Chennai Open on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Stone age implements have been found near 
Gradually, the city grew into a major naval base and became the central administrative centre for the British in South India. The city served as the baseline for the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India started on 10 April 1802.Gill, B. (2001); "THE BIG MAN. Surveying Sir George Everest", in: ''Professional Surveyor Magazine'', Vol. 21 Nr 2. Retrieve
online
8 March 2016. With the advent of railways in India in the 19th century, the thriving urban centre was connected to other important cities such as Bombay and Calcutta, promoting increased communication and trade with the
Chennai is located on the south–eastern coast of India in the north–eastern part of Tamil Nadu on a flat coastal plain known as the 
Chennai's soil is mostly
Chennai has three rivers and many lakes spread across the city. Urbanization has led to the shrinkage of water bodies and wetlands. The quantity of wetlands in the city has decreased from 650 to only 27 currently. The Chennai River Restoration trust set up by the government is working on the restoration of Adyar river.
Chennai city is governed by the
The 
(prior to the expansion of Chennai Corporation area), Chennai city has a sanctioned strength of 14,000 police personnel. With a population density of 26,903 persons per square kilometre, the city had 1 policeman for every 413 people. The Chennai suburban police had about 4,093 police personnel and a ratio of 1:1,222. In 2010, the crime rate in the city was 169.2 per 100,000 people, as against an average of 341.9 in the 35 major cities of India. In 2011, North Chennai zone had 30 police stations and 3 police out posts, Central Chennai zone had 28 police stations and 3 police out posts, and South Chennai zone had 30 police stations.
In 2009, Madras Central Prison, one of the oldest prisons in India, built over of land, was demolished; the prisoners were moved to
Being the capital of the
Bevir, Mark, University of California, Berkeley, Publication Date: 1 January 2003 s. 14–18. Original Citation: Mark Bevir, "Theosophy and the Origins of the Indian National Congress",
Scanned version
/ref> During the first 50 years of the Indian National Congress, the city played host to its conferences seven times in 1887, 1894, 1898, 1903, 1908, 1914 and 1927, becoming one of the strong bases for the
With the history of many neighbourhoods of the city such as 
With the advent of the Mugals and the 
The construction of the National Art Gallery in Madras was completed in 1909. The new building, with a distinct façade, was built of pink sandstone brought from Sathyavedu, and formed part of the Madras Museum campus. It was opened, on 23 January 1909, by the Governor of Fort St. George, Sir
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the
, citing the mixture of both modern and traditional values. capital city
A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, Department (country subdivision), department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city ...
of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
, the southernmost Indian state
India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
History
Pre-indepen ...
. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...
of the Bay of Bengal
The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean, bounded on the west and northwest by India, on the north by Bangladesh, and on the east by Myanmar and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India. Its southern limit is a line between ...
.
According to the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most populous city in the country and forms the fourth-most populous urban agglomeration. The Greater Chennai Corporation
The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 September ...
is the civic body responsible for the city; it is the oldest city corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally own ...
of India, established in 1688—the second oldest in the world after London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. The city of Chennai is coterminous with Chennai district
Chennai district, formerly known as Madras district, is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the smallest and the most densely populated district in the state. The district is coterminous with the city of Chennai, w ...
, which together with the adjoining suburbs constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area
The Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area, or simply the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the core city of Chennai, wh ...
, the 36th-largest urban area in the world by population and one of the largest metropolitan economies of India.
The traditional and de facto gateway of South India, Chennai is among the most-visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked the 43rd-most visited city in the world for the year 2015 and was ranked the 36th-most visited city in the world for the year 2019. The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of health tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed "India's health capital". An established port of trade of British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
since the 1600s, Chennai has the fifth-largest urban economy, and had the third-largest expatriate
An expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person who resides outside their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to educated professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either ...
population in India, at 35,000 in 2009, 82,790 in 2011 and estimated at over 100,000 by 2016. Tourism-guide publisher Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...
named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015.
Chennai is ranked as a beta-level city in the Global Cities Index, and was ranked the best city in India by ''India Today
''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...
'' in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the "hottest" city (city worth visiting and worth living in for long term) by the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...National Geographic
''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...
mentioned Chennai as the only South Asian city to feature in its 2015 "Top 10 food cities" list. Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet
Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books.
History Early years
Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 1972, they embarked ...
. In October 2017, Chennai was added to the UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Creative Cities Network (UCCN) list for its rich musical tradition. More than one-third of India's automobile industry is based in the city. Home to the Tamil film industry
Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood ...
, Chennai is also known as a major film production
Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...
centre. It is one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a smart city
A smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods and sensors to collect specific data. Information gained from that data is used to manage assets, resources and services efficiently; in return ...
under the Smart Cities Mission
National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Devel ...
.
Etymology
The name ''Chennai'' is ofTelugu language
Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...
origin. It was derived from the name of a Telugu ruler, Damarla Mudirasa Chennappa Nayakudu, father of Damarla Venkatapathy Nayak, a Nayak ruler who served as a general under Venkata III
Venkata III (a.k.a. Pedda Venkata Raya) was the grandson of Aliya Rama Raya. Venkata III belonged to the Telugu Family and became the King of Vijayanagara Empire from 1632–1642.
His brothers in law were Damarla Venkatappa Nayaka and Damarla ...
of the Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
from whom the British acquired the town in 1639. The first official use of the name ''Chennai'' is said to be in a sale deed, dated August 1639, to Francis Day
Francis Talbot Day (2 March 1829 – 10 July 1889) was an army surgeon and naturalist in the Madras Presidency who later became the Inspector-General of Fisheries in India and Burma. A pioneer ichthyologist, he described more than three hund ...
of the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, even before the Chennakesava Perumal Temple was built in 1646, while some scholars argue to the contrary.
The name ''Madras'' is also of native origin, and has been shown to have been in use before the British established a presence in India. A Vijayanagara-era inscription dated to the year 1367 that mentions the port of Mādarasanpattanam, along with other small ports on the east coast, was discovered in 2015 and it was theorised that the aforementioned port is the fishing port of Royapuram
Royapuram is a locality in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is best known for its beach, and for Royapuram Railway Station. The station is the first railway station of south India, opening in 1856, and is today ...
. According to some sources, ''Madras'' is derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing village north of Fort St George. However, it is uncertain whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans. British military mapmakers believed Madras was originally ''Mundir-raj'' or ''Mundiraj,'' which was the name of a Telugu community, Mudiraj, who were the native inhabitants of the city.
There are also suggestions that it may have originated from the Portuguese phrase ''Mãe de Deus'' or ''Madre de Dios'', which means "mother of God
''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...
", due to Portuguese influence on the port city, specifically referring to a Church of St. Mary.
In August 1996, the Government of Tamil Nadu
Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...
officially changed the name from ''Madras'' to ''Chennai''. At that time many Indian cities underwent a change of name. However, the name ''Madras'' continues in occasional use for the city, as well as for places named after the city such as University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
, IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...
, Madras Institute of Technology
Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was established in 1949 by Chinnaswami Rajam as the first self-f ...
, Madras Medical College
Madras Medical College (MMC) is a public medical college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established on 2 February 1835, it is the second oldest medical college in India, established after Calcutta Medical College.
History
The Governme ...
, Madras Veterinary College
The Madras Veterinary College, the college affiliated with Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, is a veterinary college in Vepery, a suburb of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The college was established on 1 October 1903 in a smal ...
, Madras Christian College
Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institu ...
.
History
Stone age implements have been found near Pallavaram
Pallavaram (originally Pallava Puram) is a residential neighborhood of Chennai, India. Pallavaram was a part of Alandur until August 2015 and since then a new taluk with headquarters at Pallavaram was created. The town is known for its canto ...
in Chennai. According to the Archaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...
(ASI), Pallavaram was a megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic cultural establishment, and pre-historic communities resided in the settlement.
The region around Chennai has served as an important administrative, military, and economic centre for many centuries. During the 1st century CE, a poet and weaver named Thiruvalluvar
Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and ...
lived in the town of Mylapore
Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...
(a neighbourhood of present Chennai). From the 1st–12th century the region of present Tamil Nadu and parts of South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
was ruled by the Cholas
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE d ...
.
The Pallavas
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahanas, Satavahana dynasty, with whom they ...
of Kanchi
Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...
built the areas of Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
and Pallavaram during the reign of Mahendravarman I
Mahendravarman I (600–630 CE) was a Pallava emperor who ruled the Southern portion of present-day Andhra region and Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was a scholar, painter, architect ...
. They also defeated several kingdoms including the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas who ruled over the area before their arrival. Sculpted caves and paintings have been identified from that period. Ancient coins dating to around 500 BCE have also been unearthed from the city and its surrounding areas. A portion of these findings belonged to the Vijayanagara Empire
The Vijayanagara Empire, also called the Karnata Kingdom, was a Hinduism, Hindu empire based in the region of South India, which consisted the modern states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa and some parts of Telangana an ...
, which ruled the region during the medieval period.
The Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
first arrived in 1522 and built a port called ''São Tomé'' after the Christian apostle, St. Thomas, who is believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 CE. In 1612, the Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
established themselves near Pulicat
Pulicat or Pazhaverkadu is a historic seashore town in Chennai Metropolitan Area at Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, India. It is about north of Chennai and from Elavur, on the southern periphery of the Pulicat Lake. Pulicat lake i ...
, north of Chennai.
On 20 August 1639 Francis Day of the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
along with the Nayak of Kalahasti
The Nayakas of Kalahasti were a line of rulers of Kalahasti and Vandavasi principalities. Members of the group include Damarla Chennapa Nayaka, after whom the city of Chennai is named. These Nayakas served as vassals of the late Vijayanagara ...
Damarla Chennappa Nayakudu
Damarla Chennapa Nayakar was a Nayakar ruler of Kalahasti and Vandavasi under the suzerainty of Vijayanagar emperor Venkatapati Raya (). He was also the ''Dalavoy'' or the Commander-in-Chief of the emperor. The line of Nayakars were chieftain ...
