Keralam is first mentioned (as Keralaputra) in a 3rd-century-bce rock inscription left by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. In the last centuries bce, this region became famous among the Greeks and Romans for its spices (especially pepper). During the first five centuries ce, the region was a part of Tamilakam—the territory of the Tamils—and thus was sometimes partially controlled by the eastern Pandya and Chola dynasties, as well as by the Cheras. In the 1st century Jewish immigrants arrived, and, according to local Christian tradition, St. Thomas the Apostle visited the region in the same century (see St. Thomas [Mar Thoma] Christians).

Much of Keralam’s history from the 6th to the 8th century is obscure, but it is known that Arab traders introduced Islam later in the period. Under the Kulashekhara dynasty (c. 800–1102), Malayalam emerged as a distinct language, and Hinduism became prominent.

The Cholas often controlled parts of the region during the 11th and 12th centuries. By the beginning of the 14th century, Ravi Varma Kulashekhara of the Venad kingdom established a short-lived supremacy over southern India. After his death, the region became a conglomeration of warring chieftaincies, among which the most important were Calicut (now Kozhikode) in the north and Venad in the south.

The era of foreign intervention began in 1498, when Vasco da Gama landed near Calicut. In the 16th century the Portuguese superseded the Arab traders and dominated the commerce of the Malabar Coast. Their attempt to establish sovereignty was thwarted by the zamorin (hereditary ruler) of Calicut. The Dutch ousted the Portuguese in the 17th century. Marthanda Varma ascended the Venad throne in 1729 and crushed Dutch expansionist designs at the Battle of Kolachel 12 years later. Marthanda Varma then adopted a European mode of martial discipline and expanded the Venad domain to encompass what became the southern state of Travancore. His alliance in 1757 with the raja of the central state of Cochin (Kochi), against the zamorin, enabled Cochin to survive. By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, much of the northern part of the region, or Malabar, had come under direct British rule as part of the Madras Presidency. The central and southern regions were governed by the princely states of Cochin and Travancore, respectively, under British suzerainty.

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw important political and social reform movements aimed at challenging caste-based inequalities, which were rampant in the region at the time, as well as British rule. One of the leading advocates for social equality and religious reform was Narayana Guru, who sought to combat discrimination against the oppressed castes. In 1921 members of the Muslim Mappila community in the Malabar region, many of them agricultural workers, took part in a violent uprising against British rule and local landlords as a result of years of simmering agrarian discontent and religious tensions. The rebellion was eventually quelled by the British. Another major social reform movement, the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25), challenged caste-based restrictions that barred marginalized communities from using the roads surrounding the Vaikom Temple (now in Kottayam district) in Travancore. Led by the Indian National Congress, the movement included several key Indian leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Periyar. Under the reign of Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, Travancore witnessed further social reforms. One of the most notable reforms was the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936, which allowed people from marginalized castes to enter temples in Travancore.

Two years after India gained independence in 1947, the princely states of Travancore and Cochin were merged into the United States of Travancore and Cochin (Travancore-Cochin) state. In 1956 most of the Travancore-Cochin state was joined with the Malabar region and the Kasaragod taluk of the erstwhile South Kanara district to form the state of Kerala on a linguistic basis. The Tamil-speaking southern areas in Travancore, including Kanniyakumari, were transferred to Madras State (now Tamil Nadu).

In the 1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, the Communist Party of India (CPI), led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad, came to power, which was the first democratically elected communist government in India. The Namboodiripad government was dismissed in 1959 by the Congress Party-led central government under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, following widespread anti-government protests and political unrest. The dismissal was followed by a period of president’s rule in the state. The subsequent period saw the reorganization of leftist parties in the state, especially after the split of the CPI and the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), at the national level. Soon the CPI(M) became the dominant left party in Kerala.

From the late 1970s Kerala’s politics came to be dominated by two broad coalitions: the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Congress Party-led United Democratic Front (UDF). Power has generally alternated between the LDF and the UDF in subsequent elections. Key leftist leaders include Namboodiripad, E.K. Nayanar, V.S. Achuthanandan, and Pinarayi Vijayan, and prominent politicians from the Congress Party include K. Karunakaran, A.K. Antony, Oommen Chandy, and Shashi Tharoor. The LDF has been in power since 2016, when it defeated the UDF in the state election, for two consecutive terms (2016–21 and 2021–26), with the CPI(M)’s Pinarayi Vijayan as chief minister. Since the 2010s the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged as a major political coalition in the state. The UDF defeated the LDF in the 2026 state election and the Congress Party’s V.D. Satheesan was sworn in as chief minister. In August 2026 the state’s name was officially changed to Keralam.

The table lists the chief ministers of Keralam.