Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District,[1][2] was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800)[3] and Madras Presidency (1800-1947)[4] in British India, and independent India's Madras State (1947-1956). It was the most populous and the third-largest district in the erstwhile Madras State.[5] The British district included the present-day districts of Kannur, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram, Palakkad (excluding Chittur town), Chavakad Taluk and parts of Kodungallur Taluk of Thrissur district (former part of Ponnani Taluk), and Fort Kochi area of Ernakulam district in the northern and central parts of present Kerala state, the Lakshadweep Islands, and a major portion of the Nilgiris district in Tamil Nadu. The detached settlements of Tangasseri and Anchuthengu, which were British colonies within the kingdom of Travancore in southern Kerala, also formed part of Malabar District until 1927.[6] Malayalam was administrative as well as most spoken Lingua franca of Malabar District during British Rule.