Company captures Kerala
By the Treaty of Seringapatam (signed on 19 March 1792, ending Third Anglo-Mysore War) almost all of Malabar except Wynad ceded to the English East India Company. So, as the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie moved out from Cochin in 1795, there were only two European powers left in Kerala- the English and the French. The French had captured Mayyazhi, renaming it to Mahé (in honour of Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais). The English, now controlling the Dutch fort at Cochin, captured the palace of Cochin king (a former Dutch ally) in a blood-less military action and moved further south to Quilon and occupied the Dutch fort at Thankassery.
The British had earlier concluded treaty of subsidiary alliance with the rulers of Cochin (1791) and with Travancore (1795), and they became princely states of British India, - a nominally sovereign entity of the Empire of India which was not administered by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler, while the British Crown had suzerainty or paramountcy, completely controlled the state's external relations and exercised a degree of indirect rule over its internal affairs. In 1799, South Canara, which included present-day Kasargod District also came to the hands of the English. Malabar and South Canara districts were under the direct rule of the Company as a part of British India's Madras Presidency. By this, the English East India Company had the complete present day Kerala state still not having Wynad.
The English were preparing for the last war against Tipu Sultan, as Napoleon's landing in Egypt in 1798 was intended to threaten India, and Kingdom of Mysore was a key to that next step as Tipu Sultan was a staunch ally of France. On 4 May, the armies broke through the defending walls and Tipu Sultan, rushing to the breach, was shot and killed. It was in the chaos of war the ruler of Travancore, Dharmaraja, died and a 16-year old Bala Rama Varma came to the throne. The Prime Ministers (Dalawas) started taking control of the kingdom beginning with Velu Thampi Dalawa (1799–1809) who was appointed as the divan following the dismissal of corrupt Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri (1798–1799).
For the British the civil and political administration turned out hard. Two decades of Mysore effort to subjugate this province had ended up in chaos and confusion with a part of population either dead or migrated, having new deep religious divisions and once prosperous economy destroyed. British policy at first was to re-install the old kings who found political refuge in Travancore when Hyder Ali invaded Malabar.
Cotiote Palassi rebellion
Pazhassi Raja, known as the rebellious Cotiote Rajah, was first threat rose in Kerala against Company supremacy after the Third Mysore War. An alliance between Cotiote Rajah and Tipu was the last thing the Company wanted in the already chaotic situation. However, from 1799 till 1805, Cotiote Rajah stubbornly rebelled against the British in North Malabar (called Cotiote Palassi rebellion, Wynaad Insurrection) with organized guerrilla warfare, almost alone as the rest of the princes and chieftains had by that time come to terms with the British. This local prince had the support of Kurichia tribesmen of Waynad, and other local groups in the area. In the meantime Mappila bandit chieftains, allies of Cotiote Rajah, rose in revolt in South Malabar. Both uprisings failed to succeed and Company suppressed the revolts. The Calicut prince Manavikraman who sheltered nephews of Cotiote Rajah was arrested and he committed suicide in Dindigul Jail in 1806.Rebellions of Velu Thampi Dalava And Paliath Achan
In 1805, the Company signed a treaty (demands by the East India Company for the payment of compensation for their involvement in the Travancore-Mysore War (1791) on behalf of Travancore) with Travancore, resulting heavy financial blows to the kingdom. Later Colonel Macaulay, the East India Company Resident of Cochin and Travancore, began to interfere with both external and internal affairs of the princely states. This formed the second biggest problem for the Company after Cotiote Rebellions as Diwan Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi stood against the tax squeezing British rule and corrupt and mismanaged Travancore Palace affairs with a strong public support. Velu Thampi Dalawa allied with the diwan of Cochin kingdom, Paliath Achan Govindan Menon, declared "war" on the East India Company. However the rebellion failed and most of the Nair battalions of Travancore and Cochin had been disbanded, and after Velu Thampi Dalawa's uprising, almost all of the remaining Travancore forces were also disbanded, with the East India Company undertaking to serve the kings in cases of external and internal aggression and followed by raising the powers of the Resident in Travancore and Cochin.
Kurichia and Kurumba Rebellions
Company rule till 1858 was characterized by the failed Kurichia Rebellion of 1812 and the Moplah Riots (c.1836-1921). Kurichia and Kurumba tribes of Wynad, former allies of Cotiote Rajah, rose against the high taxation schemes and revenue policy of the Company, but failed succeed against a far superior Company. Today, Kurichiyans are one of the Scheduled Tribes of Kerala.
Rule of the Crown
But something more severe was shaping in South Malabar in the end of the Company rule. Mappila riots or Mappila Outbreaks began some twenty years before the transfer of power to the Crown and continued for a century, culminating in the devastating Moplah Rebellion. The outbreaks were a series of riots by the Mappila (Moplah) Muslims of Malabar in the 19th century and the early 20th century against Hindu landlords and the state. The roots of the Uprising traces back to the land and taxation polices of Company after the Anglo-Mysore wars. On on 11 September 1855, a Moplah trio killed Lt Henry Valentine Connolly, the District collector and Magistrate of Malabar,
Malabar district, headed by Principle Collector and later District Collector and Magistrate, under Madras Presidency and the Governor at Calcutta was under the rule of English East India Company until the 1857 Indian Rebellion. The rebellion led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858, and forced the British to reorganize the army, the financial system, and the administration in India. India was thereafter directly governed by the Crown in the new British Raj.
Rise of national movements,india
Though slowly, the Congress party stepped out of the trauma of the Moplah rebellion. On 1923 January 23, K. P. Kesava Menon started printing the newspaper Matrbhumi(meaning "Motherland") to support and spread Congress ideas across the region. Media supporting the national movement rapidly spread across Kerala during this period, producing numerous newspapers such as Lokamanyan, Swarat, Desabhimani ("Proud of the Nation"), Malayalarajyam, Al-Amin, Yuvabharatam and Navinakeralam. Congress men from Malabar actively participated in the famous Vykkam Satyagraham. Jawaharlal Nehru, later Prime Minister of India, himself came to Payyannur for the fourth All India Political Conference (1928), and this meeting demanded the Congress Party to proclaim that "Complete Self Rule" is their only aim.
Social and economical changes during the British rule- Changes in the traditional monarchical or feudal government and lifestyles, establishment of a Western judicial system and taxation schemes, and proper land ownership methods.
- Ancient and uncivilized methods of trials and punishments established by feudal lords based on Sastras and Smrtis come to an end.
- Slavery is prohibited in Malabar, Cochin and Travancore.
- Kalaris, the training centers for decision making Ankams, stop their function.
- Christian preachers play an important role in formal and English education and modern medical treatments.
- Native method of dressings give their way to Western styles, production of Industrial crops increases.