 When Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut , on the southwestern Malabar coast of India , in 1498 , the Vijayanagara empire was about to reach its apex . During the 16th century the chieftaincies , or Nayaka principalities , of Keladi ( and later of Ikkeri and Bednur ) were established in the western part of what later became Shimoga district . ( See Map 2 and Map 9 . ) Sadasiva Raya Naik , the first of the Keladi chiefs , was granted permission by the Vijayanagara emperor to administer some towns on the western Kanara coast . In the decade after the fall of the Vijayanagara empire , the Portuguese , who until then had pursued their pepper trade entirely on the Malabar coast farther south , decided as a commercial strategy , to hedge their bets , and commenced purchasing some pepper from the Kanara region . During 1568 – 1569 , they took possession of the coastal towns of Onor ( now Honavar ) , Barcelor ( now Basrur ) , and Mangalore and constructed fortresses and factories at each location . ( See Map 1 and Map 8 . ) 
