The 

Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: Sāmūtiri, Arabic: Sāmuri,
[2]
 Portuguese: Samorim, Dutch: Samorijn, Chinese: Shamitihsi[3]) was the
hereditary Nair monarch and ruler of the Kingdom of Kozhikode (Calicut) in the South
Malabar region of India. Calicut was one of the most important trading ports on the southwest
coast of India. At the peak of their reign, they ruled over a region extending from Kozhikode
Kollam (Kollam) to the borders of Panthalayini Kollam (Koyilandy).[4][5] The Zamorins belonged to
the Eradi caste of the Samantan Nair community of medieval Kerala.[6]
It was after the dissolution of the kingdom of Cheras of Kodungallur in the early 12th century that
the Samanthan Nair Eradis of Nediyiruppu (originally autonomous chiefs of Eranadu)
demonstrated their political independence under the title of Zamorin.[7] The Zamorins maintained
elaborate trade relations with the Muslim Middle-Eastern sailors in the Indian Ocean, the primary
spice traders on the Malabar Coast during the Middle Ages. Calicut was then an important
entrepôt in South-Western India where Chinese and West Asian trade collaborated.[1]
The port at Kozhikode held the superior economic and political position along the medieval
Kerala coastline, while Kannur, Kollam, and Kochi, were commercially important secondary
ports, where traders from various parts of the world would gather.[8] The Portuguese
navigator Vasco da Gama visited Quilandy in 1498, opening the sailing route directly from
Europe to South Asia.[9] The port at