KannurKannur

Kannur's history begins with Ezhimala, the hill on its northern coast, seat of the Mushika kings and of the chieftain Nannan, praised in Sangam poetry. Later the Kolathiris ruled Kolathunadu, while in Kannur town the Arakkal family established Kerala's only Muslim royal dynasty, ruled at times by queens, the Arakkal Beevis.

In 1505 Francisco de Almeida, the first Portuguese viceroy of India, built St. Angelo Fort on the cliffs at Kannur. The Dutch took it in 1663 and sold it to the Arakkal ruler in 1772, before the British captured it in 1790. Further south, the English East India Company set up a trading post at Thalassery in 1683 and completed a fort there in 1708.

Thalassery became an unusual cultural crossroads. The German missionary Hermann Gundert lived at Illikkunnu, where he published Rajyasamacharam, the first Malayalam newspaper, in 1847, and later compiled a landmark Malayalam–English dictionary. Thalassery is also remembered as the cradle of Indian circus, and a local baker, Mambally Bapu, baked what is often called the first Indian Christmas cake in 1883.

Kannur's looms produce furnishing fabrics sold worldwide, and its villages keep alive more than four hundred forms of Theyyam. Ezhimala now hosts the Indian Naval Academy, and Kannur International Airport opened in 2018.