Note 273 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO (continued 2)

Calicut, properly Kálíkot (said to be derived from two words meaning cock-crow, because the territory granted to the first king of Kálíkot was limited to the extent over which a cock could be heard to crow; or from Káli, one of the names of the goddess Gauri) is the name of a district and city on the Malabar coast. The king of all the Malabar coast from Goa to Cape Comorin, Samari Perymal, having adopted the Mahometan faith divided his kingdom into the kingdoms of Calicut, Cochin, Cananor, and Coulão, and gave them to his friends, on condition that the king of Calicut be termed “Zamorim” or “Samorim,” i.e., “Supreme emperor and God upon earth” (although the proper form is said to be “Tamurin” which is conjectured by some to be a modification of the Sanskrit “Samunri,” “seaking.” The city of Kálíkot, a noted emporium of trade, was built perhaps as early as 805 A.D., although the date 1300 A.D. is also given as that of its founding; and is described by Ibn Batuta in 1342 as one of the finest ports in the world. It was visited by Covilham in 1486, and Vasco da Gama’s ships were freighted there in 1498. The latter attacked the city in 1503 and 1510, and the Portuguese built a fortified factory there in 1513 which was destroyed by the governor in 1525 to avoid its falling into the enemy’s hands. The English established a factory in the city in 1616, which was captured in 1766 by Haidar Ali; but after a further series of capture and recapture, the city and district was permanently turned over to the British (1792). See Stanley’s Vasco da Gama (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1869); Birch’s Alboquerque (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1875–1884); Jones and Badger’s Ludovico di Varthema (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1863), pp. 135–177; also Grey’s Travels of Pietro della Valle (Hakluyt Society publications, London, 1892), pp. 344, 345, note.