, travelled to the Chandragiri
Chandragiri is a suburb and neighbourhood of Tirupati and located in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a part of Tirupati urban agglomeration and a major growing residential area in Tirupati It is the mandal headqua ...
palace for an audience with the Vijayanager Emperor Peda Venkata Raya
Venkata III (a.k.a. Pedda Venkata Raya) was the grandson of Aliya Rama Raya. Venkata III belonged to the Telugu Family and became the King of Vijayanagara Empire from 1632–1642.
His brothers in law were Damarla Venkatappa Nayaka and Damarla ...
. Day was seeking to obtain a grant for land on the Coromandel coast on which the company could build a factory and warehouse for their trading activities. He was successful in obtaining the lease of a strip of land about long and inland in return for a yearly sum of five hundred lakh
A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...
pagodas
A pagoda is an Asian tiered tower with multiple eaves common to Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Myanmar, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most often Buddhist but sometimes Taoist, ...
. On 22 August, he secured the land grant from local Nayak ( Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka and his younger brother Aiyappa Nayaka Aiyappa is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Apparanda Aiyappa (1913–?), British Indian Army officer
*Len Aiyappa
Len Aiyappa (born 31 March 1979) is an Indian professional field hockey player. He remained one of India's ...
of Poonamallee
Poonamallee is suburb of Chennai, India under the Chennai Metropolitan Area. It was historically called ''Pushpagirimangalam'', later renamed in Tamil as ''Poovirundhavalli'' (), and now colloquially called as ''Poondhamalli''. It is a town in ...
). The region was then formerly a fishing village known as "Madraspatnam". A year later, the Company built Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
, the first major English settlement in India, which became the nucleus of the growing colonial city and urban Chennai, grew around this Fort. Post independence the fort housed the Tamil Nadu Assembly until the new Secretariat building was opened in 2010, but shortly afterwards it was again moved back to Fort St. George, due to a change in the Government.
In 1746, Fort St. George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
, who plundered the town and its outlying villages. The British regained control in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and strengthened the town's fortress wall to withstand further attacks from the French and Hyder Ali
Hyder Ali ( حیدر علی, ''Haidarālī''; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the att ...
, the Sultan of Mysore
Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
. They resisted a French siege attempt in 1759. In 1769 the city was threatened by Mysore and the British were defeated by Hyder Ali, after which the Treaty of Madras ended the war. By the 18th century, the British had conquered most of the region around Tamil Nadu and the northern modern–day states of Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
and Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
, establishing the Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
with Madras as the capital.
Gradually, the city grew into a major naval base and became the central administrative centre for the British in South India. The city served as the baseline for the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India started on 10 April 1802.Gill, B. (2001); "THE BIG MAN. Surveying Sir George Everest", in: ''Professional Surveyor Magazine'', Vol. 21 Nr 2. Retrieveonline
8 March 2016. With the advent of railways in India in the 19th century, the thriving urban centre was connected to other important cities such as Bombay and Calcutta, promoting increased communication and trade with the
hinterland
Hinterland is a German word meaning "the land behind" (a city, a port, or similar). Its use in English was first documented by the geographer George Chisholm in his ''Handbook of Commercial Geography'' (1888). Originally the term was associated ...
. Sir Arthur Lawley
Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, (12 November 1860 – 14 June 1932) was a British colonial administrator who served variously as Administrator of Matabeleland, Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, and Governo ...
was Governor of Madras from 1906 to 1911 and promoted modern agriculture, industry, railways, education, the arts and more democratic governance. The Governor lived in Government House, Fort St George, and had a country home at Guindy
Guindy is one of the most important neighborhoods of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and is nicknamed as ''The Gateway to Chennai''. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Roa ...
, with access to a golf course, hockey pitches, riding stables and the Guindy Horse Racing Track.Sir Arthur Lawley, Eloquent Knight Errant, Chapter 6. Catastrophe, Conspiracy, Celebration. The Benefits of Empire, Lady Lawley Cottage (Western Australian Red Cross) 2008 iBookNotes on the Administration of Sir Arthur Lawley, Governor of Madras, 1906–1911. Madras Government Press, 1912 In the First World War as Red Cross Commissioner in Mesopotamia, he looked after the welfare of Indian soldiers.A Message from Mesopotamia, Sir Arthur Lawley, Hodder and Stoughton, London. 1917. Madras was the only Indian city to be attacked by the Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
during World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, when an oil depot was shelled by the German light cruiser
A light cruiser is a type of small or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck. Prior to thi ...
on 22 September 1914, as it raided shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean, causing disruption to shipping.
After India gained its independence in 1947, the city became the capital of Madras State
Madras State was a state of India during the mid-20th century. At the time of its formation in 1950, it included the whole of present-day Tamil Nadu (except Kanyakumari district), Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema, the Malabar region of North and c ...
, which was renamed as Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
in 1969. The violent agitations of 1965 against the compulsory imposition of Hindi and in support of English in India in the state marked a major shift in the political dynamics of the city and eventually it had a big impact on the whole state. Because of Madras and its people, English was not abolished as an official language, and remains an official language of India alongside Hindi. On 17 July 1996, the city known as Madras was officially renamed Chennai, in line with what was then a nationwide trend to using less Anglicised names. On 26 December 2004, an Indian Ocean tsunami
An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Suma ...
lashed the shores of Chennai, killing 206 people in Chennai and permanently altering the coastline. The 2015 Chennai Floods submerged major portions of the city, killing 269 people and resulting in damages of .
Environment
Geography
Chennai is located on the south–eastern coast of India in the north–eastern part of Tamil Nadu on a flat coastal plain known as the Eastern Coastal Plains
The Eastern Coastal Plains is a wide stretch of landmass of India, lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal. It is wider and leveled than the Western Coastal Plains and stretches from Tamil Nadu in the south to West Bengal in the n ...
. Its average elevation is around , and its highest point is . Chennai is south of Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, southeast of Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, and southwest of Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
by road. Two major rivers flow through Chennai, the Cooum River
The Cooum river, or simply Koovam, is one of the shortest classified rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal. This river is about in length, flowing in the city of Chennai (urban part) and the rest in rural part. The river is highly pollute ...
(or ''Koovam'') through the centre and the Adyar River to the south. A third river, the Kortalaiyar, travels through the northern fringes of the city before draining into the Bay of Bengal, at Ennore. The estuary of this river is heavily polluted with effluents released by the industries in the region. Adyar and Cooum rivers are heavily polluted with effluents and waste from domestic and commercial sources, the Coumm being so heavily polluted it is regarded as the city's eyesore. A protected estuary
An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...
on the Adyar forms a natural habitat for several species of birds and animals. The Buckingham Canal
The Buckingham Canal is a -long fresh water navigation canal, that parallels the Coromandel Coast of South India from Kakinada City in the Kakinada district of Andhra Pradesh to Viluppuram District in Tamil Nadu. The canal connects most ...
, inland, runs parallel to the coast, linking the two rivers. The Otteri Nullah
The Otteri Nullah is an east–west waterway which runs through north Chennai, starting at the village of Mullam proceeding through Purasawalkam and then passing through Buckingham and Carnatic Mills before meeting the Buckingham Canal at Bas ...
, an east–west stream, runs through north Chennai and meets the Buckingham Canal at Basin Bridge
Basin Bridge Junction is a station on the Chennai Suburban Railway and serves the locality of Basin Bridge, the confluence on the Otteri Nullah and Buckingham Canal, in Chennai, India. The station is located at the southern end of the 'diamo ...
. Several lakes of varying size are located on the western fringes of the city. Some areas of the city have the problem of excess iron content in groundwater.
Chennai's soil is mostly clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
, shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...
and sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
. Clay underlies most of the city, chiefly Manali, Kolathur, Maduravoyal
Maduravoyal is a residential neighbourhood located in the west of Chennai, India. As of 2011, the town had a population of 86,195.
Maduravoyal also has a name as "ettam kal" (8th mile), so it could be famous in British Period too, it is exac ...
, K. K. Nagar, Tambaram
Tambaram is a southern suburb of Chennai, India. Located in the Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu, it is governed by Tambaram City Municipal Corporation and is a part of the Chennai Metropolitan Area.
Etymology
Tambaram is an ancient town ...
, Mudichur
Mudichur is a Residential Locality in Chennai Metropolitan Area in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest c ...
, Pallavaram
Pallavaram (originally Pallava Puram) is a residential neighborhood of Chennai, India. Pallavaram was a part of Alandur until August 2015 and since then a new taluk with headquarters at Pallavaram was created. The town is known for its canto ...
Semmencherry
Semmencherry is a neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated in Chennai district, located south of the city about 30 km from the city centre, along the Old Mahabalipuram Road a.k.a. Rajiv Gandhi Salai. Semmencherry is loca ...
, Alapakkam
Alapakkam () is a neighbourhood in western part of Central Chennai. It belongs to Central Chennai Revenue Division of Chennai district. It is surrounded by Porur, Valasaravakkam and Maduravoyal. It is part of Chennai corporation under zone 11. ...
, Vyasarpadi
Vyasarpadi is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. It is located within Chennai district. The neighbourhood is served by station, one of the oldest stations in South India. The first train to Arcot started from this station. The old ruins still ...
and Anna Nagar
Anna Nagar (formerly known as Naduvakkarai), is a neighbourhood in the metropolitan city of Chennai, India. Named after former chief minister of Tamil Nadu C. N. Annadurai, it is located in the north-western part of Chennai and forms a part of ...
. Sandy areas are found along the river banks and coasts, and include areas such as Tiruvottiyur
Tiruvottriyur (Thiruvottiyur or TVT) is a neighbourhood in North Chennai, administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is part of the Tondiarpet division, located to the north of Chennai. It is one of the fifteen administrative zones in ...
