What started as an exercise in collecting background information on the brave Mappilas of the Malabar, who actively participated in protests against the British for their humiliation of the Ottoman caliphate after the defeat of the latter in the First World war, led me to some startling discoveries about the role the Western colonial powers played in dividing the Indian rulers and carving out territories for themselves, with the avowed aim of taking control of the important sea trade routes from the control of the Arabs and the Ottomans.

The presentation below is a quick overview of events, in South India in particular, which led to the eventual take-over of the country we call India, by pirates, a.k.a, colonialists. Strange how the avarice for control over the spice trade led to the subjugation and humiliation of millions at the hands of Western colonialists who brutalized and ravaged a once glorious economy.