Portuguese ascendency

An important political development which took place at this juncture was the alliance between the Kolathiri and the Zamorin who were till then sworn enemies. The Zamorin was able to convince the Kolathiri of the real motives of the Portuguese in India and the perils inherent in his policy of befriending them.
The Portuguese followed a policy of religious persecution and forcible conversion. They therefore clashed with most of the native princes and chieftains.
In 1558, the Kolathiri came openly into the field against the Potuguese by providing active support to the Kunhjali Marrikkar of Kozhikode. The Kolathiri and the Zamorin fought a common war against the Portuguese and they besieged the fort of St. Angelo at Kannur,in 1564. But the Portuguese continued to maintain a precarious foothold at Kannur till 1663 when the fort was captured by the Dutch in February that year.

Vasco Da Gama

Though Vasco Da Gama, the famous Portuguese navigator, did not visit Kannur on his way to Kozhikode in May 1498, he established contacts with the Kolathiri ruler. His ships which had left Kozhikode on August 29, 1498 were contacted by the boats sent by the Kolathiri and Gama was invited to visit the palace. The aim of the Kolathiri was to gain wealth and power with the help of the Portuguese, the same way the Zamorin had acquired with the help of the Arabs. In winning the alliance of the Kolathiri, Vasco Da Gama, in turn, had successfully exploited the jealousies of the native princes and won for the Portuguese a virtual monopoly of the pepper trade.
Francisco De Almedia was sent from Portugal with specific instructions to erect forts at stratetgic points. He started constructing the Kannur Fort in 1505 and it was named St. Angelo.
On March 16, 1506, the Portuguese effectively intercepted an armada of Turks and Arabs, whom the Zamorin had launched against Kannur. The Portuguese navy under Lorenzo Almedia engaged the Zamorin's fleet in battle and the Portuguese ships won a decisive victory.
This naval victory resulted in the establishment of Portuguese naval supremacy in the Indian seas.

Mooshaka Kings and Kolathiris

Early in the ninth century A.D., the Cheras re-established their political supremacy in Kerala under Kulasekhara Varman. This second line of Chera emperors ruled till 1102 A.D with their capital at Mahodayapuram. The bulk of the area, comprising of the present Kannur district, seems to have been included in this empire. A separate line of rulers known as the Mooshaka Kings held sway over Chirakkal and Kasaragod areas (Kolathunad) with their capital near Mount Eli. It is not clear whether this line of rulers were attached to Mahodayapuram or whether they ruled as an independant line of kings in their own right. By the 14th century A.D., the old Mooshaka kingdom had come to be known as Kolathunad and the rulers known as Kolathiris and had come into prominence in north Kerala.
The Kolathiris were a power to reckon with at the time of the arrival of the Portuguese towards the end of the 15th century. They were political and commercial rivals of the Zamorins of Kozhikode.
During the medieval age, several Arab scholars visited the west coast. Baliapatam, Srikantapuram, Dharmadom, Bekal and Mount Eli (Ezhimala) are some of the places which figure prominently in their travelogues.

History of kannur

There is no evidence of the Paleolithic man having lived in this region . Nevertheless , rock-cut caves and Megalithic burial sites of the Neolithic age have come to light in certain parts of the district.
The Thaliparamba- Kannur -Thalassery area abounds in rock -cut caves, dolments, burial stone circles and menhirs , all of Megalithic burial order.
It can be assumed that the first batch of Aryan immigrants into the State entered the district through the Tuluva region.
The main history of kannur will be followed in next post.

INTRODUCTION

annur district derived its name from the location of its headquarters at Kannur town. The old name 'Cannanore' is the anglicised form of the Malayalam word Kannur . According to one opinion, 'Kannur' is a derivation from Kanathur, an ancient village, the name of which survives even today in one of the wards of Kannur Municipality. Another version is that Kannur might have assumed its name from one of the deities of the Hindu pantheon, a compound of two words, Kannan ( Lord Krishna ) and Ur (place) making it the place of Lord Krishna. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the deity of the Katalayi Srikrishna temple was originally installed in a shrine at Katalayi Kotta in the south eastern part of the present Kannur town.