spices, until at least the c. 15th century. In 1403, it seems that, the Ming court first learned of the existence of Malacca from one pepper merchant, a Muslim believed to have come from the Malabar Coast. Moroccan traveller Ibn Battutah (14th century) has recorded the considerably huge presence of Muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of Kerala. Immigration, intermarriage and missionary activity/conversion — secured by the common interest in the spice trade — helped in this development. The monopoly of overseas spice trade in the Arabian Sea was safe with the Arab and Persian shipping magnates from the Malabar Coast. Fortunes of these merchants depended on the political patronage of the native chiefs of Calicut (Kozhikode), Cannanore (Kannur), Cochin (Kochi), and Quilon (Kollam). The chiefs of these tiny kingdoms derived a great part of their revenue from taxing the spice trade. A 13th century granite inscription, in Old Malayalam and Arabic, at Muchundi Mosque in Calicut mentions a donation by the king to the mosque. The inscription is the only surviving historical document recording royal endowment by a Hindu ruler, in the form of a grant, to the Muslim community in Kerala. By the early decades of the 14th century, travellers speak of Calicut (Kozhikode) as the major port city in Kerala. Some of the important administrative positions in the kingdom of Calicut, such as that of the port commissioner, were held by Muslims. The port commissioner, the "shah bandar", represented commercial interests of the Muslim merchants. In his account, Ibn Batttutah mentions Shah Bandars in Calicut and Quilon (Ibrahim Shah Bandar and Muhammed Shah Bandar). The "nakhudas", merchant magnates owning ships, spread their shipping and trading business interests across the Indian Ocean. The famous nakhuda Mishkal who possessed ships for the trade with China, Yemen and Persia was active in Calicut in the 1340s. But unlike in some of the other regions of the Indian Ocean, in Kerala, it seems that the nakhudas did not held any positions of commercial, communal leadership. The Muslim line of Ali Rajas of Arakkal, near Cannanore, who were the vassals of the Kolathiri, ruled over the Lakshadweep. Zayn al-Din Makhdum (c. 1498–1581) estimates that 10% of the population of Malabar was Muslim by the midpoint of the 16th century AD. Samarqandi said that in Calicut he met Muslims among the "horde of infidels", and that both