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The ports of Kozhikode and Kochi acted as major gateways to the western coast of medieval South India for several foreign entities. These entities included the Chinese, the Arabs, the Persians, various groups from Eastern Africa, various kingdoms from Southeast Asia including the Malacca Sultanate,[4] and later on, the Europeans
n the 14th century, the Kerala school of astronomy and mathematics was founded by Madhava of Sangamagrama in the Kingdom of Tanur. Some of the contributions of the school included the discovery of the infinite series and taylor series of some trigonometry functions.
The term Malabar has historically been used in foreign trade circles as a general name for Kerala.[5] In earlier times, the term Malabar had also been used to denote Tulu Nadu and Kanyakumari which lie contiguous to Kerala on the southwestern coast of India, in addition to the modern state of Kerala.[8][9] The people of Malabar were known as Malabars. From the time of Cosmas Indicopleustes (6th century CE) itself, the Roman sailors used to call Kerala as Male. The first element of the name, however, is attested already in the Topography written by Cosmas Indicopleustes. This mentions a pepper emporium called Male, which clearly gave its name to Malabar ('the country of Male'). The name Male is thought to come from the Dravidian word Mala ('hill').[10][11] Al-Biruni (AD 973–1048) must have been the first writer to call this state Malabar.[5] Author[12] such as Al-Baladhuri mention Malabar ports in their works.[13] The Arab writers had called this place Malibar, Manibar, Mulibar, and Munibar. Malabar is reminiscent of the word Malanad which means the land of hills. According to William Logan, the word Malabar comes from a combination of the Dravidian word Mala (hill) and the Persian/Arabic word Barr (country/continent).[5][14]