Calicut City
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Calicut City
Head-quarters of the taluk of the same name, and also of Malabar District, Madras, situated in 11° 15' N. and 75° 47' E., on the Madras Railway, 414 miles from Madras city. It is a picturesque place, the streets winding through continuous groves of palms and other tropical vegetation. In addition to the various public buildings and institutions usual in a District head-quarters, it contains a branch of the Bank of Madras, and a Lunatic Asylum with accommodation for 135 persons. The chief suburbs are at West Hill, 3 miles north of the old town, where are the barracks of the British infantry detachment and the Collector's house, both on small hills ; and at Kallayi, the centre of the timber traffic at the mouth of the Kallayi river.
Calicut is the fourth largest city in the Presidency, and in 1901 had a population of 76,981 (42,744 Hindus, 30,158 Muhammadans, and 4,007 Christians). In 187 1 its inhabitants numbered 47,962 ; in 1881, 57,085 ; and in 1891, 66,078, so that it is a growing place. The rate of increase during the last decade was as high as 16 per cent. The climate is on the whole healthy, though relaxing ; but the want of a drainage and water-supply system renders the crowded quarters of the city insanitary. Calicut was constituted a municipality in 1869. The income and expenditure during the decade ending 1900 averaged Rs. 66,000 and Rs. 63,000 respectively. In 1903-4 the income was Rs. 83,000 (mainly derived from the taxes on houses, land, and pro- fessions), and the expenditure was Rs. 81,000.
The vernacular form of Calicut is Kolikod, which means ' cock-fort ' ; and the tradition regarding its foundation is that when Cheraman Perumal, the last of the kings of Malabar, retired to Mecca in the ninth century and divided his kingdom among his chiefs, he gave to the Zamorin of Calicut as much land as a cock crowing from Talli temple VOL. IX. u could be heard over. The Zaiiiorins, with the help of Arab traders settled at Beypore, soon extended their powers and made the town the centre of a dominion extending from Tikkodi to Chetwai. The Arab writers of the thirteenth century describe Calicut as one of the great ports of the west coast, full of magnificent buildings, and noted for the security to trade afforded by the power of the Zamorin and the justice with which he treated foreign settlers. In the fifteenth century the place seems to have been the most important town in Malabar. It was the first port of India visited by Europeans, and gave its name to calico, one of the chief articles of the early trade ; but, owing to the opposition of the Arab traders, the European settlements here were not so impor- tant as tliose at Cochin and Cannanore. The Portuguese adventurer Covilham was the first European to visit Calicut (in i486) ; but trade only began with the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498. A factory was established, but Da Gama was badly treated by the Zamorin. Two years later Cabral established a factory of seventy Portuguese, which was immediately destroyed by the Mappillas, and most of the inmates murdered. In revenge the town was bombarded, and the port was then left alone by the Portuguese for some years. In 15 10 Albuquerque attacked Calicut at the instigation of the Raja of Cochin, but was repulsed. A year later the Zamorin allowed the Portuguese to build a fort on the north bank of the Kallayi river ; but he continued secretly hostile to their trade, the fort was abandoned in 1525, and the Portu- guese did not again attempt a settlement at Calicut itself.
The English connexion with the town dates from 16 15, when Captain Keeling arrived with three ships and concluded a treaty with the Zamorin ; but no settlement was established till 1664, when a trading agreement was made with the Zamorin by the East India Company. The Zamorin, however, gave little encouragement to the Company, and it was not until 1 759 that they were allowed to tile their factory. The French settlement dates from 1698. During the wars with France it thrice came into the possession of the English, but was finally restored to France in 1819. It at present consists of about 6 acres of ground, called the Loge, near the sea-shore south of the pier. The Danish Government established a factory at Calicut in 1752. It was partially destroyed in 1784, and soon afterwards incorporated in the British settlement. The Dutch never had any station at the place.
During the Mysore Wars the town suffered severely, and was twice pillaged by the Muhammadan armies, in 1773 and 178S. On the latter occasion Tipu Sultan made a determined effort to establish a rival capital at Ferokh on the south bank of the Beypore river, but the attempt failed. In 1790 Calicut was occupied by the British in their operations against Tipu, and by the Treaty of Seringapatam in 1792 it finally passed under the dominion of the Company.
Calicut now ranks second among the ports of Malabar and fourth among those in the Presidency. During the five years ending 1902-3 the value of its imports averaged 72^ lakhs, and of its exports 132 lakhs. I'he corresponding figures for 1903-4 were 57^ lakhs and 136 lakhs. Grain and salt form the bulk of the imports, while one-fourth of the exports consists of coffee. The city contains a steam spinning mill, established in 1883, with an annual out-turn of 550 tons of cotton yarn ; a steam manure factory, which produces every year about 1,950 tons ; and a steam saw-mill in the suburb of Kallayi, at which timber to the value of 2 lakhs is sawn annually. There are also steam tile-works and coffee-curing works and a steam oil-mill. The chief temple of Calicut is held in much repute.