, George Town, Madhavaram Madhavaram may refer to:
Places in South India Andhra Pradesh
* Madhavaram, Kukkunoor, a village in Kukkunoor Taluk, Eluru district
* Madhavaram, Tadepalligudem, a village in Tadepalligudem mandal
Tadepalligudem mandal is one of the 19 mand ...
, New Washermanpet, Chepauk
Chepauk is a locality in Chennai, India. The name Chepauk is popularly used to refer to the M. A. Chidambaram International Cricket Stadium, also known as the Chepauk Stadium. It is also home to the Chepauk Palace, built in the Indo-Saracenic ...
, Mylapore
Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...
, Porur
Porur () is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. It is situated in the Maduravoyal taluk of Chennai district in the southern part of the city. Since 2011, it has been a part of the Chennai Corporation and included in zone number 11.
The earliest ...
, Adyar, Besant Nagar and Uthandi. In these areas, rainwater runoff
Runoff, run-off or RUNOFF may refer to:
* RUNOFF, the first computer text-formatting program
* Runoff or run-off, another name for bleed, printing that lies beyond the edges to which a printed sheet is trimmed
* Runoff or run-off, a stock market ...
percolates quickly through the soil. Areas having hard rock surface include Guindy, Nanganallur
Nanganallur or Nangainallur is one of the southern neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. Since September 2011, it has become a part of Chennai Corporation. It is a residential area close to the Chennai International Airport. In Tamil language, Tami ...
, Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai is a neighborhood and a residential area in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in proximity to the IT industry in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai's central business districts and the automobile hub in GST road has attracted m ...
, Alandur
Alandur is a zone of Chennai corporation, and an urban node in Chennai district in Guindy division in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is Surrounded by Guindy in the North and East, Adambakkam in the South, Pazhavanthangal in the South-Wes ...
, Jaladampet, Velachery
Velachery (''pronounced as'' veh·luh·cheh·ree) is a commercial and residential area in south Chennai, and is the largest commercial centre in south Chennai. It is surrounded by Guindy in the north, IIT Madras in the north-east, Taramani in ...
, Adambakkam
Adambakkam is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. It is primarily a residential locality situated in South Chennai . Adambakkam area comes under Velachery taluk and Alandur taluk, Chennai District of Chennai Corporation. Adambakkam is surrounded ...
and a part of Saidapet
Saidapet, also known as Saidai, is a neighbourhood in Chennai, India, situated in the northern banks of the Adyar River and serves as an entry point to Central Chennai. It is surrounded by West Mambalam in the North, C.I.T Nagar in the North- ...
and Perungudi
Perungudi is a neighbourhood of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated about south of Adyar. It is bordered on two sides by the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Perungudi lake. It is situated on the Old Mahabalipuram IT Expre ...
. The ground water table in Chennai is at 4–5 m below ground in most of the areas, which was considerably improved and maintained through the mandatory rain water harvesting system. Of the 24.87 km coastline of the city, 3.08 km experiences erosion, with sand accretion along the shoreline can be noticed at the Marina beach and the area between the Ennore Port
Kamarajar Port Limited, formerly Ennore Port, is located on the Coromandel Coast, Chennai about 18 km north of Chennai Port. It is the 12th major port of India, and the first port in India which is a public company. The Kamarajar Port Limi ...
and Kosasthalaiyar river
Kosasthalaiyar River, also known as Kortalaiyar, is one of the three rivers that flow in the Chennai metropolitan area.
The river and its course
Kosasthalaiyar is long and originates near Pallipattu in Thiruvallur district and drains into th ...
.
Geology
Chennai is classified as being in Seismic Zone III, indicating a moderate risk of damage fromearthquakes
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
. Owing to the geotectonic zone the city falls in, the city is considered a potential geothermal energy
Geothermal energy is the thermal energy in the Earth's crust which originates from the formation of the planet and from radioactive decay of materials in currently uncertain but possibly roughly equal proportions. The high temperature and pres ...
site. The crust has granite rocks indicating volcanic activities in the past. It is expected that temperatures of around 200 to 300 C° will be available if the ground were drilled 4 to 5 km deep. The region has the oldest rocks in the country dating back to nearly a billion years.
Flora and fauna
The southern stretch of Chennai's coast from Tiruvanmiyur to Neelangarai are favoured by the endangeredolive ridley sea turtle
The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in th ...
s to lay eggs every winter. A large number of cattle egret
Egrets ( ) are herons, generally long-legged wading birds, that have white or buff plumage, developing fine plumes (usually milky white) during the breeding season. Egrets are not a biologically distinct group from herons and have the same build ...
s, pond heron
The herons are long-legged, long-necked, freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae, with 72 recognised species, some of which are referred to as egrets or bitterns rather than herons. Members of the genera ''Botaurus'' and ''Ixobrychus ...
s and other waterbirds can be seen in the rivers of Cooum and Adyar. About 75,000 birds migrate to Chennai every year. Marshy wetlands such as Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai is a neighborhood and a residential area in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in proximity to the IT industry in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai's central business districts and the automobile hub in GST road has attracted m ...
also play host to a number of migratory birds during the monsoon and winter. Over 300 species of birds have been recorded in the city and its neighbourhood by members of Madras Naturalists' Society
Madras Naturalists' Society is a non-governmental organization that promotes appreciation, education and conservation of Nature. It was founded by bird watchers from the city of Madras (now Chennai), India) on 17 May 1978. G. K. Bhat was the orga ...
since its inception in 1978.
Guindy National Park
Guindy National Park is a protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai, India, is the 8th-smallest National Park of India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding R ...
is a protected area within the city limits. Wildlife conservation and research activities take place at
Arignar Anna Zoological Park
Arignar Anna Zoological Park (abbreviated AAZP), also known as the Vandalur Zoo, is a zoological garden located in Vandalur, is in the southwestern part of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, about from the Chennai Central and from Chennai Airport. Establish ...
including olive ridley sea turtle
The olive ridley sea turtle (''Lepidochelys olivacea''), also known commonly as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a species of turtle in the family Cheloniidae. The species is the second-smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in th ...
conservation. Madras Crocodile Bank Trust is a herpetology
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and rept ...
research station, located south of Chennai. The city's tree cover is estimated to be around 64.06 sq km. The most dominant tree species is the copper pod
''Peltophorum pterocarpum'' (commonly known as copperpod, yellow-flamboyant, yellow flametree, yellow poinciana or yellow-flame) is a species of '' Peltophorum'', native to tropical southeastern Asia and a popular ornamental tree grown around the ...
, followed by Indian beech
''Millettia pinnata'' is a species of tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, native to eastern and tropical Asia, Australia, and Pacific islands. It is often known by the synonym ''Pongamia pinnata''. Its common names include Indian beech and Pongam ...
and Neem
''Azadirachta indica'', commonly known as neem, nimtree or Indian lilac, is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus ''Azadirachta'', and is native to the Indian subcontinent and most of the countries in Afr ...
. A total of 121 species of trees belonging to 94 genera and 42 families are found in the city. Nearly half of the native plant species in the city's wetlands have disappeared in recent years. The city, which had 85 percent of its area covered with aquatic plants until the 1970s, now has only 25 percent of its area covered with such plants.
Environment conservation
Chennai has three rivers and many lakes spread across the city. Urbanization has led to the shrinkage of water bodies and wetlands. The quantity of wetlands in the city has decreased from 650 to only 27 currently. The Chennai River Restoration trust set up by the government is working on the restoration of Adyar river. Environmentalist Foundation of India The Environmentalist Foundation of India (E.F.I) is an environmental conservation group based out of Chennai, Hyderabad, Puducherry, Bangalore, Trivandrum, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Coimbatore which focuses on wildlife conservation and habitat res ...
is a volunteering group working towards wildlife conservation and habitat restoration.
The encroachment of urban development on wetlands has gravely hampered the city's sustainability, and contributed both to the city's floods in 2015 and water scarcity crisis in 2019.
Climate
Chennai has a dry-summertropical wet and dry climate
Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...
under the (Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
). The city lies on the thermal equator
The thermal equator (also known as "the heat equator") is a belt encircling Earth, defined by the set of locations having the highest mean annual temperature at each longitude around the globe. Because local temperatures are sensitive to the geogr ...
and is also on the coast, which prevents extreme variation in seasonal temperature. The hottest part of the year is late May to early June, known regionally as ''Agni Nakshatram'' ("fire star") or as ''Kathiri Veyyil'', with maximum temperatures around . The coolest part of the year is January, with minimum temperatures around . The lowest recorded temperature was on 11 December 1895 and 29 January 1905. The highest recorded temperature was on 31 May 2003. The average annual rainfall is about .
The city gets most of its seasonal rainfall from the north–east monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
winds, from mid–October to mid–December. Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone () is a large air mass that rotates around a strong center of low atmospheric pressure, counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere as viewed from above (opposite to an anti ...
s in the Bay of Bengal sometimes hit the city. The highest annual rainfall recorded is in 2005. Prevailing winds in Chennai are usually southwesterly between April and October and north-easterly during the rest of the year. Historically, Chennai has relied on the annual rains of the monsoon season to replenish water reservoirs, as no major rivers flow through the area. Chennai has a water table at 2 metres for 60 percent of the year.
NE monsoon
The city of Chennai is located on the east coast of India, which is also known as theCoromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an ...
.
Chennai is largely dependent on NE monsoon, since 65% of rains are received in this season. Cyclones and depressions are common features during the season. Cyclones, in particular, are especially unpredictable. They may even move towards Orissa
Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sch ...
, west Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and also Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. The season between October and December is referred as the NE monsoon period. Floods are common during this period. In 2015 Chennai received record-breaking rains since 1918, which caused massive floods.
Land usage
As of 2018, the city had a green cover of 14.9 percent, against theWorld Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
recommendation of 9 square metres of green cover per capita in cities. The city had a built-up area of 71 percent. Waterbodies cover an estimated 6 percent of the total area, and at least 8 percent of the area has classified as open space. As of 2017, the total volume of water harvested was 339 mcft and groundwater recharge was 170 mcft.
