Tipu Sultan commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery. He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. The economy of Mysore reached a zenith during his reign. He deployed rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna.
Hyder Ali was the Sultan and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers. Rising to the post of Dalavayi (commander-in-chief) to Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, he came to dominate the titular monarch and the Mysore government. He became the de facto ruler, King of Mysore as Sarvadhikari by 1761. During intermittent conflicts against the East India Company during the First and Second Anglo–Mysore Wars, Hyder Ali was the military leader.
Bekal Fort is a medieval fort built by Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi in 1650 AD, at Bekal. It is the largest fort in Kerala, spreading over 40 acres (160,000 m2).
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, also known as Cotiote Rajah and Pychy Rajah, was the de facto head of the Kottayam Kingdom in the Malabar region of Kerala between 1774 and 1805. His struggles with the British East India Company is known as the Cotiote War. Pazhassi's rebellion against the British is often touted as one of the earliest acts of freedom fight in India. He earned the epithet "Kerala Simham" on account of his martial exploits.
The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in the American Revolutionary War influenced Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India. The great majority of soldiers on the company side were raised, trained, paid and commanded by the company, not the British government. However, the company's operations were also bolstered by Crown troops sent from Great Britain, and by troops from Hanover, which was also ruled by Great Britain's King George III.
The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the 18th century between the Sultanate of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company, Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his succeeding son Tipu fought the wars on four fronts: with the British attacking from the west, south and east and the Nizam's forces attacking from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu, and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which took control of much of the Indian subcontinent.
The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Confederacy, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo-Mysore Wars.
Rama Varma I often referred to as Dharma Raja, was the Maharajah of Travancore from 1758 until his death in 1798. He succeeded his uncle Marthanda Varma, who is credited with the title of "maker of modern Travancore". During his reign Dharma Raja not only retained all the territories his predecessor had gained but administered the kingdom with success. He was addressed as Dharma Raja on account of his strict adherence to Dharma Sastra, the Hindu principles of justice by providing asylum to thousands of Hindus and Christians fleeing Malabar during the Mysorean conquest of Malabar.
The captivity of Nairs at Seringapatam was imposed on the Nairs of Malabar by Tipu Sultan, the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1786 to 1799. They were subjected to forcible conversions to Sunni Islam, the official religious sect sanctioned by the Ottoman Caliphate, whose approval and alliance was sought by Tipu Sultan. Those who refused conversions had to face many humiliations, hardships, torture, and even death. The Nairs were treated with extreme brutality due to their strong adherence to the Hindu faith and martial tradition. The captivity ended when Nair troops from Travancore defeated Tipu in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. It is estimated that out of the 30,000 Nairs put to captivity, only a few hundred returned to Malabar alive.
The Battle of Nedumkotta took place between December 1789 and May 1790, and was a reason for the opening of hostilities in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. This battle was fought between Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore and Dharma Raja, Maharaja of Travancore. Mysore army attacked the fortified line in Thrissur district at the Travancore border known as the Nedumkotta. The Mysore army was successfully repulsed by the Travancore army under the leadership of Raja Kesavadas, Dewan of Travancore.
The Battle of Tirurangadi was a series of engagements that took place between 7 and 12 December 1790 at Tirurangadi near the port of Calicut on the Malabar Coast of India, during the Third Anglo-Mysore War.
The siege of Coimbatore was a siege conducted by forces of the Kingdom of Mysore against a garrison of British East India Company and Travancore troops holding the fortress at Coimbatore in southern India during the Third Anglo-Mysore War. The siege began in May 1791, and several men trying to storm the fort were repulsed on 11 June, after which the garrison of Lieutenant John Chalmers was reinforced, and a larger Mysorean force was brought against it. The garrison eventually surrendered on 2 November. Tipu Sultan broke the terms of the surrender, and held the garrison's commanding officers prisoner. John Chalmers was also held prisoner by Tipu Sultan and his forces. It is believed that around 100 British soldiers were executed in captivity by the Mysorean forces.
The 1792 siege of Seringapatam was a battle and siege of the Mysorean capital city of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna) at the end of the Third Anglo-Mysore War. An army led by Charles, Earl Cornwallis, consisting of British East India Company and British Army forces, along with allied forces from the Maratha Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad, arrived at Seringapatam on 5 February 1792, and after less than three weeks of battle and siege, forced Tipu Sultan to capitulate. With his agreement to the Treaty of Seringapatam on 18 March 1792, the war came to an end.
British General Charles Cornwallis, the Earl Cornwallis, was appointed in February 1786 to serve as both Commander-in-Chief of British India and Governor of the Presidency of Fort William, also known as the Bengal Presidency. He oversaw the consolidation of British control over much of peninsular India, setting the stage for the British Raj. He was also instrumental in enacting administrative and legal reforms that fundamentally altered civil administration and land management practices there. According to historian Jerry Dupont, Cornwallis was responsible for "laying the foundation for British rule throughout India and setting standards for the services, courts, and revenue collection that remained remarkably unaltered almost to the end of the British era."
The Mysorean invasion of Malabar (1766–1792) was the military invasion of the Malabar region of Kerala, including the territories of the Zamorin of Calicut, by the then-de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, Hyder Ali. After the invasion, the Kingdom of Cochin to the south of Malabar became a tributary state of Mysore.
Ravi Varma Raja was a Samantan Nair warrior prince of the Royal House of Zamorins from Calicut who fought a two-decade long revolt against the Mysore Sultanate under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan between 1766–1768 and 1774–1791, and later the British East India Company in 1793.
Arakkal Kingdom was a Muslim kingdom in Kannur town in Kannur district, in the state of Kerala, South India. The king was called Ali Raja and the ruling queen was called Arakkal Beevi. Arakkal kingdom included little more than the Cannanore town and the southern Laccadive Islands, originally leased from the Kolattiri. They owed allegiance to the Kolattiri rulers, whose ministers they had been at one time. The rulers followed the Marumakkathayam system of matrilineal inheritance, a system that is unique to a section of Hindus of Kerala. Under Marumakkathayam, the succession passes to the male offspring of its female members, in other words from a man to his sister's son and so forth. As the only Muslim rulers in Malabar, they saw the rise of Hyder Ali, de facto ruler of the Mysore Sultanate as the opportunity to increase their own power at the expense of Chirakkal, and invited him to invade Kerala.
James Hartley (1745–1799) was a British officer in the service of the East India Company. His employment was mainly in the company's wars against the Maratha Empire, and against Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore.
The Kingdom of Kozhikode, also known as Calicut, was the kingdom of the Zamorin of Calicut, in the present-day Indian state of Kerala. Present-day Kozhikode is the second largest city in Kerala, as well as the headquarters of Kozhikode district.
Thalassery was a trade hub where Chinese, Arab, and Jewish traders had considerable influence in the spice market; before that the Greeks and Romans were in the trade. It was the European invasion that brought significant change as they enforced the trade with their military.
