Everything on Coastal Regions

Regional Divisions

46 items

• Elected Admirals, Murdering Slaves: How the Throne Passed at Janjira, 1618–1879 — essay · Janjira — the Siddi Nawabs · 13 sources
  Of the twenty-five transfers of power this archive can trace at the Siddi fort-state of Janjira, from its seizure around 1489 to the installation of Sidi Ahmad Khan in 1879, ordinary father-to-son succession on a natural death happened twice, and only once did the new ruler go on to reign undisturbed by violence. For 116 years the Sidis ran the fort under an elective rule — on a Wazir's death, the fleet's own first officer succeeded him — with only one episode of force in ten transitions, in 1670, when three of the Wazir's own officers deposed him rather than let him surrender the fort; then, in the fifty-eight years after 1734, five usurpers took the throne, three of them the ruling Sidi's own slave turning on his master, two of them by outright murder. The chain read accession by accession shows a state that survived Shivaji's siege campaign under its elective Wazirate, then nearly consumed itself from within.

• Janjira — the Siddi Nawabs — Dynasty · 1489 – 1948 · Coastal Regions
  Siddi (African-descended) naval state on the fortified island of Murud-Janjira off the Konkan coast; merged with India after independence in 1948. Imperial Gazetteer (2026-09-22): The Gazetteer's 1489 date matches the row's founding year exactly (the Abyssinian/Sidi seizure of Janjira island by the box-boat ruse), and separately gives 1868 as the end of the state's full internal independence and 1870 as the treaty regulating British dealings with it — the Gazetteer does not, and (published 1908) could not, address the 1948 accession.
• Malabar — the Arakkal Sultanate — Dynasty · 1545 – 1819 · Coastal Regions
  Only Muslim ruling dynasty of Kerala, based at Cannanore on the Malabar coast; annexed to British India in 1819. Malabar has no Atlas region node, so regionNode is null by design.
• Yakut — Person · est. c. 1490 · Coastal Regions
  An Abyssinian slave of Ahmad Shah, founder of the Ahmadnagar dynasty, given command of the rebuilt fort of Janjira after Ahmad Shah took Danda-Rajpuri by a six-month siege around 1490 — one of two conflicting accounts the Gazetteer gives for how the Sidis first held the island, the other being that Abyssinian merchants seized it by the box-boat ruse.
• Sidi Sirul Khan I — Person · gov. 1618 – 1620 · Coastal Regions
  The first Abyssinian appointed governor of Danda-Rajpuri in 1618, after a long stretch in which local records show the post held by Moghal officers; succeeded in 1620 by Sidi Yakut.
• Sidi Yakut — Person · gov. 1620 – 1621 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Sidi Sirul Khan I as governor of Janjira in 1620 and was himself succeeded the following year by Sidi Ambar.
• Sidi Ambar (Sanak) — Person · gov. 1621 – d. 1642 · Coastal Regions
  Known as Sanak or 'The Little' to distinguish him from the great Malik Ambar of Ahmadnagar; was governor of Janjira when Bijapur absorbed the Ahmadnagar Konkan in 1636 and was raised to the rank of Wazir, dying in 1642.
• Sidi Yusuf — Person · Wazir, d. 1655 · Coastal Regions
  A Bijapur Wazir of Janjira named in the local records between Sidi Ambar and Fateh Khan, dying in 1655 under the fleet's elective rule that the next Wazir be the first officer of the fleet rather than the late governor's son.
• Sidi Sambal — Person · gov. 1670 · Coastal Regions
  One of the three Sidi officers (with Kasim and Khairiyat) who deposed Fateh Khan in 1670; elected governor when the other two waived their claims in his favour, then transferred the Sidi fleet's allegiance to Aurangzeb and was made Moghal admiral under the title Yakut Khan.
• Fateh Khan — Person · Wazir, d./dep. 1670 · Coastal Regions
  Bijapur Wazir of Janjira who held off Shivaji's annual assaults for nine years but, when Bijapur sent no help, resolved to surrender the fort and enter Shivaji's service, and was thrown into chains by three of his own officers to stop him.