Administration
Chennai city is governed by the Greater Chennai Corporation
The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 September ...
(formerly "Corporation of Madras"), which was established in 1688. It is the oldest surviving municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally owne ...
in India and the second oldest surviving corporation in the world. In 2011, the jurisdiction of the Chennai Corporation was expanded from to an area of , dividing into three regions—North, South and Central, which covers 200 wards. The corporation is headed by a mayor, an office presently occupied by Priya Rajan
Priya Rajan (born 20 November 1993) of DMK party, is the forty-ninth and incumbent mayor of Chennai city, Tamil Nadu. She succeeded Saidai Duraisamy of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam to become the third woman mayor of the city after ...
. The Mayor and councillors
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
of the city are elected through a popular vote by the residents. While the city limit was expanded in 2011, the revised population is yet to be officially announced.
The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority
The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), formerly known as the Madras Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA), is the nodal planning agency of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The CMDA administers the Chennai Metropol ...
(CMDA) is the nodal agency responsible for planning and development of Chennai Metropolitan Area
The Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area, or simply the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the core city of Chennai, wh ...
, which is spread over an area of , covering the Chennai district
Chennai district, formerly known as Madras district, is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the smallest and the most densely populated district in the state. The district is coterminous with the city of Chennai, w ...
and parts of Tiruvallur
Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai (Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...
, Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...
and Chengalpattu
Chengalpattu, previously known as Chingleput, is a city and the headquarters of Chengalpattu district of the state Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located near to the industrial and IT hub. It is the headquarters of the district and is away fro ...
districts. The larger suburbs are governed by town municipalities and the smaller ones are governed by town councils called panchayats
The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...
. Under the gamut of the CMDA are 5 parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
and 28 assembly constituencies. The CMDA has drafted an additional Master Plan that aims to develop satellite townships around the city. The city's contiguous satellite towns include Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
in the south, Chengalpattu
Chengalpattu, previously known as Chingleput, is a city and the headquarters of Chengalpattu district of the state Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located near to the industrial and IT hub. It is the headquarters of the district and is away fro ...
and Maraimalai Nagar
Maraimalai Nagar is a satellite town of Chennai, Chengalpattu district, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a municipality town in Chengalpattu district. It lies in the southern part of the Chennai metropolitan area around 50 km from downtown Chennai ...
in the southwest, and Sriperumpudur, Arakkonam
Arakkonam () is a railway town and suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, with a population of 78,395 per the census 2011. It is in the newly created Ranipet district, about from Ranipet head ...
, Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...
and Tiruvallur
Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai (Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...
to the west.
Chennai, as the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, houses the state executive and legislative
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government.
Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known as p ...
headquarters primarily in the Secretariat Buildings in the Fort St George campus. The Madras High Court
The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...
, is the highest judicial
The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudication, adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and app ...
authority in the state, whose jurisdiction extends across Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
and Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry t ...
. Chennai has three parliamentary
A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democracy, democratic government, governance of a sovereign state, state (or subordinate entity) where the Executive (government), executive derives its democratic legitimacy ...
constituencies—Chennai North
Chennai North is one of the three Lok Sabha constituencies in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Its Tamil Nadu Parliamentary Constituency number is 2 of 39. Formerly it was known as ''Madras North''.
Assembly segments After 2009
After delimitation, Chennai ...
, Chennai Central
Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...
and Chennai South
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
—and elects 24 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs
The Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) was a proposed alternative to the Maxime Faget-invented "tractor" launch escape system (LES) that was planned for use by NASA for its Orion (spacecraft), Orion spacecraft in the event an Ares I malfunction du ...
) to the state legislature.
Law and order
The Greater Chennai Police
The Greater Chennai Police, a division of the Tamil Nadu Police, is the law enforcement agency for the city of Chennai in India and the surrounding area. The city police force is headed by a Commissioner of Police and the administrative contr ...
is the main law enforcement agency in the city, with a jurisdiction of over catering to over 8.5 million people. It consists of 121 police station
A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, al ...
s and is headed by a commissioner of police. The Greater Chennai Police is a division of the Tamil Nadu Police
Tamil Nadu Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is over 150 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India.
, and the administrative control lies with the Tamil Nadu Home Ministry. Chennai City Traffic Police
The Greater Chennai Police, a division of the Tamil Nadu Police, is the law enforcement agency for the city of Chennai in India and the surrounding area. The city police force is headed by a Commissioner of Police (Chennai), Commissioner of Po ...
(CCTP) is responsible for the traffic management in the city. The metropolitan suburbs are policed by the Chennai Metropolitan Police
The Greater Chennai Police, a division of the Tamil Nadu Police, is the law enforcement agency for the city of Chennai in India and the surrounding area. The city police force is headed by a Commissioner of Police and the administrative contr ...
, headed by the Chennai Police Commissionerate
The Chennai City Police Commissionerate building is a 9-storied building on Poonamallee High Road at Vepery, Chennai. It houses the office of the commissioner of Chennai city police.
History
The commissionerate was originally headquartered in ...
, and the outer district areas of the CMDA are policed by the Kanchipuram
Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...
and Thiruvallur
Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai ( Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...
police departments.
(prior to the expansion of Chennai Corporation area), Chennai city has a sanctioned strength of 14,000 police personnel. With a population density of 26,903 persons per square kilometre, the city had 1 policeman for every 413 people. The Chennai suburban police had about 4,093 police personnel and a ratio of 1:1,222. In 2010, the crime rate in the city was 169.2 per 100,000 people, as against an average of 341.9 in the 35 major cities of India. In 2011, North Chennai zone had 30 police stations and 3 police out posts, Central Chennai zone had 28 police stations and 3 police out posts, and South Chennai zone had 30 police stations.
In 2009, Madras Central Prison, one of the oldest prisons in India, built over of land, was demolished; the prisoners were moved to Puzhal Central Prison
Pulhal Central Prison is a central prison complex located in Chennai (Chennai District), India. It is about 23 km from the city centre. The prison became operational from 2006 replacing the erstwhile Chennai Central Prison.
Construction
The ...
.
Politics
Since the 19th century, when Western scholars proposed thatDravidian languages
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant ...
, which dominated the southern region of India, formed a different linguistic group to that of the Indo-Aryan languages
The Indo-Aryan languages (or sometimes Indic languages) are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. As of the early 21st century, they have more than 800 million speakers, primarily ...
that are predominant in the north of the subcontinent, the aspects of Tamil nationalism gained prominence. This resulted in the Anti-Hindi agitations
The anti-Hindi-imposition agitations in Tamil Nadu were a series of agitations that happened in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (formerly Madras State and part of Madras Presidency) during both pre- and post-independence periods. The agitations ...
in the city and across the state. However, the post-Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
re-organisation of Indian states according to linguistic and ethnic basis has moderated Tamil nationalism, especially the demand for separation from the Indian Union. The Anti-Hindi agitations in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and more powerful political force in the state. The agitations of the 1960s played a crucial role in the defeat of the Tamil Nadu Congress party in the 1967 elections and the continuing dominance of Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu politics.
Being the capital of the Madras Province
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
that covered a vast area of the Deccan
The large Deccan Plateau in South India, southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bou ...
region, Chennai remained the centre of politics in the southern region of India during the British colonial era. After Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, it remained the centre of political activities of the state of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...
. Chennai is the birthplace of the idea of the Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...
, commonly known as the Congress Party. Founded by Indian and British members of the Theosophical Society
The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...
movement, most notably A.O. Hume,Theosophy and the Origins of the Indian National CongressBevir, Mark, University of California, Berkeley, Publication Date: 1 January 2003 s. 14–18. Original Citation: Mark Bevir, "Theosophy and the Origins of the Indian National Congress",
International Journal of Hindu Studies
The ''International Journal of Hindu Studies'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The editor-in-chief is Sushil Mittal (James Madison University). The journal was established in 1997 and appears trian ...
7 (2003), 99–115. E.g., "Theosophical Society provided the framework for action within which some of its Indian and British members worked to form the Indian National Congress.", "1884 annual convention of the Theosophical Society. At this convention, Rao argued that the Society should start formally to discuss the political situation in India as well as more strictly religious matters. Although Rao did not get his way, he did arrange a meeting of sympathetic theosophists to be held at his home. Those who attended this meeting with Rao included Aiyar, Ananda Charlu, and M. Viraraghavachariar. They formed the Madras Mahajana Sabha," "meeting to coincide with the next annual convention of the Theosophical Society. This meeting would promote their idea of an all-India body." "Hume was probably the single most important individual for the formation of the Indian National Congress." the idea was originally conceived in a private meeting of 17 men after a Theosophical Convention held in the city in December 1884.Sitaramayya, B. Pattabhi. 1935. The History of the Indian National Congress. Working Committee of the CongressScanned version
/ref> During the first 50 years of the Indian National Congress, the city played host to its conferences seven times in 1887, 1894, 1898, 1903, 1908, 1914 and 1927, becoming one of the strong bases for the
Indian independence movement
The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947.
The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...
. After independence, the city hosted the Congress in 1955 in its suburb of Avadi
Avadi () is a suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, located in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is a municipal corporation west of Chennai, about from Chennai Central Railway Station. It is surrounded by majo ...
.
Chennai is also the birthplace of several regional political movements since the British era. South Indian Welfare Association, one of the earliest regional parties, was founded in 1916, which later came to be known as the Justice Party, which was the main opposition party to the Indian National Congress in the state. In 1944, the party was renamed Dravidar Kazhagam
Dravidar Kazhagam is a social movement founded by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, also called Thanthai Periyar. Its original goals were to eradicate the ills of the existing caste system including untouchability and on a grander scale to obtain a " ...
(DK) by E. V. Ramasami
Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'F ...
(popularly known as 'Periyar'). The party was a non-political party that demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu
:''Dravida Nadu was also the name of a Tamil language publication started by C. N. Annadurai.''
