Tanur (English: Tanore) is a coastal town, a municipality, and a block located in Tirur Taluk, Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is located on the Malabar Coast, 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) north of Tirur and 9 kilometres south of Parappanangadi. It is the 17th-most populated municipality in the state, the fourth-most populated municipality in the district, and the second-most densely populated municipality in Malappuram district, having about 3,568 residents per square kilometre as of the year 2011. Tanur town is located south of the estuary of Poorappuzha River, which is a tributary of Kadalundi River. Tanur was one of the major ports in the southwestern coast of India during the medieval period. It was ruled by the Kingdom of Tanur, also known as Vettathunadu, who were vassals to the Zamorin of Calicut. In the early medieval period, under the chiefs of Kozhikode and Tanur, Tanur developed as one of the important maritime trade centre on the Malabar Coast. Later it became a part of Vettathunadu Taluk in Malabar District under British Raj, which was merged with the Ponnani taluk in 1860–1861. Tanur railway station is a part of the oldest Railway line of Kerala laid in 1861 from Tirur to Chaliyam. Presently, the status of Tanur is reduced to a major fishing centre in Kerala.