The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: Sāmūtiri, [saːmuːd̪iɾi], Arabic: Sāmuri,[1] Portuguese: Samorim, Dutch: Samorijn, Chinese: Shamitihsi[2]) was the title of the erstwhile ruler and monarch of the Calicut kingdom in the South Malabar region of India.

[3] Originating from the former feudal kingdom of Nediyiruppu Swaroopam, the Samoothiris and their vassal kings from Nilambur Kovilakam established Calicut as one of the most important trading ports on the southwest coast of India.

[6][7] The final Zamorin of Calicut committed suicide by setting fire to his palace and burning himself alive inside it, upon learning that Hyder Ali had captured the neighboring country of Chirakkal in Kannur.

Smaller ports in the kingdom were Puthuppattanam (Kottakkal), Parappanangadi, Tanur (Tanore), Ponnani (Ponani), Chetuva (Chetwai) and Kodungallur (Cranganore).

[5][12] According to K. V. Krishna Iyer, the court historian in Calicut, the members of the royal house of Zamorin belonged to the Eradi subcaste of the Samanthan section of Nair aristocracy.

[14] The Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama visited Quilandy (Koyilandy) in 1498, opening the sailing route directly from Europe to South Asia.

[31] The Portuguese efforts to lay the foundations to Estado da Índia, and to take complete control over the commerce was repeatedly hampered by the forces of the Zamorin of Calicut.

The king therefore granted him, as a mark of favour, a small tract of land on the sea-coast Calicut in addition to his hereditary possessions (Eralanadu province).

[11] To corroborate his assertion that the Eradi prince was a member of the inner circle of the last Chera king Rama Kulasekhara (c. 1089 – 1122), scholars cite an old Malayalam inscription (1102) found on a granite pillar set up in the courtyard of the Ramashwaram temple, Kollam.

The broken parts of the 1672 sword, kept in a fully sealed copper sheath, are still worshipped daily in the Bhagavathi temple attached to the palace of the Zamorins at Thiruvachira.

[5] Assisted by the warriors of their subordinate chiefs (Chaliyam, Beypore, Tanur and Kodungallur) and the Muslim naval fleet under the Koya of Calicut, the Zamorin's fighters advanced by both land and sea.

[45] "In the fifth year of the Yongle emperor [1407], the court ordered the principal envoy ... Zheng He ... to deliver an imperial mandate [a statement of formal investiture] to the king of [Calicut] and to bestow him a patent conferring a title of honour ... Zheng He went these in command of a large fleet of treasure-ships, and he erected a tablet with a pavilion over it and set up a stone which said:"Though the journey from this country [Kingdom of Calicut] to the Middle Kingdom is more than a hundred thousand li, yet people are very similar, happy, and prosperous, with identical customs."

The landing of Vasco da Gama in Calicut in 1498 has often been considered as the beginning of a new phase in Asian history during which the control of the Indian Ocean spice trade passed into the hands of the Europeans from Middle Eastern Muslims.

[62] Tuhfat Ul Mujahideen written by Zainuddin Makhdoom II (born around 1532) of Ponnani in 16th-century is the first-ever known book fully based on the history of Kerala to be authored by a Keralite.

[63][64][65] It is written in Arabic and contains pieces of information about the resistance put up by the navy of Kunjali Marakkar alongside the Zamorin of Calicut from 1498 to 1583 against Portuguese attempts to colonize Malabar coast.

The Zamorin replied that he should buy what he needed for gold and silver instead of dumping his stock in exchange, and he must pay the usual Calicut customs duties.

[68] Sailing southwards, da Gama is informed by a Brahmin messenger that the Zamorin have arrested the Muslims who were guilty of the outrage on the trading depot.

Their fleet moves south to Quilon, and with aid of local Christian merchants easily procure the spices, and obtain permission to open a factory.

[5] As Mysore edged closer to the outer reaches of the city of Calicut, the Zamorin sent most of his relatives to safe haven in Ponnani, and from there to Travancore, and to avoid the humiliation of surrender committed self-immolation by setting fire to his palace at Mananchira (27 April).

[5] Lord Cornwallis invited the Kerala chiefs to join him in 1790, promising to render them in future entirely independent of Mysore and to retain them upon reasonable terms under the protection of the company.

To pressure him, a portion of his former territories (Payyanadu, Payyormala, Kizhakkumpuram, Vadakkampuram and Pulavayi) was leased to the ruler of Kurumburanadu as manager for the East India Company.

He was also temporarily given jurisdiction over the petty rulers and, as a mark of the Zamorin's exceptional position in Malabar, the revenue fixed for Beypore, Parappanadu and Vettattunadu was to be paid through him.

[17] K. V. Krishna Iyer, the court historian in Kozhikode, explains;[5] Apart from the southern half of Kurumburanadu, Payyanadu, Polanadu, Ponnani, Cheranadu, Venkadakkotta, Malappuram, Kappul, Mannarakkadu, Karimpuzha, Nedunganadu, Naduvattom, Kollangode, Koduvayur, and Mankara the kingdom of Kozhikode included the following territories as tributary polities: Kottayam, Payyormala, Pulavayi, Tanore, Chaliyam, Beypore, Parappanadu, Thirunavaya, Thalapalli-Kakkad, Thalapalli-Punnathoor, Chittoor, Chavakkad, Kavalappara, Edappally, Patinjattedam, Cranganore, Kollengodu, Cochin and all of its vassal polities, Paravur, Purakkad, Vadakkumkur, Tekkumkur, Kayamkulam and Quilon.

[5] The kingdom only included the following territories during the late 18th century:[5] Payyanadu, Polanadu, Ponnani, Cheranadu, Venkattakkotta, Malappuram, Kappul, Mannarkkad, Karimpuzha, and Nedunganadu.

[5] Although the Zamorin of Calicut derived greater part of his revenue from taxing the Indian Ocean spice trade, but he still did not run a fully developed mercantilist state.

He is also given "all the privileges and dignities of a Nair chief, jurisdiction over all the Muslims residing in the bazaar of Calicut, the right to receive a present from the Ilavar (the Tiyyar), the Kammalar (the smiths, carpenters, stone workers etc.)

[14] Other coins in circulation in the kingdom of Calicut – in sometime or other – included Riyal ("Irayal"), Dirhma ("Drama"), Rupee ("Uruppika"), Rasi ("Rachi"), and Venadu Chakram.

[5] The Mappila vessels, small, lightly armed, and highly mobile, were a major threat to the Portuguese shipping all along the Indian west coast.

[58] Historians speculate that the Marakkars were primarily suppliers of food materials from the ports of the Coromandel Coast and spices from interior Kerala and Sri Lanka.

[84] These traders, along with the other big Mappila, and Syrian Christian merchants, also acted as brokers and intermediaries in the purchase of spices and in the sale of the goods brought from Europe.