Dravida Nadu is the name of a proposed sovereign state demanded by the Justice Party led by the founder of the self-respect movement, E.V. Ramasamy ...
. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and C. N. Annadurai
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...
, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...
(DMK). The DMK decided to enter into politics in 1956.
Utility services
The city's water supply and sewage treatment are managed by theChennai MetroWater Supply and Sewage Board
Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, known shortly as CMWSSB, is a statutory board of Government of Tamil Nadu which provides water supply and sewage treatment to the city of Chennai and areas around it.
Chennai is one of the ...
. Water is drawn from Red Hills Lake
Pulhal aeri, or Pulhal lake, sometimes spelled Puzhal lake, also known as the Red Hills Lake, is located in Red Hills, Chennai, India. It lies in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu state. It is one of the two rain-fed reservoirs from where wa ...
and Chembarambakkam Lake
Chembarambakkam lake is a lake located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, about 25 km from Chennai. It is one of the two rain-fed reservoirs from where water is drawn for supply to Chennai City, the other one being the Puzhal Lake. The Adyar ...
, the primary water reservoirs of the city, and treated at water treatment plants located at Kilpauk, Puzhal, Chembarambakkam and supplied to the city through 27 water distribution stations. The city receives 530 million liters per day (mld) of water from Krishna River through Telugu Ganga project
The Telugu Ganga project is a joint water supply scheme implemented in 1980s by the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister N.T.Ramarao and Tamilnadu Chief minister M. G. Ramachandran to provide drinking water to Chennai city in Tamil Nadu. It is als ...
, 180 mld of water from the Veeranam lake project and 100 mld of water from the Minjur desalination plant, the country's largest sea water desalination
Desalination is a process that takes away mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination refers to the removal of salts and minerals from a target substance, as in Soil salinity control, soil desalination, which is an issue f ...
plant. However, Chennai is predicted to face a huge deficit of 713 mld in 2026 as the demand is projected at 2,248 mld and supply estimated at only 1,535 mld. The city's sewer system was designed in 1910, with some modifications in 1958. There are 714 public toilets in the city managed by the city corporation, and 2,000 more have been planned by the corporation. The corporation also owns 52 community halls across the city.
The Corporation of Chennai provides civic services to the city. Garbage collection in some of the wards is contracted to Ramky Enviro Engineers Limited, a private company, while the Corporation looks after the removal and processing of solid waste in the others, with a superintendent engineer managing the channels. , eight transfer stations exist within the city for treating the waste. Garbage is dumped in two dump-yards in the city—One in Kodungaiyur
Kodungaiyur is a residential neighbourhood in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It comes under Perambur Taluk of the Chennai District.
Location and surroundings
Kodungaiyur covers a vast area bordering Manali to th ...
and another in Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai is a neighborhood and a residential area in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in proximity to the IT industry in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai's central business districts and the automobile hub in GST road has attracted m ...
, with a major portion of the latter covering the Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai is a neighborhood and a residential area in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in proximity to the IT industry in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai's central business districts and the automobile hub in GST road has attracted m ...
marshland. In market areas, the conservancy work is done during the night. Electricity is distributed by the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board
Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (abbreviated as TNEB) is a power generation and distribution company owned by Government of Tamil Nadu, India. It was created as a regulated monopoly under section 131 of the Electricity Act (2003) as a successor o ...
. Fire services are handled by the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services
The Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services department is a service department of the Government of Tamil Nadu whose function is to fight fires and provide relief measures in times of calamities and disasters in Tamil Nadu.
Having 331 fire and ...
. The city, along with the suburbs, has 33 operating fire stations.
The Chennai City region has 568 post offices, of which nearly 460 operate from rented premises.
Architecture
With the history of many neighbourhoods of the city such as Mylapore
Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...
, Triplicane
Triplicane, known in the vernacular as Thiruvallikeni, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods of Chennai, India. It is situated on the Bay of Bengal coast and about from Fort St George. The average elevation of the neighbourhood is 14 metres ...
, and Tiruvanmiyur
Thiruvanmiyur is a largely residential neighborhood in the south of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Thiruvanmiyur witnessed a spike in its economy with the construction of Chennai's first dedicated technology office space, the Tidel Information Te ...
antedating that of the city itself, the architecture of Chennai ranges in a wide chronology. The oldest buildings in the city date from the 7th and 8th centuries CE, which include the Kapaleeshwarar Temple
Kapaleeshwarar Temple :ta:மயிலாப்பூர் கபாலீசுவரர் கோயில் is a Hindu temple dedicated to lord Shiva located in Mylapore, Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The form of Shiva's consor ...
in Mylapore and the Parthasarathy Temple
The Parthasarathy Temple is a 6th-century Hindu Vaishnavite temple dedicated to Vishnu in Chennai, India. Located in the neighbourhood of Thiruvallikeni, the temple is glorified in the ''Naalayira Divya Prabandham'', the early medieval Tamil ...
in Triplicane, built in the Dravidian architecture
Dravidian architecture, or the South Indian temple style, is an architectural idiom in Hindu temple architecture that emerged from South India, reaching its final form by the sixteenth century. It is seen in Hindu temples, and the most distinc ...
. This architecture includes various styles, such as those of the Pallavas
The Pallava dynasty existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a significant portion of South India, the Deccan, also known as Tondaimandalam. The dynasty rose to prominence after the downfall of the Satavahanas, Satavahana dynasty, with whom they ...
, the Chola
The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...
s, and the Vijayanagara
Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bellary ...
empires. The associated ''Agraharam'' architecture, which consists of traditional row houses surrounding a temple, can still be seen in these areas. The heritage temples at Mamallapuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
at the outskirts of the city are some of the examples of the Pallava architecture. Chennai ranks second to Kolkata in having the largest collection of Indian heritage buildings in the country.
With the advent of the Mugals and the British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
, the city saw a rise in a blend of Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
and Gothic revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
styles, resulting in the distinct Indo-Saracenic
Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...
architecture. The architecture for several early institutions such as banking and commerce, railways, press and education, chiefly through the colonial rule, followed the earlier directions of the Neo-Classical and the Indo-Saracenic. The Chepauk Palace
Chepauk Palace was the official residence of the Nawab of Arcot from 1768 to 1855. It is situated in the neighbourhood of Chepauk in Chennai, India and is constructed in the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture.
History
By the end of the Carn ...
in the city, designed by Paul Benfield
Paul Benfield (1742–1810) was an English East India Company employee and trader, financier and politician. He is now known as a target for the rhetoric of Edmund Burke, and for his spectacular bankruptcy.
Life
Benfield went out to India as a ...
, is said to be the first Indo-Saracenic building in India. Since then, many of the colonial-era buildings in the city were designed in this style of architecture, which is most apparent around the Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
built in 1640. Most of these were designed by English architects Robert Fellowes Chisholm
Robert Fellowes Chisholm (11 January 1840 – 28 May 1915) was a British architect who pioneered the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture in Madras.
Early life
Chisholm was born in London on 11 January 1840 (or on 3 November 1838, according ...
and Henry Irwin
Henry Irwin (24 January 1841 – 5 August 1922) was an architect of British India. He is mainly known for his works in Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. He was a member of the Institution of Engineers. He was awarded a CIE in the 1888 B ...
. The best examples of this style include the Madras High Court
The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...
(built in 1892), Southern Railway headquarters, Ripon Building
The Ripon Building is the seat and headquarters of the Greater Chennai Corporation in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It is an example of neoclassical architecture, a combination of Ionic and Corinthian styles. The Ripon Building is an all-white structur ...
, Government Museum, Senate House of the University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
, Amir Mahal, Bharat Insurance Building
Bharat Insurance building is a heritage building in Chennai, India. Located on the arterial Anna Salai, it was built in 1897. Originally known as Kardyl Building, the building is an example of the Indo-Saracenic architecture, a hybrid of Muslim d ...
, Victoria Public Hall
Victoria Public Hall, or the Town Hall, is a historical building in Chennai, named after Victoria, Empress of India. It is one of the finest examples of British architecture in Chennai and was built to commemorate the golden jubilee of Que ...
and the College of Engineering
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
. The Triumph of Labour
The Triumph of Labour, also known as the Labour statue, is a statue at the Marina Beach, Chennai, India. Erected at the northern end of the beach at the Anna Square opposite University of Madras, it is an important landmark of Chennai. The st ...
, also known as the Labour statue, at the Marina Beach is an important landmark of Chennai.
The construction of the National Art Gallery in Madras was completed in 1909. The new building, with a distinct façade, was built of pink sandstone brought from Sathyavedu, and formed part of the Madras Museum campus. It was opened, on 23 January 1909, by the Governor of Fort St. George, Sir Arthur Lawley
Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, (12 November 1860 – 14 June 1932) was a British colonial administrator who served variously as Administrator of Matabeleland, Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, and Governo ...
, and called the Victoria Memorial Hall after the Queen-Empress Victoria."New for Old". Frontline. Volume 20 – Issue 14, 5 to 18 July 2003. India's National Magazine from publishers of the Hindu.Sir Arthur Lawley, Eloquent Knight Errant, Chapter 6. Catastrophe, Conspiracy, Celebration. The Benefits of Empire. Lady Lawley Cottage (Western Australian Red Cross) 2008 iBooksSir Arthur Lawley's Photo Album, Empire and Commonwealth Museum The residential architecture in the city was based on the bungalow or the continuous row house prototypes. Gothic revival style buildings include the Chennai Central
Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...
and Chennai Egmore
Chennai Egmore, formerly known as Madras Egmore, also known as Chennai Elumbur (station code: MS), is a railway station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore, it is one of the four intercity railway terminals in t ...
railway stations. The Santhome Church
San Thome Church, officially known as St Thomas Cathedral Basilica and National Shrine of Saint Thomas, is a minor basilica of the Catholic Church in India, at the Santhome neighbourhood of Madras (Chennai), in Tamil Nadu. The present structure ...
