Malabar Coast

(Also called pepper coast, not to be confused with the pepper coast in the West African Liberia) Malabar Coast is the geographical name for a stretch of coastline on the Arabian Sea in southwest India. It extends over about 650 km from Mangalore in Karnataka to the north of the entire coast of Kerala to Cape Comorin in Tamil Nadu at the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent. The only 48-113 km wide lowlands of the Malabar coast, bounded on the east by the Western Ghats mountain range. Parallel to the coast there are numerous lagoons and channels, the so-called backwaters.

Climate

Due to the maritime influence the temperatures during the year vary only slightly. The annual average temperature is 27-28 degrees Celsius. The Malabar Coast is one of the rainiest areas in India. In general, it is already the end of May reached ( in the extreme south ) or the beginning of June the summer monsoon, which fails here particularly strong. Fall, depending on the place in the year 1700-3500 mm rainfall. The humidity is very high throughout the year. Even in the dry season it rarely drops below 60 percent.

Vegetation

The natural vegetation of the virgin rain forests and wetlands is now largely destroyed due to the high population density on the Malabar Coast. The damp climate allows bamboo, kapok trees and valuable hardwoods (teak, sandalwood ) and a variety of palm species flourish, such as coconut, betel and oil palm trees, which can also be used economically. Free tea, coffee and various spices are grown, including pepper, cinnamon, tamarind and ginger.

History

See History of Kerala

Important towns on the Malabar coast and in the hinterland

  • Alappuzha (formerly Alleppey)
  • Changanassery (formerly Changanacherry )
  • Ernakulam
  • Kannur ( Cannanore earlier )
  • Kanyakumari
  • Kochi (formerly Cochin )
  • Kollam (formerly Quilon)
  • Kottayam
  • Kozhikode (formerly Calicut )
  • Mahé
  • Mangalore
  • Nagercoil
  • Thalassery ( Tellicherry earlier )
  • Thiruvananthapuram (formerly Trivandrum)
  • Thrissur ( Trichur earlier )

The districts from north to south

Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad (large parts), Kasaragod ( Taluk Hosdurg ), Kochi, Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala backwaters Tropical rainforest
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