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Malabar is a region along the southwest coast of the Indian peninsula, which forms the northern part of present-day Kerala state. The region was a part of Madras state until the Indian state of Kerala was formed in 1956, when this area and the erstwhile Thiru-Kochi (Travancore-Cochin) kingdom were united.
Before the British Rule, Malabar was ruled by chieftains notably the Kolathiris of Kasargod, Zamorins of Calicut and the Valluvokonathiris of Walluvanad.
The Malabar Coast is an historic name for India's southwest coast, lying on the narrow coastal plain of Karnataka and Kerala states between the Western Ghats range and the Arabian Sea. The coast runs from south of Goa to the Cape Comorin on India's southern tip.
The Malabar Coast is home to a number of historic port cities, notably Kozhikode (Calicut), Cochin, and Quilon, that have been centers of the Indian Ocean trade for centuries. Because of their orientation to the sea and to maritime commerce, the Malabar coast cities are very cosmopolitan, and were home to some of the first groups of Christians, Jews, and Muslims in India.
The Malabar Coast, especially on its westward-facing mountain slopes, is the wettest region of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains. The Malabar rainforests refer to one or more distinct ecoregions recognized by biogeographers; the Malabar Coast moist forests formerly occupied the coastal zone to the 250 meter elevation, but 95% of these forests have been cleared; the South Western Ghats moist deciduous forests are found at intermediate elevations, and the South Western Ghats montane rain forests cover the areas above 1000 meters elevation.
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