, which was originally built by the Portuguese in 1523 and is believed to house the remains of the apostle
An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...
St. Thomas, was rebuilt in 1893 in neo-Gothic
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
style.
By the early 20th century, the art deco
Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...
too made its entry upon the city's urban landscape. From the 1930s onwards, many buildings in George Town were built in this style, including the United India building (presently housing the Life Insurance Corporation of India
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) is an Indian Public Sector Undertakings in India, central public sector undertaking headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Finance (India), Ministry of Fi ...
(LIC)) and the Burma Shell building (presently the Chennai House), both built in the 1930s, and the Dare House, built in 1940. Other examples include the Bombay Mutual building (presently housing LIC) and the South Indian Chamber of Commerce building. After Independence
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
, the city witnessed a rise in the Modernism
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
style of architecture. The completion of the LIC Building
LIC Building is a 15-storied building in Chennai, India, serving as the southern headquarters of the Life Insurance Corporation of India. It is the first skyscraper built in Chennai and an important landmark in the city. Located on the arteria ...
in 1959, the tallest building in the country at that time, marked the transition from lime-and-brick construction to concrete columns in the region. The presence of the weather radar
Weather radar, also called weather surveillance radar (WSR) and Doppler weather radar, is a type of radar used to locate precipitation, calculate its motion, and estimate its type (rain, snow, hail etc.). Modern weather radars are mostly puls ...
at the Chennai Port
Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the 13 major ports of India with offici ...
, however, prohibited the construction of buildings taller than 60 m around a radius of 10 km for several decades that followed. In addition, the floor-area ratio (FAR) in the central business district is also 1.5, much less than that of smaller cities of the country. This resulted in the city expanding horizontally, unlike other metropolitan cities where vertical growth was prominent. On the contrary, the peripheral regions, especially on the southern and south-western sides, began experiencing vertical growth with the construction of buildings up to 60 floors. Within the downtown area, the 48-storied Highliving District Tower H
GOP headquarters indian (not native american) division is a trump complex consisting of three radio skyscrapers in the neighbourhood of Perambur in Chennai, India. The tallest of them is a 45-storied building, which is the tallest residential b ...
remains the tallest building at 161 metres.
Demographics
Population
A resident of Chennai is called a ''Chennaite''. According to 2011 census, the city had a population of 4,646,732, within an area of 174 square kilometres administered by the Municipal Corporation, working out a population density of 26,705 persons per square kilometre; that had 11 lakh households, with 51% of them living in rented houses. The city's limits were expanded later in 2011 to 426 square kilometres and its population reached 7,088,000, resulting in a population density of 16,639 persons per square kilometre, with Chennai Municipal Corporation being renamed asGreater Chennai Corporation
The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 September ...
.
As of 2019, 712,000 families live below poverty line, which is about 40 percent of the 1.788 million families in the city.
Languages
Tamils
The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar ( ta, தமிழர், Tamiḻar, translit-std=ISO, in the singular or ta, தமிழர்கள், Tamiḻarkaḷ, translit-std=ISO, label=none, in the plural), or simply Tamils (), are a Drav ...
form the majority of Chennai's population. English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
is spoken largely by white-collar worker
A white-collar worker is a person who performs professional, desk, managerial, or administrative work. White-collar work may be performed in an office or other administrative setting. White-collar workers include job paths related to government, ...
s, often mixed into Tamil. In 2001, out of the 2,937,000 migrants (33.8% of its population) in the city, 61.5% were from other parts of the state, 33.8% were from rest of India and 3.7% were from outside the country. As per the 2001 census, the number of speakers mother tongue wise are as follows, Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
is spoken by 3,424,107 (78.8%), followed by Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
by 419,209 (9.7%), Urdu
Urdu (;"Urdu"
''
Chennai is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The city also has one of the oldest museums and art galleries in the countryGovernment Museum, Chennai and The National Art Gallery (Chennai), established in the early 18th century.
The city also hosts two art festivals annually. The "Fort Museum" inside the premises of Fort St. George is an important museum having a noteworthy collection of objects of the British era in its collection. The museum is managed by the
Chennai is a major centre for music, art and culture in India. The city is known for its classical dance shows. In 1930, for the first time in India, Madras University introduced a course of music, as part of the Bachelor of Arts curriculum. The ''Madras Music Season'', initiated by Madras Music Academy in 1927, is celebrated every year during the month of December. It features performances of traditional Carnatic music by many artists in and around the city. The main folk music in Chennai is Gaana, a combination of various folk musics sung mainly sung in the working-class area of North Chennai.
An arts festival called the Chennai Sangamam, which showcases not only various art of Tamil Nadu, but also from the neighbouring states, like ''kalari'' (from Kerala), which is a major attraction, is held in January every year. The Speciality of Chennai Sangamam is that the various programmes are held near or at the various famous landmarks in the city so that everyone in the city has access to the programmes and there is no fee charged for entry for any of the programmes. ''Pookolam'', a form of art that uses coloured flour to create patterns and designs, comes from Kerala, but can be seen in abundance at the time of Onam.
The city has a diverse theatre scene and is one of the important centres for Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form that originated in Tamil Nadu and is the oldest dance of India. An important cultural centre for Bharata Natyam is Kalakshetra, on the beach in the south of the city. In 2012, a group of five Bharatha Natyam dancers from Chennai performed at the ''India Campaign'' during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Chennai has been featured in UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) list since October 2017 for its century-old musical tradition. Chennai is also home to some choirs, who during the Christmas season stage various carol performances across the city in Tamil and English.
Recent estimates of the economy of the entire 
Chennai has a diversified economic base anchored by the automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing, health care and financial services industries. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry, Chennai is estimated to grow to a US$100 billion economy, 2.5 times its present size, by 2025. , with 1 lakh crore investment in the pipeline over 5 years, the city is poised for major industrial investment. Chennai is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Beta based on the extent of global reach and financial influence. It is estimated that about 400 financial industry businesses are headquartered in the city, half of which are located in the areas of Mylapore, R. A. Puram, Nungambakkam and T. Nagar.
The city is base to around 40 percent of India's automobile industry and 45 percent of auto components industry. A large number of automotive companies including Royal Enfield (India), Royal enfield, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai, Renault, Robert Bosch GmbH, Robert Bosch, Nissan Motors, Ashok Leyland, Yamaha Motor Company, Yamaha Motor, Daimler AG, Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Limited, BharatBenz, Ford Motor Company, Ford, BMW, Citroën and Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi have manufacturing plants in Chennai. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at 
Prominent financial institutions, including the World Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, HSBC, ING Group, Allianz, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Asian Development Bank, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas Fortis, Irevna, Deutsche Bank and Citibank have back office and development centre operations in the city. Chennai is home to the national level commercial banks Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank and many state level co–operative banks, finance and insurance companies. Telecom and Electronics manufacturers based in and around Chennai include Samsung, Nokia Siemens, Motorola, Lenovo, Dell, Force10, Wipro, Flextronics and Siemens among others. Chennai is currently the largest electronics hardware exporter in India, accounting for 45% of the total exports in 2010–11. Telecom giants Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and chemicals giant Dow Chemical Company, Dow Chemicals have research and development facilities in Chennai. The TICEL bio–tech park at Taramani and Golden Jubilee bio–tech park at Siruseri houses biotechnology companies and laboratories. The World Trade Center Chennai, World Trade Center complex is located at 
A study conducted by the National Housing Bank on the residential price index of Indian cities showed that Chennai experienced the highest growth after the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Medical tourism is an important part of Chennai's economy with 45 percent of total medical tourists to India making to Chennai. The Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry and the Tamil television industry are also significant parts of Chennai's economy. The city also has a permanent exhibition complex in Nandambakkam called the Chennai Trade Centre. It hosted the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet in 2019 which was a business summit organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu. With 385 ultra-rich living in the city as of 2013, Chennai is positioned in the sixth place among Indian cities that are home to the country's super-rich. The city is the third largest market in India for luxury cars.
The Reserve Bank of India ranked Chennai as third-largest deposit centre and third-largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. Prior to the advent of modern commercial banks, the banking services in the city were offered to the public by ''Nattukottai Chettiars'' or ''Nagarathars'', chiefly in and around the neighbourhood of George Town, who offered loans as well as accepted money deposits from the public, in addition to offering loans to the agricultural labourers. Even today, many of the banking offices are housed in heritage structures belonging to the colonial era that are chiefly clustered around Rajaji Salai, Chennai, Rajaji Road in George Town. Chennai is home to the first European-style banking system in India with the establishment of the 'Madras Bank' on 21 June 1683, almost a century before the establishment of the first commercial banks, such as the Bank of Hindustan and the General Bank of India, which were established in 1770 and 1786, respectively. Upon the recommendation of the British Finance Committee on the formation of a government bank, the Madras Bank, then known as the 'Government Bank', started functioning again from 1806. In 1843, the bank merged with the Carnatic Bank (1788), the British Bank of Madras (1795) and the Asiatic Bank (1804) and became the Bank of Madras, which was one of the three Presidency banks of India, the other two being the Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Bombay. In 1921, the three Presidency banks merged to form the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India in 1955.
Chennai is the headquarters of the Indian Bank, the Indian Overseas Bank and the erstwhile Bharat Overseas Bank, which merged with the Indian Overseas Bank in 2007. The city is home to the Reserve Bank of India, South Zonal Office, south zonal office of the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, along with its zonal training centre and Reserve Bank Staff College, one of the two colleges of the bank. The city also houses the World Bank office, Chennai, permanent back office of the World Bank, which is one of the largest buildings owned by the bank outside its headquarters in Washington, DC. The Chennai office handles corporate financial, accounting, administrative and IT services of the bank, in addition to several value-added operations of the bank that were earlier handled only in its Washington, DC office, including the bank's analytical work in bond valuation which is estimated to be US$100 billion. Several foreign banks have established their branches in the city. The first Sri Lankan Bank in India was established when the Bank of Ceylon opened its branch in Madras on 31 October 1995.
