Place · island settlement · India
Kavaratti / Lakshadweep
The capital of the Lakshadweep Union Territory on Kavaratti island in the Arabian Sea, 400 kilometres west of Kochi — one of the 36 islands of the Lakshadweep (Sanskrit lakh-dweep, '100,000 islands') archipelago, a chain of 12 coral atolls, 3 reefs and 5 submerged banks. The population of 65,000 is 97% Muslim, speaking Malayalam dialects and the Mahl language (closely related to Dhivehi of the Maldives) in Minicoy. The islands were under Chera rule in medieval times, under the Arakkal Ali Rajas of Cannanore from the 11th century, and became British from 1783. Independence integration occurred in 1956. The Lakshadweep coral reef ecosystem (one of only 14 Marine Biosphere Reserves in India) and the strategic location on the Indian Ocean sea-lanes make the islands central to maritime geopolitics. The sea-lane makes Lakshadweep part of the repository.
- Function
- Authority & administration
- Tradition
- Lakshadweep history
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 10.570, 72.640
Connections (3)
- Island to Malabar networkBeypore
Lakshadweep sits directly on the route between the Malabar coast and Arabia, and its islands were provisioning stops, coir sources and occasionally pirate bases in the medieval trade. The coir rope that held Arab and Malabar ships together came largely from these atolls, so the islands were a supplier to the shipbuilding at Beypore rather than merely a landmark on the way past.
- In the same set asMinicoy
Kavaratti and Minicoy are at opposite ends of the Lakshadweep chain and belong to different cultural worlds: Malayalam-speaking and Kerala-facing in the north, Divehi-speaking and Maldives-facing in the south. The break falls on the Nine Degree Channel, which is also the main sailing lane between Malabar and Arabia. The islands are a route, not a periphery.
- Trade routeKozhikode / Calicut
The Laccadives were administered from Cannanore by the Ali Rajas, the one Muslim ruling house on the Malabar coast, and their coir was the islands' tribute and their export. Coir rope was a strategic commodity in a wooden-ship ocean, because it does not rot in salt water the way hemp does, and Malabar rigged much of the Arabian Sea fleet with it.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Kavaratti”. K.N. Chaudhuri, Trade and Civilisation in the Indian Ocean; the Cairo Geniza India Book (Goitein and Friedman).
Open Kavaratti / Lakshadweep in the repository →