Person · Malabar admiral · India
Kunjali Marakkar IV
Also known as Kuñjāli Marakkār IV, Kunjali Marakkar, Kunhali Marakkar, Kutti Ali, Marakkar, Kunjali Marakkar IV
The last of four Marakkar admirals who commanded the Zamorin of Calicut's fleet against the Portuguese for almost a century, fighting with small fast paraos out of the Malabar creeks rather than in line of battle. He was besieged at Kottakkal, surrendered in 1600 and was executed at Goa.
- Date
- 1560–1600
- Function
- Military & resistance
- Confidence
- Not assessed
- Location
- 11.159, 75.924
Worth knowing
The Marakkars were Muslim shipowners of the Malabar pepper trade whose commercial interests the Portuguese cartaz system destroyed, which is why the Hindu Zamorin's navy was commanded by Muslims. Their tactics are among the earliest documented use of massed small craft against European carracks.
About the place
Placed at Kottakkal near Vadakara, the fortified creek base from which the Marakkar fleet operated and where he was finally besieged.
Connections (3)
- CampaignKozhikode / Calicut
The Zamorin's navy was commanded for four generations by the Marakkars, Muslim shipowners of the pepper trade whose livelihood the Portuguese cartaz system had destroyed — which is why a Hindu ruler's fleet was led by Muslims against a Christian one. They raided with massed light craft rather than fighting in line, and held the Malabar coast in contest until 1600.
- AnaloguePazhassi Raja
Pazhassi Raja's 1793-1805 Wayanad hill guerilla campaign against the British East India Company and Kunjali Marakkar IV's 1570-1600 Malabar naval campaign against the Portuguese both operated out of the Zamorin of Calicut's traditional political-military framework. The Marakkar Kottakal fort and the Kottayam Pazhassi Palace are both central to Kerala's two centuries of anti-European coastal resistance.
- Samadhi atKozhikode / Calicut
Kunjali Marakkar IV's Kottakal naval base operated out of Vadakara on the Kozhikode-Kannur coast as the Zamorin of Calicut's hereditary naval chief. His 1570-1600 Malabar naval campaign against the Portuguese was coordinated with the Zamorin's land forces at Kozhikode. His 1600 Portuguese-induced isolation and execution at Goa ended the Zamorin's naval capacity against Portuguese spice trade dominance.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kunjali Marakkar”. Zainuddin Makhdum, Tuhfat al-Mujāhidīn (16th c.); K.M. Panikkar, Malabar and the Portuguese (1929).
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