Calicut, the most important city of Malabar region of Kerala, was a leading trading centre for spices on the West Coast of India during the medieval period. Ruled by the Zamorin dynasty, calicut found a place in World History with the discovery of sea route to India in 1498 by the Portuguese navigator Vasco Da Gama. The landing of Gama at Kapat near Calicut changed the political scanario of India, which ultimately ended with it's colonization by the British. It remained under the Madras Presidency till the formation of Kerala in 1956 after independence.