CALICUT, city, British India, headquarters of the Malabar district of Madras; on the coast, 6m. N. of Beypore. Pop. (1931) 99,273. The weaving of cotton, for which the place was at one time so famous that its name became identified with its calico, is no longer of any importance. About the 7th century Calicut grew largely through the immigration of the Moplahs, fanatical Mohammedans from Arabia.
The Portuguese traveller, Pero de Covilham (q.v.) visited Cali cut in 1487, and described its possibilities for European trade; and in 1498 Vasco da Gama, the first European navigator to reach India, arrived at Calicut, then a flourishing city. Da Gama tried to establish a factory, but he met with persistent hostility from the local chief (zamorin), and a similar attempt made by Cabral two years later ended in the destruction of the factory by the Moplahs. In revenge the Portuguese bombarded the town; but no further attempt was made for some years to establish a trading settle ment there. In 1509 the marshal Don Fernando Coutinho made an unsuccessful attack on the city. In the following year Albu querque, with 3,00o troops, plundered the palace and burnt the town; but the Portuguese were finally repulsed, and fled to their ships after heavy loss. In the following year they concluded a peace with the zamorin and built a fortified factory, which was abandoned in 1525. In 1615 the town was visited by an English expedition; but it was not until that an English trading settlement was established by the East India Company. The French settlement, which still exists, was founded in 1698. The town was taken in 1765 by Hyder Ali, who expelled all the mer chants, and destroyed the coconut trees, sandal-wood and pepper vines, that the country might not tempt Europeans. In 1782 Hyder's troops were driven from the town, but in 1788 it was destroyed by his son Tippoo, who, with great cruelty, carried off the inhabitants to Beypore. In 1790 the country was occupied by the British; and under the treaty concluded in 1792, whereby Tippoo was deprived of half his dominions, Calicut fell to the British. After this the inhabitants returned and rebuilt the town. Calicut is served by the Madras railway, and is the chief seaport on the Malabar coast, although steamers have to lie 3 m. offshore, and the port is practically closed during the south-west monsoon from the end of May to mid-August. Beypore, where there are eight wharves, is included in the port. Two piers, about 14 m. apart, have recently been built at Calicut. The principal exports are coconut products, coffee, tea, pepper, ginger, etc. There are factories for coffee cleaning, cotton-mills, saw-mills and tile, oil and soap works. A detachment of European troops is generally stationed here to overawe the fanatical Moplahs. There are two colleges, a hospital of the Basle Mission, a fishery research station and a commercial school in the town.