When Vaso Da Gama reached the Malabar Coast the country was split up into petty principalities over whom even Zamorin of Calicut had no real authority. Portuguese also succeeded in the destruction of the Egyptian and Venetian trade and concentrated  it in their own hands. It was in the sea power only that their chance of success lay. Kunjali Marakkars the admirals of the Zamorin of Calicut fought the Portuguese for a hundred years until they become overgrown subjects of their nominal masters and were destroyed by the Portuguese through his connivance. Panikkar has performed a  work of value in providing this history of the Portuguese in Malabar.