Kannur Cantonment is a cantonment

Cantonment

A cantonment is a temporary or semi-permanent military or police quarters. The word cantonment is derived from the French word canton meaning corner or district, as is the name of the Cantons of Switzerland. In South Asia, the term cantonment also describes permanent military stations...

 town in Kannur district

Kannur district

Kannur District is one of the 14 districts in the state of Kerala, India. The town of Kannur is the district headquarters, and gives the district its name. The old name Cannanore is the anglicised form of the Malayalam name Kannur. Kannur District is bounded by Kasaragod District to the north and...

 in the India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n state

States and territories of India

India is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.-List of states and territories:...

 of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, between Kannur town

Kannur Town

Kannur Town is the actual city of Kannur, Kerala, India and the administrative headquarters of Kannur District. The major business establishments, government offices, shopping centres, hotels, and showrooms are located in Kannur town....

 and Kannur City

Kannur City

Kannur 'City' is a residential suburb of Kannur Town. This place is called a 'city' because it was the ancient capital of the Kannur town. It is different from the actual city of Kannur, which is the administrative head quarters of the Kannur District....

. The Cantonment was a military camp for Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

, Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 and British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 rulers. It is the Headquarters of Defence Security Corps

Defence Security Corps (India)

The Defence Security Corps , previously known as Defence Department Constabulary Centre, was founded on 25 April 1947 at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh state in north India. The Defence Security Corps, with 31,000 personnel, provides security at Defence Ministry sites...

 now.

The Cannanore Cantonment Board is one of the 62 cantonments in India and the only one in Kerala. The Cantonment at Kannur falls in the Class III category. It is home to St. Angelo Fort

St. Angelo Fort

St. Angelo Fort , is a fort facing the Arabian Sea, situated 3 km from the town of Kannur, a city in Kerala state, south India.-History:...

 and St. Thomas Orthodox Church.

History

The Cannanore Cantonment was established in the 19th century by the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. Cantonments were established during the British era usually in their military areas where both civilian and military personnel resided. It was under the control of the Arakkal Kingdom until 1909, when the Arakkal Beevi, Rani Imbichi Adi-Raja Bibi lost it to the British.

After Indian Independence, the Cannanore Cantonment came under the control of the Indian Army

Indian Army

The Indian Army is the land based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. With about 1,100,000 soldiers in active service and about 1,150,000 reserve troops, the Indian Army is the world's largest standing volunteer army...

. Today, the Cannanore Cantonment is a prominent and strategic location for the Indian armed forces.

Demographics

India census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Kannur Cantonment had a population of 4699. Males constitute 65% of the population and females 35%. Kannur Cantonment has an average literacy rate of 89%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 92%, and female literacy is 84%. In Kannur Cantonment, 8% of the population is under 6 years of age. The Anglo-Indian community lives in and around the Kannur Cantonment.

Cannanore Cantonment Board

The Cannanore Cantonment Board came into existence in 1938. This cantonment consists of 2698 civilians and 2121 military population. The Board consists of 8 members. Four of them are elected from the civilian population. The Officer-in-Command is the chairman of the Board.

Education

Two of the famous Anglo Indian Schools are situated in and around the Cantonment—St Teresa's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Burnassery and St. Michael's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Kannur. Other schools are the Ursuline Convent School, B E M P Upper Primary School, St Peter's Lower Primary School, and the recently opened Premier English School.