Major power plants in the city include North Chennai Thermal Power Station, GMR Vasavi Diesel Power Plant, Ennore Thermal Power Station, Basin Bridge Gas Turbine Power Station, Madras Atomic Power Station and Vallur Thermal Power Project. According to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), , the city consumes about 20 percent of the electricity in the state of Tamil Nadu. The peak evening demand of the city is 1,500 MW which is about 50 percent of the state's peak evening demand of 3,000 megawatt. This includes 37 percent consumption by the industrial sector, 30 percent by the domestic sector, 18 percent by the agricultural sector, and 11.5 percent by the commercial sector. The peak power consumption is for four months between May and August, with the city consuming the highest during June because it is when the summer peaks. On 20 June 2013, the city consumed the highest of 52,785 MU.
, the city consumes around 3.83 crore units of power a day or 1,400 crore units annually. Hourly consumption of power in the city is about 2,000 to 3,000 MW. Availability of power in the city has become a concern in recent years due to increasing demand and slow-paced addition of power plants, due to which scheduled power cuts have become increasingly common. However, this situation was eradicated by the end of 2014. , the total electricity consumption by the street lamps in the city is 27 MW, costing about per month. The 426 sq km of the city has over 248,000 streetlights, including 88,000 in the newly expanded areas.
Chennai is known for its advanced medical facilities, including both government-run and private hospitals. The government-aided hospitals include Government General Hospital, Chennai, General Hospital, Adyar Cancer Institute, Tambaram TB Sanatorium, TB Sanatorium, and National Institute of Siddha. The National Institute of Siddha is one of the seven apex national-level educational institutions that promote excellence in Indian system of medicine and Ayurveda. Major hospitals in Chennai include Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Speciality Hospital, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chettinad Health City, Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, MIOT Hospitals, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Fortis Malar Hospital, Lifeline Hospitals, Vasan Healthcare, Dr Mehta Hospitals, Global Hospitals & Health City, Sankara Nethralaya and Vijaya Medical & Educational Trust. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad and 30 percent to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. The city has been termed ''India's health capital''.
The city has more than 12,500 beds in its hospitals, including about 5,000 in multi-specialty hospitals in the private sector and over 6,000 beds in the public sector. This works to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population against the national average of less than one bed per 1,000 population and the
With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO Heritage Site of
Chennai is the base for Tamil cinema, sometimes nicknamed as ''Kollywood'', alluding to the neighbourhood of Kodambakkam where a number of film studios are located. Many film personalities have gone on to become politicians including
The major English dailies published in Chennai are ''The Hindu'', ''The New Indian Express'', ''The Deccan Chronicle'' and ''The Times of India'' and many more. The evening dailies are, ''The Trinity Mirror'' and ''News Today''. , ''The Hindu'' was the city's most read English newspaper, with a daily circulation of 267,349. The major business dailies published from the city are ''The Economic Times'', ''The Hindu Business Line'', ''Business Standard'', ''Mint (newspaper), Mint'' and ''The Financial Express (India), The Financial Express''. The major Tamil dailies include the ''Dina Thanthi'', ''Dinakaran'', ''Dina Mani'', ''Dina Malar'', ''The Hindu (Tamil), The Hindu Tamil'', ''Tamil Murasu'', ''Makkal Kural'' and ''Malai Malar''. ''Malayala Manorama'' and ''Mathrubhumi'' are the major Malayalam dailies while major Telugu dailies include ''Eenadu'', ''Vaartha'', ''Andhra Jyothi'' and ''Sakshi''. If one types in ''Chennai'' in the input box and submits, the list is displayed. The one and only Hindi Newspaper published from Chennai is the ''Rajasthan Patrika''. The Local weekly Newspapers circulated to residents are T. Nagar Times, Pillar Times, Arcot Road Talk, Chrompet Times. Chennai's First Corporate Leisure Newspaper, ''The Shopping Express''. Magazines published from Chennai include ''Ananda Vikatan'', ''Kumudam'', ''Kalki (Tamil magazine), Kalki'', ''Kungumam (magazine), Kungumam'', ''Puthiya Thalaimurai'', ''Thuglak'', ''Frontline magazine, Frontline'' and ''Sportstar''
Doordarshan runs two terrestrial television channels and two satellite television channels from its Chennai centre, which was set up in 1974. Private Tamil satellite television networks such as Sun TV (India), Sun TV, Raj Network, Raj TV, Zee Tamizh, Star Vijay, Jaya TV, Makkal TV, Vasanth TV, Kalaignar TV, Captain TV and PuthiyaThalaimurai TV broadcast out of Chennai. The Sun Network one of India's largest broadcasting companies is based in the city. While the cable TV service is entirely controlled by the state government, direct–to–home (Direct broadcast satellite, DTH) is available via DD Direct Plus, Dish TV, Tata Sky, Videocon DTH, Sun direct DTH, Reliance Big TV and Digital TV. Chennai is the first city in India to have implemented the Conditional Access System for cable television. Radio broadcasting began in 1924 by the Madras Presidency Radio Club. The radio station at the Rippon Buildings complex was founded in 1930 and was then shifted to All India Radio in 1938. The city has four amplitude modulation, AM and 11 frequency modulation, FM radio stations operated by All India Radio, Anna University and Suryan FM, Radio Mirchi, BIG FM 92.7, BIG FM, Hello FM, Radio City (Indian radio station), Radio City, Radio One (India), Radio One among others.
Chennai is home to some of the best educational institutions in the country. The city ranks second among Indian metropolitan city centres with a 90.33 percent literacy rate. Chennai has a mix of public and private schools, some of which also receive financial support from the government.
The public school system is managed by the Chennai Corporation with an enrollment of 142,387 students in over List of schools in Chennai, 330 schools. Tamil and English are the primary medium of instruction, though some schools also use Telugu and Urdu as medium of instruction in their schools. Public schools run by the Chennai Corporation are all affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education, Tamil Nadu State Board, while private schools may be affiliated with either of the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). A few schools are affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board or the Montessori, Montessori system. Education in Chennai starts with two years of Kindergarten from age three onward and then follows the Indian Education in India, 10+2+3 plan, ten years of school, two years of higher secondary education, and three years of undergraduate education.
English is the medium of instruction in the majority of institutions for higher education. The
Cricket is the most popular sport in Chennai. It was introduced in 1864 with the foundation of the Madras Cricket Club. The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium established in 1916 is among the oldest cricket stadiums in India. The stadium was also one of the venues of the ICC Cricket World Cup, 1987,1996 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cups. Chemplast Cricket Ground located at the 
The city's professional Association football, football club Chennaiyin FC competes in Indian Super League, the country's top tier association football league associated with Asian Football Confederation, Asian Football Federation and recognized by FIFA. The club uses the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium nicknamed the Marina Arena as their home ground and are champions of the Indian Super League in 2015 and 2018.
Chennai was the venue of the 1995 South Asian Games. Chennai is home to a World Series Hockey (WSH) team, the Chennai Cheetahs. The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium is associated with Field hockey, hockey and was venue for the international hockey tournament the 2005 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, 2005 Men's Champions Trophy and the 2007 Men's Hockey Asia Cup, 2007 Men's Asia Cup. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is associated for hosting association football, Football and athletic competitions, it also houses a multi–purpose indoor complex for competition in volleyball, basketball and table tennis. Water sports are played in the Velachery Aquatic Complex. Tennis sport is popularising among the city youths, Since 1997 Chennai has been host to the only ATP World Tour event held in India, the Chennai Open which has been shifted to Pune as Maharashtra Open from 2017. Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi Ramesh Krishnan and Somdev Devvarman are tennis players from Chennai.
Chennai is home to Chennai Slam, two-time national champion of India's top professional basketball division, the UBA Pro Basketball League.
Madras Boat Club (founded in 1846) and the Royal Madras Yacht Club (founded by Francis Spring, Sir Francis Spring in 1911) promote the sailing sports in Chennai, and organise national and international sailing events. Automobile racing in India has been closely connected with Chennai since its beginnings shortly after independence. Motor racing events are held on a special purpose track in Madras Motor Race Track, Sriperumbudur, which has also been the venue for several international competitions. Formula One driver Karun Chandhok was born in Chennai.
Horse racing is held at the Guindy Race Course, while rowing competitions are hosted at the Madras Boat Club. The city has two 18-hole golf courses, the Cosmopolitan Club (Chennai), Cosmopolitan Club and the Gymkhana Club, Chennai, Gymkhana Club, both established in the late nineteenth century. The city has a rugby union team called the Chennai Cheetahs.
Home to the country's first FIDE titles#International Master (IM), international chess master, the first Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, the first FIDE titles#Woman Grandmaster (WGM), female grandmaster, the first Arbiter (chess), international arbiter, and 12 of the 34 world chess grandmasters from India, Chennai is often dubbed "India's chess capital". Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand grew up and resides in Chennai. Other sports persons of repute from Chennai include table tennis players Sharath Kamal and two–time world carrom champion, Maria Irudayam. Chennai was the host of the World Chess Championship 2013 match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. In 2022, Chennai hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad, in which 1,400 players from across 187 countries will participate.
The consular presence in the city dates back to 1794, when William Abbott was appointed US consular agent for
Official website
of Chennai district
Official website of the Corporation of Chennai
*
Chennai
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' entry {{Authority control Chennai Cities and towns in Chennai district Metropolitan cities in India Populated coastal places in India Port cities in India Coromandel Coast Populated places established in the 1640s 1640s establishments in Asia Smart cities in India
''
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
by 113,828 (2.6%), Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
by 104,084 (2.4%), and Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
by 22,250 (0.5%). Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
, Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
, French, Mandarin Chinese
Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language of ...
, Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
, German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
are some of the languages spoken by the 250,000 foreign expatriates residing in the city.
