History of Thalassery

[1][page needed] Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy to India, established military barracks in Cannanore (~30 km north of Thalassery) in 1505.

The prince regent attacked Thalassery on Hyder's order to protect the French forces in Mahé from the British.

[6] In December 1773, the British from Thalassery stormed Arakkal Palace, which had resisted, disarming Tipu's Cannanore garrison.

By the 1774 Treaty of Mangalore concluding the Second Anglo-Mysore War, the English gave up their claims and declared the kingdoms in Kerala to be allies of Mysore.

[8] The British established a trading post and built a factory at Tellicherry in 1694, having gained permission from Vadakkalankur, the prince regent of the Raja of Kolatunad.

They had already been trading on the Malabar coast for much of that century, buying pepper from Moplah merchants, and had established a similar post at Travancore ten years earlier.

Meanwhile Kurungot Nair continued his attack, until, in September1719, he suspended hostilities and formally entered into a friendship treaty with the British.

[11] The British won administrative authority over Malabar after annexation from Tipu Sultan in the Battle of Sree Rangapatnam.

[18][19][20][21] After the annexation of Malabar, the British called upon Thalassery, the royal families and other major Nair and Namboothiri feudal lords to return, but this was heavily opposed by some local rulers.

Pazhassi Raja, the fourth prince in line for succession to the throne during this period, became one of the de facto heads of state, surpassing several elder royals.

The company started bringing reinforcements, and, due to the fall of Tipu Sultan, the EIC was able to crush the revolt.

As a consequence of the treaty that followed the Seven Years' War (1756–1763) between Britain and France, they briefly refrained from military adventures, helping Tipu in his Malabar conquest.

Commodore M. Saint Félix,[28] of the French Navy came from Mahé in 40-gun frigate La Cybéle to Tellicherry and warned the British.

His Majesty's Consul in Alexandria, Egypt, broadcast the information that France had declared war and all British and Dutch vessels had been seized by the French Navy in Indian seas.

La Preneuse was carrying two of Tipu Sultan's ambassadors, returning from an embassy to the French authorities on the Isle de France.

[33] Embarking from Isle de France on 7 March 1798, the La Preneuse, with one hundred French officers and fifty private soldiers, was intended to provide instructors and advisors to Tipu Sultan's army.

[34][35][36] This incident provided the English with a pretext and reason to resume their attack on Tipu Sultan, which led to the fall of Seringapatam in 1799.

[40][41] Mahatma Gandhi once had a conversation with locals in Thalassery railway station, along with Shaukat Ali in 1934 en route to Kozhikode to attend Khilafat gathering.