• Sidi Abdullah — Person · 1734 · Coastal Regions
  Eldest son of Sidi Sirul Khan II, murdered in 1734 in the same year his father died, in a succession dispute that state records attribute to his father's slave Sidi Sambal.
• Sidi Sirul Khan II — Person · r. 1707 – d. 1734 · Coastal Regions
  Commandant of the island fort of Padmadurg, elected by the unanimous decision of the Sidis to succeed Sidi Kasim in 1707; his death in 1734 set off a violent contest among his sons.
• Sidi Sambal (II) — Person · usurp. 1734 – 1736 · Coastal Regions
  A slave of Sidi Sirul Khan II who, per Janjira's own state records, murdered Sidi Abdullah and usurped the government in 1734 to the exclusion of the elder brother Sidi Reheman, ruling for two years until he was himself murdered in 1736 by three of his fellow slaves.
• Sidi Reheman — Person · r. 1736 – 1739 · Coastal Regions
  Son of Sidi Sirul Khan II, placed on the throne in 1736 by three slaves who had just killed the usurper Sidi Sambal, and removed from power himself in 1739 in favour of his brother Sidi Hasan.
• Sidi Hasan — Person · r. 1739 – d. 1745 · Coastal Regions
  Brother of Sidi Reheman, appointed in his place in 1739 after Reheman was removed from power, and ruled until his own death in 1745.
• Syed Allana — Person · usurp. 1745 – 1746 · Coastal Regions
  Usurped the chiefship of Janjira for a time on Sidi Hasan's death in 1745, before it was recovered the following year by the rightful heir, Sidi Ibrahim Khan.
• Sidi Ibrahim Khan I — Person · r. 1746 – d. 1762 · Coastal Regions
  Recovered the chiefship of Janjira as its rightful heir in 1746 after Syed Allana's brief usurpation, and was murdered in 1762 by his own slave Yakut, who then seized power in his place.
• Sidi Yakut Sanni — Person · usurp. 1762 – d. 1772 · Coastal Regions
  Slave of Sidi Ibrahim Khan I who murdered his master in 1762 and ruled in place of the nearest heir, Abdul Rahim; in 1772, under British-brokered terms, he took Abdul Rahim into his fortress and promised him the Janjira succession, dying shortly afterward.
• Abdul Rahim — Person · r. 1772 – d. 1784 · Coastal Regions
  Nearest heir to Sidi Ibrahim Khan I, kept out of power for a decade by the usurper Yakut Sanni before succeeding him on his death shortly after 1772, and ruling until his own death in 1784.
• Sidi Johar — Person · usurp./r. 1784 – 1789 · Coastal Regions
  Commandant of Janjira who seized the chiefship on Abdul Rahim's death in 1784, excluding Abdul Rahim's eldest son Abdul Karim Khan (Balu Mia, who instead became founder of the separate Sachin Nawabs), and ruled for six years.
• Sidi Ibrahim Khan II (Dhakle Baba) — Person · r. 1789 – 1792, restored 1804 – d. 1826 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Sidi Johar in 1789, was thrown into prison by his own slave Sidi Jumrud Khan in 1792, restored to the chiefship on Jumrud Khan's death in 1804, and ruled until his own death in 1826.
• Sidi Jumrud Khan — Person · usurp. 1792 – d. 1804 · Coastal Regions
  Slave of Sidi Ibrahim Khan II who imprisoned his master in 1792 and held the chiefship until his own death in 1804, after which Ibrahim was restored.
• Sidi Muhammad — Person · r. 1826 – 1848 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded his father Sidi Ibrahim Khan II on his death in 1826, ruled through the 1834 declaration of British supremacy over Janjira, and abdicated in 1848 in favour of his own son Sidi Ibrahim Khan.
• Sidi Ibrahim Khan III — Person · r. 1848 – d. 1879 · Coastal Regions
  Became Nawab in 1848 when his father Sidi Muhammad abdicated in his favour; deposed by his own sardars in 1870 and restored the same year by the Bombay Government, he ruled through repeated disputes with the sardars until his death on 28 January 1879.
