page_title: Thalassery
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Thalassery / History
caption_attribution_description: English: temple at night
context_page_description: Thalassery, formerly Tellicherry, is a Municipality on the Malabar Coast in Kannur district, in the state of Kerala, India, bordered by the districts of Mahé, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Kodagu. Thalassery municipality has a population just under 100,000. Thalassery Heritage City has an area of 23.98 square kilometres. It is 22 km south of the District HQ Kannur city. Thalassery is situated in an altitude ranging from 2.5m to 30m above mean sea-level.
  Thalassery municipality was formed on 1 November 1866 according to the Madras Act 10 of 1865 of the British Indian Empire, making it the second oldest municipality in the state. At that time the municipality was known as Thalassery Commission, and Thalassery was the capital of North Malabar. G. M. Ballard, the Malabar collector, was the first President of the municipal commission. Later a European barrister, A. F. Lamaral, became the first Chairman of Thalassery municipality. Thalassery grew into a prominent place during European rule, due to its strategic geographic location. Thalassery has played a significant historical, cultural, educational and commercial role in the history of India, especially during the colonial period.
context_section_description: Thalassery was a trade hub where Dutch, British, Portuguese Chinese, Arab, and Jewish traders had considerable influence in the spice market.
  Tellicherry was the third largest city on the western coast of British India in the 18th century after Bombay and Karachi.
  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 merchants, and had established a similar post at Travancore ten years earlier.
  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. Along with heavy taxation and laws that curbed free movement, the appeal resulted in multiple uprisings against the British with heavy casualties to British forces. Thousands of soldiers were killed, but the resistance was eventually defeated.
  The British, Dutch and the Portuguese and Christian Missionaries contributed a lot into the field of education, sports, culture and many development of this region.
caption: Thalassery Jagannath Temple, Kerala
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "155", "Image ImageLength": "731", "Image Software": "PicsArt Photo Studio", "Image ImageWidth": "974", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image DateTime": "2019:03:21 10:36:10", "Image Artist": "290703463001101", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2019:03:21 10:36:10", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown"}