Cannanore

Under Rijcklof van Goens, the VOC captured the town and fort of Cannanore from the Portuguese in 1663. Because the Portuguese on the Malabar coast had been severely weakened by that time, they offered little resistance to the Company. Cannanore supplied spices such as pepper and cardamom, a spice used in baking cake. In the 18th century look-out posts were set up around Cannanore to combat pepper smuggling by the natives. The Company eventually lost the town and the fort to the English in 1790.