MALABAR, a region on the western part of the Peninsula of India, between the mountains and the sea. Its name is obtained directly from the Portuguese Malavares, but the people call them selves 3faleallar, from Male, a mountain, and Alain, a district or country. The term Malabar, as usually applied by geographers, designates the whole of the narrow belt of country, rarely above fifty miles broad, west of the great peninsular chain, from Goa to Cape Comorin ; it thus includes the British district of Malabar, and the kingdoms of Cochin and Travancore to the south. This tract is in general hilly and mountainous ; a narrow strip of lowland borders the sea, frequently intersected by long sinuous salt-water creeks, and covered with cocoanut trees ; the hills, which are thrown off as spurs from the main axis, often reach the sea and dip suddenly into it ; they en close well-cultivated valleys, and though generally low to the west, they rapidly rise to the east, where they join the chain. The climate of Malabar is characterized by extreme humidity, and an abund ant rainfall during the south-west monsoon, when the temperature seldom rises above 75°, the mean of the year being 81°.
The area of the Madras portion is 6002 square miles, lying between long. 75° 14' and 76° 52' E., and lat. 10° 15' a'nd 12° 18' N., and bounded on the north by South Kanara, east by Coorg, the Neilgherries, and Coimbatore; south, by the Native States of Cochin and Travancore; and west by the ,Arabian Sea. , Malabar is the garden of peninsular India.
hero nature is clad in her brightest and most inviting robes ; the scenery is magnificent, the fields and gardens speak of plenty, and the dwell ings of the people are substantial and comfortable.
Hindu legend ascribes its creation to Parusu Rama, who caused the sea to retire from the Western Ghats, and introduced Brahmans into the country, which he divided into sixty-four gramani or districts, and these were subsequently separated into two divisions, Tulu and Kerala, the Kangarote or Chaudragiri river being the bound ary. According to the Kerala Ulpati (a Hindu historical book), the Malabar coast was formerly divided into four provinces. The most northerly
was called Tulu Rajyam, the Tutu kingdom. It commenced at Gokuru in N. Canara, and extended southward to Peruinbura, near Mangalore. From Perumbura to Pudapatuam, near Nelishwaram in S. Canara, was called Capa Rajyam ; thence to Canneti, near Quilon, was the Kerala Rajyam ; and thence to Cangakumari, or Cape Cormorin, the Muchica Rajyam.
Chera was a small ancient state between the territory of the Pandiya and the western sea. It comprehended Travancore, part of 3lalabar, and Coimbatore. It is mentioned in Ptolemy, and may have existed at the commencement of the Christian era. It ruled at one time over the greater part of Carnata, but was subverted in the 10th century, and its lands partitioned among the surrounding states.
Vasco da Gama visited Malabar in 1498, and his successors speedily established themselves at Cochin, Calicut, and Cannanore. In 1656 the Dutch appeared in the Indian seas, to compete with the Portuguese for the trade of the country. They conquered Cannanore, and in 1663 captured the town and fort of Cochin, as well as Tangacheri, from their rivals. , In 1717 they secured the cession of the island of Chetwa from the Zamorin. But in the next half century their power began to wane : Cannanore was sold to the Cannanore family (Bibi), represented at that time by Bamali Raja, in 1771 ; Chetwai was conquered by Hyder in 1776 ; and Cochin captured by the British in 1795.
Malabar, when overrun by Hyder Ali, was made tributary to Mysore, but after the war of 1791-92, the treaty of 1792 transferred part of it to the British.
The French first settled in 1720 at Mahe, in 1752 obtained a footing at Calicut, and in 1754 acquired Mount Dilli, and a few outposts in the north, all of which fell into the hands of the British in 1761. Their frequent wars with the British ended in the destruction of their com merce in the east, Mahe having been thrice taken and restored. The British had established them selves in 1664 at Calicut, in 1683 at Tellicherri, and by 1714 at Anjingo, Chetwai, and other commer cial factories. Tellicherri became their chief entre pelt for the pepper trade.