English East India Company and the Local Rulers in Kerala

This book deals with the rise and decline of the Kingdom of Attingal and Travancore, and their interactions with the English East India Company’s settlement situated at Anjengo in South Malabar. Based on unacquainted archival records and other sources discovered in India, England and France, including the famous historical grant accorded by the Queen of Attingal to the English in the year 1694 to fortify and settle in Anjengo, it highlights the great Attingal Revolt of the 14th April 1721. This revolt was caused when 150 English Officers of Anjengo Fort, who arrived at the Queen’s palace to ceremoniously offer the yearly presents were brutally massacred by the disgruntled inhabitants of Attingal. This was the earliest revolt against the European colonizers recorded in the entire Indian history, which was far more deadlier than the Black hole tragedy of Calcutta. This work also challenges various theories and historical points advanced by Kerala historians such as Shungoony Menon, Sreedhara Menon, and Ibrahim Kunju.