Kerala is first mentioned (as Keralaputra) in a 3rd-century-BC rock inscription left by the Mauryan emperor Asoka the Great. This region formed part of ancient Tamilakam and was ruled by the Cheras.They had extensive trade relations with the Greeks, Romans and Arabs. In the 1st century AD Jewish immigrants arrived, and it is believed that St. Thomas the Apostle visited Kerala in the same century. The Chera Kingdom and later the feudal Nair and Namboothiri Brahmin city-states became major powers in the region. Early contact with Europeans later gave way to struggles between colonial and native interests. The States Reorganisation Act of 1 November 1956 elevated Kerala to statehood.

Social and educational reforms enacted in the late 19th century by Cochin and Travancore were expanded upon by post-independence governments, making Kerala one of the most literate, healthiest, and gender-equitable regions in India. Kerala has one of the most advanced educational systems in India.Though the state's basic human development indices are roughly equivalent to those in the developed world, the state is substantially more environmentally sustainable than Europe and North America. A survey conducted in 2005 by Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country. Nevertheless, Kerala's suicide, alcoholism, and unemployment rates rank among India's highest.

There are myths concerning the origin of Kerala. One such myth is the creation of Kerala by Parasurama, a warrior sage. The Brahminical myth proclaims that Parasurama, an avatar of Mahavishnu, threw his battle axe into the sea. As a result, the land of Kerala arose and was reclaimed from the waters.

Parasurama was the incarnation of Maha Vishnu. He was the sixth of the ten avatars (incarnation) of Vishnu. The word Parasu means 'axe' in Sanskrit and therefore the name Parasurama means 'Ram with Axe'. The aim of his birth was to deliver the world from the arrogant oppression of the ruling caste, the Kshatriyas. He killed all the male Kshatriyas on earth and filled five lakes with their blood. After destroying the Kshatriya kings, he approached assembly of learned men to find a way of penitence for his sins. He was advised that, to save his soul from damnation, he must hand over the lands he had conquered to the Brahmins. He did as they advised and sat in meditation at Gokarnam. There, Varuna -the God of the Oceans and Bhumidevi - Goddess of Earth blessed him. From Gokarnam he reached Kanyakumari and threw his axe northward across the ocean. The place where the axe landed was Kerala. It was 160 katam (an old measure) of land lying between Gokarnam and Kanyakumari. Puranas say that it was Parasuram who planted the 64 Brahmin families in Kerala, whom he brought down from the north in order to expiate his slaughter of the Kshatriyas. According to the puranas, Kerala is also known as Parasurama Kshetram, ie., 'The Land of Parasurama',as the land was reclaimed from sea by him.

This legend, however, may be a Brahmin appropriation of an earlier Chera legend where a Chera King, Velkezhu Kuttavan, otherwise known a Chen Kuttuvan flings his spear into the sea to claim land from it. The myth of Parashurama is debatable as the legendary king Mahabali, under whose rule Kerala was the land of prosperity and happiness, was granted rule over hell (Patalam) by Vamana the avatar of Vishnu, who actually comes before the avatar of Parashurama according to the avatar stories of Hindu mythology.

One legend of Kerala even makes Parasurama a Pandya ruler. In another legend, the Pandyas themselves are the manifestations of Parasurama. P.N. Chopra writes, "Parasurama is deemed by the Keralites as the father of their national identity The Kollam Era is also known as "Parasurama-Sacam". ] Travancore Rajas claim descent from Chera King Bhanu Bikram, who according to legend was placed on the thrown by Parasurama. Scholar K. Narayanan Sivaraja Pillai mentions, "Even as the West Coast owes its very rudiments of civilized life to Parasurama...". In the Keralolpatti, Parasurama is said to have selected goddess Durga (Kali) to be the guardian of the sea-shore of Kerala. According to legend, Chera King Kuttuvan Chera (also called Kota Varman) once enraged, threw an into the sea, thereby causing it to retreat and the land to dry. According to another legend, a Pandyan called "Vadimbalamba ninrapandyan" threw his spear into the sea, hereby causing the same effect. There is another story of Ukkira Pandiyan obtaining a spear from the Sivan of Madura, and throwing it into the sea, causing the shore to retreat. Tradition says that Parasurama minted gold coins called Rasi and that in Travancore, he sowed them and buried the surplus in Cairns.

