 | Portuguese crown the new Raja of Kochi, effectively making him a vassal of the King of Portugal. Vasco returns to Portugal. |
| 1503 March | Saamoothiri attacks Kingdom of Kochi to foil the growing Portuguese influence. |
| 1503 | First Portuguese Viceroy Dom Francisco de Almeida arrives in Kochi to find it destroyed, manages to obtain permission to build a fort. Thus the first European fort is built in India by 1505 called Fort Manuel (after King Manuel I of Portugal). |
| 1504 September 1 | Portuguese bombard and destroy the town of Kodungallur in retaliation. |
| 1505 March | Portuguese destroy several boats belonging to the Saamoothiri, with severe loss of life.[82] |
| 1505 November | Murder of the Portuguese factor António de Sá and his men in Kollam. |
| 1506 | Saamoothiri approach Raja of Kolathiri and convinces him of Portuguese imperial ambition. Kolathiri already displeased with Portuguese for harming Muslims at Cannanore thereby breaking an important treaty. The Saamoothiri lay siege to the St.Angelos fort at Kannur. Portuguese break the blockade. Raja of Kolathiri forced accede. |
| 1506 | Saamoothiri's naval forces join the Turkish and Arab forces to attack the Portuguese navy led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida, son of the Portuguese Viceroy. Portuguese repel attack. |
| 1507 November 14 | Portuguese under Almeida attacked Ponnani. |
| 1508 March | Sultan of Cairo's navy along with Sultan of Gujarat's forces defeat Portuguese at Battle of Chaul, killing Dom Lourenço de Almeida. |
| 1509 February | Portuguese counter-attack and defeat the Saamoothiri's forces and the Egyptian/Turkish Navy at the Battle of Diu. Turks and Egyptians withdraw temporarily from India leaving the seas to the Portuguese until 1538. |
| 1513 | Saamoothiri and Portuguese sign a treaty giving Portuguese right to build a fort at Kozhikode. |
| 1520? | Assassination attempt on Saamoothiri by the Portuguese. |
| 1524 | King of Portugal sends Vasco Da Gama again to India to subdue the Saamoothiri. |
| 1525 February 26 | Portuguese navy led by new Viceroy Menezes raids Ponnani, but the Saamoothiri defeats them with assistance from Tinayancheri and Kurumliyapatri. |
| 1530 | Chaliyam fort built by Portuguese with the consent of the Raja of Tanur(Vettattnad) and Raja of Chaliyam. Chaliyam fort was 'like a pistol held at the Zamorin's throat' as it was a strategic site, only 10 km south of Kozhikkode. |
| 1540 | Saamoothiri enters into an agreement with the Portuguese. Treaty allows Portuguese trade monopoly at Kozhikode port. |
| 1550 | Portuguese attack Ponnani. |
| 1569–1570 | War between the Portuguese and Saamoothiri's forces at Chaliyam fort. |
| 1571 September 15 | Saamoothiri defeats Portuguese. Chaliyam fort completely destroyed by Saamoothiri. |
| 1573 | Pattu Marakkar (Kunjali III) obtains permission from Saamoothiri to build a fortress and dockyard at Puthupattanam. This fort later came to be called the Marakkar Kotta (Marakkar Fort). |
| 1584 | Saamoothiri shifts policy towards the Portuguese because of his estrangement with Kunjali Marakkar who begins to defy the Saamoothiri. Sanction the Portuguese to build a factory at Ponnani |
| 1591 | Saamoothiri allow the Portuguese to build a factory at Kozhikode. He lays the foundation of church granting them necessary ground and building materials. |
| 1598 | Saamoothiri joins Portuguese to fight his ex-Naval Commander, Kunjali Marakkar III. Kunjali surrenders to Saamoothiri who hands over the commander to the Portuguese calling him a traitor. The Portuguese kill Kunjali at Goa in 1600. |
| 1604 | Dutch East India Company concludes a treaty with the Saamoothiri to permit trade at Kozhikode and Ponnani. |
| 1661 | Saamoothiri joins a coalition led by the Dutch to defeat the Portuguese and the Raja of Kochi. |
| 1743 | Saamoothiri continues war with Valluvanad. |
| 1757 | Saamoothiri defeats Walluvanad state. |
| 1760 | Hyder Ali, ruler of the state of Mysore intervenes to help the Walluvanad Raja and defeats the Saamoothiri, who signs a treaty with Hyder Ali. |
| 1766 | Hyder Ali marches upon Kozhikode. Saamoothiri commits suicide, setting fire to his palace, on April 27. |
| 1766–1793 | Twenty seven years long resistance against the Mysorean forces and later against the British East India Company, by the Zamorin princes led by Ravi Varma of Padinjare Kovilakam. |
| 1797 | Surrender of the whole of Malabar to the company's government. |
| 1806 | Agreement between the then Zamorin and the company, entitling the former with the right of Malikhana for an indefinite period. |
| 1877 | Zamorin's college founded by P K Kuttiettan alias Sir Manavikrama Zamorin Maharaja Bahadur, KCSI. |
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