THE HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE PALAKKAD GAP: TRADE, MIGRATION AND STATE FORMATION IN KERALA

The Palakkad Gap, a nearly 30-kilometre-wide natural mountain pass through the Western Ghats, has played a decisive role in shaping the historical geography of Kerala and South India. Unlike the continuous mountain barrier of the Western Ghats, the Gap served as the principal corridor connecting the Malabar Coast with the Kongu region and the Tamil plains, thereby facilitating the movement of merchants, migrants, armies, religious communities, and political institutions for over two millennia. Its strategic geographical position transformed it into an important centre of inland trade, cultural interaction, migration, and state formation. Merchant guilds such as the Ayyavole Five Hundred (Ainnurruvar) and Manigramam extensively utilized this route to transport spices, textiles, horses, precious metals, and other commodities between the western ports and the interior markets of South India. Simultaneously, the corridor became an arena of political competition, contributing significantly to the emergence of the Palakkad Rajas and neighbouring polities that sought to control trade routes and administrative networks. This study examines the historical geography of the Palakkad Gap by analysing its influence on trade, migration, settlement expansion, and the evolution of political authority in Kerala. The research is primarily based on original historical evidence, including stone inscriptions, copper plate grants, temple inscriptions, palm-leaf manuscripts, archival records, historical maps, and colonial administrative documents preserved in repositories such as the Government Oriental Manuscripts Library (Mackenzie Collection), the British Library (Colin Mackenzie Papers), East India Company Records, Dutch archives, Mysore administrative records, and the Great Trigonometrical Survey. By integrating geographical analysis with epigraphical, cartographic, and archival sources, the study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between landscape, commerce, migration, and state formation in Kerala’s historical development.

Keywords

palakkad gap, historical geography, kerala, trade routes, migration, state formation, merchant guilds, ayyavole five hundred, manigramam, epigraphy.

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To cite this article

Ajith, C. (2026). The Historical Geography of the Palakkad Gap: Trade, Migration and State Formation in Kerala. Sparkling International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research Studies, 9(2), 35-51.