The earliest written record mentioning Kerala is contained in the Sanskrit epic known as the Aitareya Aranyaka. Later, such figures as Katyayana (circa 4th century BC) and Patanjali (circa 2nd century BC) exhibited in their writings a casual familiarity with Kerala's geography. Megasthanes, the Greek Ambassador to the court of Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya (4th Century BC) mentions in his work Indica on many South Indian States, including Automela (probably Muziris), and a Pandian trade centre. Ancient Roman Natural philosopher Pliny the Elder mentions in his Naturalis Historia (N.H. 6.26) a Muziris (probably modern-day Kodungallur or Pattanam as India's first port of Importance. Later, the unknown author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea notes that "both Muziris and Nelkunda (modern Neendakara) are now busy places".

Malayalam, Kerala's main native language, believed to be originated as an offshoot of Tamil, the principal native language of neighboring Tamil Nadu. Malayalam (Derived from the local words: mala(means Forest) and aalam (means Kingdom)) as a composite phrase means the living/inhabitants of Forest Kingdom. This phrase, which in earlier times implied the geographical location of the region, was later replaced by Kerala.Kerala and Tamil Nadu diverged into linguistically separate regions by the early 14th century. The ancient Chera empire, whose court language was Tamil, ruled Kerala from their capital at Vanchi Karuvur (modern Karur in Tamil Nadu). Kerala at that time was composed of two Koduntamizh (deviant Tamil) regions, Venadu (later called Travancore) and Kuttanadu (Malabar). Allied with the Pallavas, they continually warred against the neighbouring Chola and Pandya kingdoms. Until the Bhakti age, the Sangam Tamil Cheras of the Kongu Nadu region in Tamil Nadu controlled both these regions. History says that (recorded im Mackenzie records) a Chozha princess was married to the Chera of Karur and he got a dowry of 48,000 agriculturists from the Chozha country. These people were settled in the then forested region of Venadu and Kuttanadu and thus the first agricultural settlements arose in what is called Kerala today.

A Keralite identity, distinct from the Tamils and associated with the Kerala Varmans empire and the development of Malayalam, subsequently evolved sometime during the 8th–14th centuries. Meanwhile, both Buddhism and Jainism reached Kerala in this early period. As in other parts of ancient India, Buddhism and Jainism co-existed with early Shaivite beliefs during the first five centuries. It was only after the Sangam period that Kerala saw large-scale immigration of Brahmins from the north. These influxes may have coincided during the Kalabhras, Rashtrakuta, Chalukya, Pallava and Hoysala invasions. By the 8th and 9th centuries, 2nd Chera kings inclined to Vaishnavism and some of them wrote great literary works in the stream of Vishnu Bhakthi. When Hinduism was revived by intellectuals like Shankara and by Bhakti movements all over India, Buddhism and Jainism merged into their mother religion.

Vasco da Gama's voyage to Kerala from Portugal in 1498 was largely motivated by Portuguese determination to break the Arabs' control over trade of spices grown in Kerala. The spice trade with the Middle East pre-dates Islam. Da Gama established India's first Portuguese fortress at Cochin (Kochi) in 1503 and, taking advantage of rivalry between the royal families of Calicut and Cochin, ended the Arab monopoly. Conflicts between Calicut and Cochin, however, provided an opportunity for the Dutch to come in and finally expel the Roman Catholic Portuguese from their forts.

