Malappuram District is a district in the south Indian state of Kerala. The district headquarters is at Malappuram. The district was formed on 16 June 1969.It is unique in that it is the only Muslim majority district in south India. The area was active during the Independence Movement and was the site of the Moplah Rebellion.

The district has a rich cultural and political heritage. Malappuram has seen participation in national movements such as Khilafat Movement or Moplah Rebellion, which was a protest by the Muslims of Malabar against the abolition of the Islamic Caliphate in Turkey by the British. At a national level Mahatma Gandhi supported the Khilafat Movement as an opportunity to draw Muslims to the mainstream Independence Movement. However, the Islamic radicals turned it into a violent movement.[citation needed] Leftist historians[who?] have associated the Khilafat Movement as a 'peasant uprising' in Malabar.

Before Indian independence in 1947, Malappuram was a part of Malabar District in the Madras Presidency of British India. The area covered by the present district was administered as a part of Kozhikode, Ernad, Valluvanad and Ponnani taluks. Malabar District remained part of Madras state for some time after Indian independence.

On 1 November 1956, Malabar District was merged with Travancore-Cochin to form the state of Kerala. Large-scale changes in the territorial jurisdiction of this tract took place in 1957 and 1969. On 1 January 1957, Tirur taluk was newly formed, taking portions of Ernad and Ponnani taluks. Another portion of Ponnani taluk was transferred to the newly formed Chavakkad taluk. The residuary portion constitutes present-day Ponnani taluk. Perinthalmanna was a new taluk formed out of the erstwhile Valluvanad taluk. Of these, Ernad and Tirur continued under Kozhikode District and Perinthalmanna as well as Ponnani under the Palakkad District.

The new district of Malappuram was formed with four taluks, Ernad, Perinthalmanna, Tirur and Ponnani, four statutory towns, fourteen developmental blocks and 95 panchayats. Two more taluks, namely Tirurangadi and Nilambur, were formed later by bifurcating Tirur and Ernad taluks.