HISTORY

The earliest evidence of human habitation in the district are rock-cut caves and megalithic burial sites of the Neolithic age. The Taliparamba-Kannur-Thalassery area abounds in rock-cut caves, dolmens, burial stone circles and menhirs, all of megalithic burial order. The district was part of the Chera kingdom, which ruled most of Kerala during the first several centuries CE. Later Kannur was the capital of the Kolattiri Rajas, whose kingdom had trading relations with Arabia and Persia during 12th century and 13th century. In his book of travels Marco Polo recounts his visit to the area in mid 1290's. Other visitors included Faxian, the Buddhist pilgrim and Ibn Batuta, writer and historian of Tangiers.

The Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama visited Kannur in 1498, and shortly thereafter it became a Portuguese settlement. The Portuguese built St. Angelo's Fort north of Kannur in 1505. In 1558, the Kolathiris came openly into the field against the Portuguese by providing active support to Kunjali Marakkars of Kozhikode. The Kolathiris and the Zamorins of Kozhikode fought a common war against Portuguese and the besieged Fort St. Angelo in 1564. In the mid-17th century control of Kannur passed to the Dutch from whom the British captured it in 1783. The English East India Company got its first foothold in the district towards the closing years of the 17th century, when it acquired a site at Thalassery for the erection of a fort and a factory. In the latter half of the 18th century, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, rulers of Mysore, conquered much of the district and came into conflict with the British. In 1792, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Mysore War, the British took over Kannur and the surrounding region, which became the new Malabar District of British India's Madras Presidency.

GEOGRAPHY

The district lies between latitudes 11° 40' to 12° 48' North and longitudes 74° 52' to 76° 07' East and covers an area of 2,996 km² . Kannur can be geographically divided into highland, midland and lowland regions. Highlands are the mountainous region forming part of the Western Ghats and are covered by rainforests, plantations of coffee, tea and different types of spices like cardamom. There are also timber plantations in this region. The midland region lies between the highlands and lowlands and is made up of undulating hills and valleys. The lowland is the narrow stretch comprising of rivers, deltas and the coastal region. Six rivers drain Kannur, the longest being the Valapattanam river with a length of 110 km. Other rivers flowing through Kannur district are Kuppam, Mahe River, Anjarakandi, Thalassery, Ramapuram and Perumba.

CLIMATE

The district has a humid climate with an oppressive hot season from March to the end of May. This is followed by the South-West monsoon which continues till the end of September. October and November from the post-monsoon or retreating monsoon season.During the months of April and May, the mean daily maximum temperature is about 35 °C. Temperature is low in December and January and the minimum temperature is about 20 °C. On certain days the night temperature may go down to 16 °C , although this is extremely rare. The annual average rainfall is 3438 mm and more than 80% of it occurs during the period of South-West monsoon. The rainfall during July is very heavy and the district receives 68% of the annual rainfall during this season.