The Dutch were, in turn, routed by the Nairs of Travancore (Thiruvithamcoore) ruler Marthanda Varma at the Battle of Kulachal in 1741. Hyder Ali of Mysore conquered northern Kerala in the 18th century, capturing Kozhikode in 1766. Hyder Ali and his successor, Tipu Sultan, (but Nairs under the capable Diwan of Travancoore Raja Keshavadas (Keshava pillai Diwanji) defeated Tippu near Aluva ) came into conflict with the British, and the four Anglo-Mysore wars were fought across southern India in the latter half of the 18th century. Tipu Sultan ceded Malabar District to the British in 1792, and South Kanara, which included present-day Kasargod District, in 1799. The British concluded treaties of subsidiary alliance with the rulers of Cochin (1791) and Travancore (1795), and they became princely states of British India, maintaining local autonomy in return for a fixed annual tribute to the British. Malabar and South Kanara districts were part of British India's Madras Presidency.

Organised expressions of discontent with British rule were relatively infrequent in Kerala. Uprisings of note include the rebellion by Pazhassi Raja, Velu Thampi Dalawa, and the Punnapra-Vayalar revolt of 1946. Mass protests were mainly directed at established social evils such as untouchability. The non-violent and largely peaceful Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924 was instrumental in securing entry to the public roads adjacent to the Vaikom temple for people belonging to backward castes. In 1936, Sree Chithira Thirunal Balaramavarma Maharaja, ruler of Travancore issued the Temple Entry Proclamation, declaring the temples of his kingdom open to all Hindu worshippers, irrespective of caste.

After India's independence in 1947, the princely states of Travancore and Kochi were merged to form the province (after 1950 a state) of Travancore-Cochin on July 1, 1949. Madras Presidency became India's Madras State.

The state of Kerala was created on November 1, 1956 when Malabar District was merged with Tranvancore-Cochin state and Kasargod taluk of South Kanara District to form the State of Kerala, based on the recommendations of the State Reorganisation Commission set up by the Government of India. Elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly were held in 1957; this resulted in the formation of a communist-led government headed by E.M.S. Namboodiripad. Many Indians consider this the first democratically elected communist government[23] in the world; however, both San Marino (in 1948) and Guyana (in 1953) had elected communists to power years earlier. Radical reforms introduced by the Namboodiripad government in favour of farmers and labourers helped change, to a great extent, the iniquitous social order that had prevailed in Kerala for centuries.

The term "Malayalam" comes from the words mala (Mountain), alam (Place). Hence malayali means Mountain people who lived beyond the Western Ghats, and Malayalam the language that was spoken there.
Another etymology is that it comes from mala (Mountain) and azham (Ocean) - referring to the Sahya mountains and Arabian Sea that bound Kerala. Malayazham later became Malayalam.

The word "Malayalam" is an apparent palindrome; however, strictly, it is not, as the next to last vowel is long and should properly be spelled double or written ā (an a with a macron), and the 'l' consonants represent different sounds: the first is dental Malayalam , Roman ) and the second is retroflex , Malayalam , Roman).

The Malayali people (also spelled Malayalee; Malayalam:) are the inhabitants of Kerala or their descendants. They are not a homogenous group; but are defined by their use of Malayalam. While the majority of Malayalis belong to Kerala, significant populations also exist in other parts of India, the Middle East, Europe and North America.
According to the Indian census of 1991, there were 28,096,376 speakers of Malayalam in Kerala, making up 96.6% of the total population of that state. Hence the word Keralite is often used in the same context, though a proper definition is ambiguous.

The Malayali identity is primarily linguistic, although in recent times the definition has been broadened to include emigrants of Malayali descent who maintain Malayali cultural traditions, even if they no longer regularly speak the language.

Malayali non-prehistoric cultural genesis can be traced to their membership (around the 3rd century CE) in a vaguely-defined historical region known as Thamizhakam—a land defined by a common Tamil culture and encompassing the Chera, Chola, and Pandya kingdoms. Malayali culture was later elaborated upon by centuries of contact with overseas lands—yet all through this time, its cultural heritage remained defined by its antiquity and organic continuity.

