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CALICUT
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CALICUT , a See also:city of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Malabar See also:district of See also:Madras; on the See also:coast, 6 m. N. of Beypur. In 1901 the See also:population was 76,981, showing an increase of 14% in the See also:decade. The See also:weaving of See also:cotton, for which the See also:place was at one See also:time so famous that its name became identified with its See also:calico, is no longer of any importance. Calicut is of considerable antiquity; and about the 7th See also:century it had its population largely increased by the See also:immigration of the Moplahs, a fanatical See also:race of Mahommedans from See also:Arabia, who entered enthusiastically into commercial See also:life. The Portuguese traveller Pero de See also:Covilham (q.v.) visited Calicut in 1487 and described its possibilities for See also:European See also:trade; and in May 1498 Vasco da Gama, the first European navigator to reach India, arrived at Calicut. At that time it was a very flourishing city, and contained several stately buildings, among which was especially mentioned a Brahminical See also:temple, not inferior to the largest monastery in See also:Portugal. Vasco da Gama tried to establish a factory, but he met with persistent hostility from the See also:local See also:chief (zamorin), and a similar See also:attempt made by Cabral two years later ended in the destruction of the factory by the Moplahs. In revenge the Portuguese bombarded the See also:town, but no further attempt was made for some years to establish a trading See also:settlement there. In 1509 the See also:marshal See also:Don Fernando Coutinho made an unsuccessful attack on the city; and in the following See also:year it was. again assailed by See also:Albuquerque with 3000 troops. On this occasion the See also:palace was plundered and the town burnt; but the Portuguese were finally repulsed, and fled to their See also:ships after heavy loss. In the following year they concluded a See also:peace with the zamorin and were allowed to build a fortified factory on the See also:north See also:bank of the Kallayi See also:river, which was however again, and finally, abandoned in 1525. In 1615 the town was visited by an See also:English expedition under See also:Captain Keeling, who concluded a treaty with the zamorin; but it was not until 1664 that an English trading settlement was established by the See also:East India See also:Company. The See also:French settlement, which still exists, was founded in 1698. The town was taken in 1765 by Hyder See also:Ali, who expelled all the merchants and factors, and destroyed the See also:cocoa-See also:nut trees, See also:sandal-See also:wood and See also:pepper vines, that the See also:country reduced to ruin might See also:present no temptation to the cupidity of Europeans. In 1782 the troops of Hyder were driven from Calicut by the British; but in 1788 it was taken and destroyed by his son Tippoo, who carried off the inhabitants to Beypur and treated them with See also:great See also:cruelty. In the latter See also:part of 1790 the country was occupied by the British; and under the treaty concluded in 1792, whereby Tippoo was deprived of See also:half his dominions, Calicut See also:fell to the British. After this event the
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inhabitants returned and rebuilt the town, which in 1800 consisted of 5000 houses.
As the administrative headquarters of the district, Calicut maintains its See also:historical importance. It is served by the Madras railway, and is the chief seaport on the Malabar coast, and the See also:principal exports are See also:coffee, See also:timber and coco-nut products. There are factories for coffee-cleaning, employing several See also:hundred hands; for See also:coir-pressing and timber-cutting. The town has a cotton-See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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