only Muslim Sultanate in the Malabar region – Arakkal – who also ruled the Laccadive Islands in addition to the city of Kannur. Arakkal Kingdom and Chirakkal kingdom were two vassal kingdoms based in the city of Kannur. The island of Dharmadom near Kannur, along with Thalassery, was ceded to the East India Company as early as 1734, which were claimed by all of the Kolattu Rajas, Kottayam Rajas, Mannanar and Arakkal Bibi in the late medieval period, where the British initiated a factory and English settlement following the cession. In 1761, the British captured Mahé, and the settlement was handed over to the ruler of Kadathanadu. The British restored Mahé to the French as a part of the 1763 Treaty of Paris. In 1779, the Anglo-French war broke out, resulting in the French loss of Mahé. In 1783, the British agreed to restore to the French their settlements in India, and Mahé was handed over to the French in 1785. During the British Raj, Kannur was part of the Madras province in the Malabar District. Initially the British had to suffer local resistance against their rule under the leadership of Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, who had popular support in Thalassery-Wayanad region. The municipalities of Kannur and Thalassery were formed on 1 November 1866 according to the Madras Act 10 of 1865 (Amendment of the Improvements in Towns act 1850) of the British Indian Empire, along with the municipalities of Kozhikode, Palakkad, and Fort Kochi, making them the first modern municipalities in the modern state of Kerala. Government and politics Kannur district consists of two revenue subdivisions - Taliparamba and Thalassery. For sake of rural administration, 71 Gram Panchayats are combined in 11 Blocks, which together form the Kannur District Panchayat. For the sake of urban administration, Kannur Municipal Corporation and 9 municipal towns are there. For the representation of Kannur in Kerala Legislative Assembly, there are 11 assembly constituencies. These are included in three parliamentary constituencies, i.e., Kasaragod, Kannur, and Vatakara. The district is further divided into 132 villages which together form 5 subdistricts. Political divisions State legislature Parliament Demographics According to the 2018 Statistics Report, Kannur district has a population of 2,615,266, The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001–2011 was 4.84%. The 2011 Census of India gives the district a ranking of 170th in India (out of a total