Malabar District

Malabar District, or Malabar, also known as British Malabar was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792–1800), Madras Presidency (1800–1950) and finally, Madras State (1950–1956) in India. It was the most populous and the third-largest district in the erstwhile Madras State. It was sub-divided into two divisions South Malabar and North Malabar, the historic town of Kozhikode of South Malabar region was the administrative headquarters of this district. The district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad northern and central parts of present Kerala state, the Lakshadweep Islands, and a major portion of the Nilgiris district in modern-day Tamil Nadu. The detached settlements of Tangasseri and Anchuthengu, which were British colonies within the kingdom of Travancore in southern Kerala, also formed part of Malabar District until 1927. Malayalam was the administrative as well as the most spoken lingua franca of Malabar district. Jeseri, a distinct dialect of Malayalam, was spoken in the Laccadive Islands. Malabar District merged with the erstwhile state of Travancore-Cochin (1950–1956) to form Kerala according to the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. On the same day, the present Kasaragod district of South Canara District was also attached to Malabar, and the Laccadive and Minicoy Islands of Malabar were reorganised to form a new Union Territory. Malabar was trifurcated to form the districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, and Palakkad on 1 January 1957. The city of Kozhikode was the capital of Malabar. Malabar was divided into North Malabar and South Malabar in 1793 for administrative convenience, with their regional headquarters at Thalassery and Cherpulassery (Later changed to Ottapalam) respectively. During the British rule, Malabar's chief importance lay in its production of Malabar pepper, coconut, and tiles. In the old administrative records of the Madras Presidency, it is recorded that the most remarkable...