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The below views are from previous discussions in the malayali roots bbs. There are different conflicting views on origin and evolution of the malayali. Kerala was inpenetrable dense forests, the oldest human skeleton found is dated back to 5000 years. The tribals in the borders areas and ghat sections would have been the ones who reached here first. Kerala emerged as a favourite trading destination for people from all over the world. The arabs and Chineese were the main traders. The sea route brought people from all over the world to this distant place. Some of the major ports of the world were in the coast of Kerala. Explorers like Solomon and the Chineese have written a great deal about this ports where sailors and traders from the world over used to anchor their ships. Traders used to procure spices from kerala to china and arabia at the same time they used exchange their like silk from china and and perfumes from arabia. The chineese and arabs used to trade through the land routes more commonly called the silk route passing through afganisthan.This land routes were ambushed very frequently by barbarians so the sea route through kerala developed as ideal for trade. A British naval officer in his recently published book on ancient s ea routes talks about the stone inscription in old malayalam at all major ancient sea ports in europe and asia. The temples in campodia which are excavated and opened up recently shows that were built hundreds of years ago during the rule of King Jayaram 4. These temples are build almost exactly as our temples in kerala. These areas were heavily mined during the Khmer rule so these are relatively intact even now. Malayalis were pioneers in canoe making. The same canoe architecture is supposed to have duplicated the world over. These same canoes have been excavated from different parts of the world. The most ancient canoes discovered from the south American coast are also similar to these. Some other points which came up here were the language spoken in the north east of india having a mixture of chinese and malayalam. Chtistianity and Islam all came to our land through traders and invaders we were so open to embrace these ideologies. Our openess to other's cultures gave us immense knowledge and changed our lifestyles too. But religion was tried and used by invaders to get a backdoor to miltary supremacy later on. Thus our hospitality later on lead to our loss of freedom. Coastal areas of kerala are a standing testimony to how the traders influenced our people and how their religion and culture were adopted by so many among us. Temples which were converted to mosques or churches can be even seen today. The invading poweres like the British and Portugues and the French bought their own versions of Chritianity. This lead Christians to be Roman Catholics, Latin catholics, Protestans, Yahovas, Orthodox etc. With the foreign influenece and control waning, infigthing in these groups led to several more factions. The Namboothiris of Kerala are supposed to have originated from Iran. They bought their culture and later on mixed it with local traditions and religions. The Namboothiris thus formed the top of the social ladder. The society was again divided into diffrent castes and creeds depending on the job they do. The lower sections of the society were considered untouchables and did not have most of the social privileges. This lower section of the society were easily manipulated by the British to their on advantage.They became informers and helpers of the British army. The British supremacy was achieved easy by exploting these caste system in the society. This was the policy followed by British to conquer India.