The following are the major ethnic communities among Malayalis:

Ambalavasis

Ambalavasi is the name of a Kerala community (not to be confused with caste) composed of a number of Hindu castes such as Pushpakas (Unni, Nambeesan, etc.), Chakyars, Moothaths, Ilayaths, Kurukkals, Warriers, Marars, Nambiars, Pisharody, etc. Traditionally, they perform temple related jobs and art forms.

Cochin Jews

Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews (Malabar Yehudan) are the ancient Jews and their descendants of the erstwhile state of Kingdom of Cochin which includes the present day port city of Kochi. They traditionally spoke Judeo-Malayalam, a form of the Malayalam tongue, native to the state of Kerala. The Jews of Cochin did not adhere to the Talmudic prohibition, followed by other Orthodox Jews, against public singing by women, and therefore have a rich tradition of Jewish prayers and narrative songs performed by women in Judeo-Malayalam.

Ezhavas

The Ezhavas, also known as Thiyyas, are the largest Hindu community in Kerala. Ezhavas are also found amongst the Malayali diaspora around the world. Ezhavas are today a social group sharing a common history from the pre-social reform era.

Christians

Christians, including Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants form the third largest group in Kerala. Over the centuries, they have blended well with the changing socio-cultural environment of the region. They are a unique faction of Christians who are semi-Hindu by culture, Christians by religion, and Judeo-Syro-Oriental in worship. They have sometimes, even in some official documents, been called Nasranis (followers of Jesus of Nazarene) or Saint Thomas Christians. The community consists of people from many ethnic groups of Kerala including Dravidian converts, the pre-Christian era Jewish diaspora, different trading diaspora of Muziris, Syrian Christian settlers and the Knanayas.

Muslims
Mappila

Malayali Muslims are members of a Malayalam-speaking Islamic community spread across Kerala, Lakshadweep, Kodagu and across Malayali Diaspora around the world. In North Kerala they are known as Mappilas or Moplahs. The word mappila is derived from the old (pure) Malayalam words Amma and pilla meaning Child of Mother. The Mappilas are believed to be the earliest known Indian Muslim community, having existed since the 8th century CE, when Arab merchants who had long been trading with the Chera kingdom intermarried local women and settled down converting the latter and their families to Islam, based on the preachings of monotheism by Muhammad in Arabia. They propagated their faith along the Malabar Coast. Most Mappila Muslims follow the Shafi'i school of Muslim Jurisprudence (in contrast to the Hanafi school followed by most South Asian Muslims).

Nairs

Nairs (sometimes spelled Nayar) are a Hindu upper caste. The Nairs were a martial nobility and figure prominently in the history of Kerala. The Nairs form the second largest Hindu community in Kerala.

Nambudiri

The Nambudiri Brahmins are the indigenous Brahmins of Kerala, who are considered the most orthodox Brahmins in India. They perform rituals in temples of Kerala based on Tantra Vidhi, a complex and ancient branch of Tantric traditions found only in Kerala, and some Mahakshetras ("Great Temples") around India (which have a Nambudiri acting as the Head Priest). Namboothiris follow the conservative and ritualistic Śrauta traditions and the ancient Purva Mimamsa, unlike the majority of other Brahmins in India who follow the Vedanta.

Malayala Kshatriyas

The Malayala Kshatriyas (also known as Samanta Kshatriya) who use the surname- Varma- are a group of people who belonged to the Kshatriya division of the Hindu caste system among Malayalees and their residences were traditionally called Kovilakams or Kottaram or Swaroopams. In traditional texts such as the Keralolpathi they are referred to as "Samantha Kshatriyas".

Cochin Jews

Cochin Jews, also called Malabar Jews (Malabar Yehudan) are the ancient Jews and their descendants of the erstwhile state of Kingdom of Cochin which includes the present day port city of Kochi. They traditionally spoke Judeo-Malayalam, a form of the Malayalam tongue, native to the state of Kerala. The Jews of Cochin did not adhere to the Talmudic prohibition, followed by other Orthodox Jews, against public singing by women, and therefore have a rich tradition of Jewish prayers and narrative songs performed by women in Judeo-Malayalam.

