Malabar Settlement overlap with what was once the La Chance estate (Verification required), which was founded by Gaston de Gannes de La Chancellerie in the 1840s. Until the early 1970s, southern Malabar was primarily populated by Malabars, descendants of indentured labourers from the Malabar region in Kerala, India. The southern part of the original settlement along Malabar Road was known locally as "India". Malabar is a heavily residential area, with small to medium - size businesses distributed along its main thoroughfares. These businesses are in the main shops, food vendors and small service establishments such as tyre shops, laundries etc. The late
Malabar region moisture-laden Southwest monsoon rains. The Malabar Coast featured (and in some instances still does) a number of historic port cities. Notable among these were/are Naura, Vizhinjam, Muziris, Nelcynda, Beypore and Thundi (near Kadalundi) during ancient times, and Kozhikode (Calicut), Cochin in the medieval period, and have served as centers of the Indian Ocean trade for millennia. Because of their orientation to the sea and to maritime commerce, the coastal cities of Malabar are very cosmopolitan and have hosted some of the first groups of Christians (now known as Saint Thomas Christians), Jews (today called as Cochin Jews), and Muslims (at