• Sidi Ahmad Khan — Person · installed 1879 · Coastal Regions
  Youngest, but only legitimate, son of Sidi Ibrahim Khan III; installed as Nawab by the Bombay Government in 1879 over an initial election of an elder, illegitimate half-brother, and still a minor at Rajkumar College in Rajkot as the Gazetteer's account closes in 1882.
• Kuttiali — Person · acc. A.D. 1544–45 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Pokrali Koya as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1544-45; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kunhi Pokko — Person · acc. A.D. 1590–91 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kuttiali as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1590-91; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Cheriya Kunhi Pokkar — Person · acc. A.D. 1606–7 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kunhi Pokko as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1606-7, in whose time the family's Maldivian connection was said to have been resumed; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Mammali — Person · acc. A.D. 1609–10 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Cheriya Kunhi Pokkar as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1609-10; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Mammali Koya — Person · acc. A.D. 1646–47 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Mammali as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1646-47; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kamali Karnavar — Person · acc. A.D. 1654–55 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Mammali Koya as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1654-55; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Mammali — Person · acc. A.D. 1655–56 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kamali Karnavar as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1655-56; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kuttiali — Person · acc. A.D. 1690–91 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Mammali as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1690-91; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kunhi Avussi — Person · acc. A.D. 1703–4 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kuttiali as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1703-4; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kunhi Mammali — Person · acc. A.D. 1719–20 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kunhi Avussi as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1719-20; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kunhi Bi — Person · acc. A.D. 1727–28 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kunhi Mammali as chieftain (Bibi) of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1727-28, also called Aravichchikitavu; how her rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Junumma Bi — Person · acc. A.D. 1731–32 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kunhi Bi as chieftain (Bibi) of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1731-32; how her rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Kunhi Amsi — Person · acc. A.D. 1744–45 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Junumma Bi as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1744-45; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Junumma Bi, Valiya Tangal — Person · acc. A.D. 1776–77 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Kunhi Amsi as chieftain (Bibi) of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1776-77, styled Valiya Tangal; how her rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Abdul Kadar — Person · acc. A.D. 1815–16 · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Junumma Bi Valiya Tangal as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore in A.D. 1815-16; how his rule ended is not recorded on an opened page.
• Sidi Khairiyat — Person · gov. 1677 – d. 1696 · Coastal Regions
  Brother of Sidi Kásim and one of three Sidi officers who deposed Fateh Khán in 1670; succeeded Kásim in the command of Janjira island in 1677 and, per the state records, remained governor until his death in 1696.
• Sidi Kasim — Person · gov. 1670 – 1677, adm. 1677 · Coastal Regions
  One of three Sidi officers who deposed Fateh Khán in 1670 and waived his own claim in favour of Sidi Sambal; received the command of Janjira when Sambal became Moghal admiral, then himself took Sambal's place as Moghal admiral in 1677, having defended Janjira against repeated Marátha assaults under Shivaji.
• Pokrali Koya — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Coastal Regions
  Chieftain of the Arakkal (Ali Raja) house of Cannanore whose predecessor and accession year are not established on an opened page; said to have been a brother of the chieftain Valiya Mammali (no. 8) and to have been killed by the Portuguese in A.D. 1544-45.
• Bi Valiya Tangal — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Abdul Kadar as chieftain (Bibi) of the Arakkal house of Cannanore, styled Valiya Tangal; the year is left blank in the printed source and her rule's end is not recorded on an opened page.
• Ayissa Bibi Valiya Tangal — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Coastal Regions
  Named at no. 27 in the Arakkal chieftain list of Cannanore, following Maria Amma Bi (no. 26), styled Valiya Tangal, and died in A.D. 1861-62; her predecessor and accession year are not printed on any opened page, so the immediate predecessor is left unestablished rather than asserted from list position alone.
• Sultan Ali Raja — Person · reign undated in the sources read · Coastal Regions
  Succeeded Ayissa Bibi Valiya Tangal as chieftain of the Arakkal house of Cannanore, styled Sultan Ali Raja, and died on 15th November 1870; his accession year is not printed on an opened page. A later chieftain of the same name (no. 29, 'the present chieftain') is a distinct person outside this record's chain.