Pulayas

The Pulayas, also known as Pulayar are one of the main social groups found in the Kerala society, who were traditionally engaged in various agriculture-related occupations. Ayyankali (1863 - 1914), one among the great social reformers of India, who was praised by Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Venganoor, was born to a Malayali Pulaya family.

Unclassified

With the growth in intermarriage between Malayali communities and also with other groups, especially outside Kerala, many people who identify themselves with Kerala or with Malayali culture can not readily be labeled as members of one of the historic castes or communities listed above. Also, although a number of these groups were historically affiliated to one or other religion or sect, many of their modern representatives may be agnostic or atheist, or identify more strongly with some other religious or non-religious ideology such as socialism or communism.

Malayala Kshatriyas
Main article: Malayala Kshatriya

The Malayala Kshatriyas (also known as Samanta Kshatriya) who use the surname- Varma- are a group of people who belonged to the Kshatriya division of the Hindu caste system among Malayalees and their residences were traditionally called Kovilakams or Kottaram or Swaroopams. In traditional texts such as the Keralolpathi they are referred to as "Samantha Kshatriyas".

Pulayas

The Pulayas, also known as Pulayar are one of the main social groups found in the Kerala society, who were traditionally engaged in various agriculture-related occupations. Ayyankali (1863 - 1914), one among the great social reformers of India, who was praised by Mahatma Gandhi when he visited Venganoor, was born to a Malayali Pulaya family.

Unclassified

With the growth in intermarriage between Malayali communities and also with other groups, especially outside Kerala, many people who identify themselves with Kerala or with Malayali culture can not readily be labeled as members of one of the historic castes or communities listed above. Also, although a number of these groups were historically affiliated to one or other religion or sect, many of their modern representatives may be agnostic or atheist, or identify more strongly with some other religious or non-religious ideology such as socialism or communism.

Malayalis have derived their own form of Indian classical music. It is given the name Sopanam. Sopanam is a form of Indian classical music developed in the temples of Kerala in the wake of the increasing popularity of the Jayadeva's 'Gita Govinda' or 'Ashtapathi'. Sopanasangitham is sung by the side of the steps (Sopanam) of Temple, with the accompaniment of the drum called Idakka. The sopanasangitam in its traditional form is seen at its best among the Marars and Poduvals, who were hereditary Ambalavasis engaged to do the same.

Kerala has shared the general musical culture of peninsular India from the earliest times. South Indian music is generally known as Carnatic music because of its common features. Each region of the south has its own culture. Kerala's music is known as Sopanam. Sangeetam (Music) appears to have acquired its name from the Sopanam which means Sanctum Sanctorum of the temple. Its essential features were born out of a happy blending of the Vedic, the folk and tribal music of the region. Some famous singers are Neralattu Rama Poduval, Janardhanan Nedungadi and Damodara Marar.

The percussion ensemble panchari melam (or panchari), as part of the chenda melam (or melam) family, is the best-known and most popular kshetram vadyam genre to be performed at virtually every temple festival in central Kerala. Malayalis, especially in the central districts, regard panchari as the most ancient percussion genre in Kerala. Other melams are pandi, chempata, anchatanta, dhruvam, atanta, and chempha. Though there are musical and ritualistic differences between the panchari and other melams, the description of the former is proto-typical for the latter.

Panchari melam

Panchari melam is either performed in an elaborated form (bigger ensemble, longer performance time) to accompany the annual temple festivals, or in an abbreviated form for the daily or weekly rituals. Both forms are performed within the walls of the temple. The ensemble starts at the main entrance to the inner part of the temple, slowly circumambulating the shrine clockwise while playing. On either of the eight wind directions or the compass points they stop and perform. Usually a phase or at least a talavattam (tala cycle, see below) is concluded before proceeding; thus paying reference to each divinity located in different parts of the temple. The procession is led by the divine idol of the temple kept on an elephant or carried by a Namboothiri priest. The deity faces the musical ensemble and devotees, the latter surrounding the musicians in a semi-circle eagerly following the musical progress of the melam.