Calicut in the original spice country, Kerala, South India is the sea port Portuguese explorer and seafarer, Vasco da Gama the first European to discover sea route to India , landed in A.D.1498 .Pepper was the main reason for this adventure, that led to Portuguese colonization of Kerala and nearby  region.Malayalam , the language of Kerala and Portuguese share quite a number of words, as a result of this interlude(eg;Calico-a fabric originally from Calicut).Later the Dutch, the next wave of colonizers (who were Protestants) ousted the Catholic Portuguese from their head quarters in Cochin and occupied their place, till the British came along and pushed them out..Europian powers of yore fought their proxy religio, socio, economic wars in a far away land.Oh!yes,! the French also had in between their share of  colonial success in Kerala, where still the Francophone culture remains..