Religion and ethnicity
Chennai, along withBengaluru
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
, Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
, is one of the few Indian cities that are home to a diverse population of ethno-religious communities. Minorities include Telugus
Telugu people ( te, తెలుగువారు, Teluguvāru), or Telugus, or Telugu vaaru, are the largest of the four major Dravidian ethnolinguistic groups in terms of population. Telugus are native to the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh ...
, Marwaris
The Marwari or Marwadi (Hindi: मारवाड़ी, Urdu: مارواڑی) are an Indian ethnic group that originate from the Rajasthan region of India. Their language, also called Marwari, comes under the umbrella of Rajasthani languages, ...
, Gujaratis
The Gujarati people or Gujaratis, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who reside in or can trace their ancestry or heritage to the present-day western Indian state of Gujarat. They primarily speak Gujarati, an Indo-Aryan language. While G ...
, Parsi
Parsis () or Parsees are an ethnoreligious group of the Indian subcontinent adhering to Zoroastrianism. They are descended from Persians who migrated to Medieval India during and after the Arab conquest of Iran (part of the early Muslim conq ...
s, Sindhis
Sindhis ( sd, سنڌي Perso-Arabic: सिन्धी Devanagari; ) are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group who speak the Sindhi language and are native to the province of Sindh in Pakistan. After the partition of British Indian empire in 1947, man ...
, Odias
The Odia (), formerly spelled Oriya, is an Indo-Aryan ethnic group native to the Indian state of Odisha who speak Odia language. They constitute a majority in the eastern coastal state, with significant minority populations in neighboring An ...
, Goans
Goans ( kok, गोंयकार, Romi Konkani: , pt, Goeses) is the demonym used to describe the people native to Goa, India, who form an ethno-linguistic group resulting from the assimilation of Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Indo-Portuguese, and ...
, Kannadigas
The Kannada people or Kannadigaru IAST">nowiki/>IAST:_Kannadadavaru_or_Kannadigas_(English_term).html" ;"title="IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowiki/>IAST: Kannadadavaru or Kannadigas (English term)">IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowik ...
, Anglo-Indians
Anglo-Indian people fall into two different groups: those with mixed Indian and British ancestry, and people of British descent born or residing in India. The latter sense is now mainly historical, but confusions can arise. The ''Oxford English ...
, Bengalis
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan peoples, Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the ...
, Punjabi, and Malayalees
The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomina ...
. As per the religious census of 2011, Chennai's population was 80.73% Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
, 9.45% Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, 7.72% Christians, Christian, 1.11% Jainism, Jain, 0.06% Sikh, 0.06% Buddhist, <0.04% followed other religions and 0.83% followed no religion or did not indicate any religious preference.
Housing
In a 2013 survey titled 'Emerging trends in real estate in Asia Pacific 2014', Chennai emerged in the top 25 real estate destinations list in the Asia Pacific region. The city ranked 22nd in the list. There are about 1,240 slums in Chennai home to about 900,000 people. Per 2011 census, there are 1.1 million households in the city and the residential housing stock available is 1,150,000 – a surplus of about 50,000 houses. About 43,700 of them are kept vacant. In the suburbs of Chennai located in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts, the figures of vacant houses 56,000 and 71,000, respectively. Of the existing housing stock in the city, about 200,000 houses are not in good condition, necessitating either to rebuild or build new units. About 26,000 households live in houses without any room and another 427,000 families (with an average size of five members) live in small dwelling units with only one room. An earlier estimate shows that there is a need to generate about 420,000 units for low-income groups by 2016. , an estimated population of 11,116 (0.16 percent) were homeless. Per Supreme Court guidelines, the city needs 65 shelters for the homeless. However, it has only 15, of which eight are functioning and two are under renovation. As of 2017, there are more than 2.2 million households, with 40 percent of the residents not owning a house.Arts and culture
Museums and art galleries
Chennai is home to many museums, galleries, and other institutions, many of which are free of admission charges and are major tourist attractions as well as playing a research role. The city also has one of the oldest museums and art galleries in the countryGovernment Museum, Chennai and The National Art Gallery (Chennai), established in the early 18th century.
The city also hosts two art festivals annually. The "Fort Museum" inside the premises of Fort St. George is an important museum having a noteworthy collection of objects of the British era in its collection. The museum is managed by the Archaeological Survey of India
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexande ...
and has in its possession, the first Flag of India hoisted at Fort St. George, India, Fort St George after the declaration of India's Independence on Independence Day (India), 15 August 1947.
Music and performing arts
Chennai is a major centre for music, art and culture in India. The city is known for its classical dance shows. In 1930, for the first time in India, Madras University introduced a course of music, as part of the Bachelor of Arts curriculum. The ''Madras Music Season'', initiated by Madras Music Academy in 1927, is celebrated every year during the month of December. It features performances of traditional Carnatic music by many artists in and around the city. The main folk music in Chennai is Gaana, a combination of various folk musics sung mainly sung in the working-class area of North Chennai.
An arts festival called the Chennai Sangamam, which showcases not only various art of Tamil Nadu, but also from the neighbouring states, like ''kalari'' (from Kerala), which is a major attraction, is held in January every year. The Speciality of Chennai Sangamam is that the various programmes are held near or at the various famous landmarks in the city so that everyone in the city has access to the programmes and there is no fee charged for entry for any of the programmes. ''Pookolam'', a form of art that uses coloured flour to create patterns and designs, comes from Kerala, but can be seen in abundance at the time of Onam.
The city has a diverse theatre scene and is one of the important centres for Bharata Natyam, a classical dance form that originated in Tamil Nadu and is the oldest dance of India. An important cultural centre for Bharata Natyam is Kalakshetra, on the beach in the south of the city. In 2012, a group of five Bharatha Natyam dancers from Chennai performed at the ''India Campaign'' during the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Chennai has been featured in UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) list since October 2017 for its century-old musical tradition. Chennai is also home to some choirs, who during the Christmas season stage various carol performances across the city in Tamil and English.
Cityscape
Chennai is divided into four broad regions: North, Central, South, and West. North Chennai is primarily an industrial area. South Chennai and West Chennai, previously mostly residential, are fast becoming commercial, home to a growing number of information technology firms, financial companies and call centres. The city is expanding quickly along the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Grand Southern Trunk Road (Grand Southern Trunk Road, GST Road) in the south and towards Ambattur, Koyambedu and Sriperumbudur, Sriperumbdur in the west. Central Chennai comprises residential elements, but is primarily home to the downtown area, and surrounding areas, the most visited by travellers to the city. The financial district is also located here.Economy
Recent estimates of the economy of the entire Chennai Metropolitan Area
The Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area, or simply the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the core city of Chennai, wh ...
range from $78.6 to $86 billion (Purchasing power parity, PPP Gross domestic product, GDP), ranking it from List of cities by GDP, fourth- to sixth-most productive metro area of India.
*
*
* Chennai has a broad industrial base in the automobile, computer, technology, hardware manufacturing and healthcare sectors. , the city is India's second-largest exporter of information technology (IT) and business process outsourcing (BPO) services. A major part of India's automobile industry is located in and around the city thus earning it the nickname "Detroit of India". Known as the "Gateway of South India", Chennai is the third-most visited city in India by international tourists according to Euromonitor. The city is also called the Cultural Capital of South India. The city was home to the Madras Stock Exchange, India's fourth stock exchange, one of four permanently recognised by SEBI, and India's third-largest by trading volume, ranked behind the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.
Industrialisation in the city dates back to the 16th century, when textile mills manufactured goods which were exported to British during its war with France. According to ''Forbes'' magazine, Chennai is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and is ranked among the "Forbes-Top 10 Fastest Growing Cities in the World". It is ranked 4th in hosting the maximum number of ''Fortune'' 500 companies of India, next only to Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
. It also is home to 24 Indian companies having a net worth of more than US$1 billion. , the city has about 34,260 identified companies in its 15 zones, of which 5,196 companies have a paid-up the capital of over 50 lakh.
Chennai has a diversified economic base anchored by the automobile, software services, hardware manufacturing, health care and financial services industries. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry, Chennai is estimated to grow to a US$100 billion economy, 2.5 times its present size, by 2025. , with 1 lakh crore investment in the pipeline over 5 years, the city is poised for major industrial investment. Chennai is classified as a global city by GaWC, with a ranking of Beta based on the extent of global reach and financial influence. It is estimated that about 400 financial industry businesses are headquartered in the city, half of which are located in the areas of Mylapore, R. A. Puram, Nungambakkam and T. Nagar.
The city is base to around 40 percent of India's automobile industry and 45 percent of auto components industry. A large number of automotive companies including Royal Enfield (India), Royal enfield, Hyundai Motor Company, Hyundai, Renault, Robert Bosch GmbH, Robert Bosch, Nissan Motors, Ashok Leyland, Yamaha Motor Company, Yamaha Motor, Daimler AG, Caterpillar Inc., Komatsu Limited, BharatBenz, Ford Motor Company, Ford, BMW, Citroën and Mitsubishi Motors, Mitsubishi have manufacturing plants in Chennai. The Heavy Vehicles Factory at Avadi
Avadi () is a suburb of Chennai within Chennai Metropolitan Area limit, located in the Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is a municipal corporation west of Chennai, about from Chennai Central Railway Station. It is surrounded by majo ...
produces military vehicles, including India's main battle tank: ''Arjun MBT''. The Integral Coach Factory manufactures railway coaches and other rolling stock for Indian Railways. The Ambattur#Ambattur Industrial Estate, Ambattur–Padi industrial zone houses many textile manufacturers, and a special economic zone (SEZ) for apparel and footwear manufacturing has been set up in the southern suburbs of the city. Chennai contributes more than 50 percent of India's leather exports.
Many software and software services companies have development centres in Chennai, which contributed 14 percent of India's total software exports of 14,42,140 lakh during 2006–07, making it the second largest Indian city software exporter following Bangalore. The Tidel Park in Chennai was billed as Asia's largest IT park when it was built. Major software companies have their offices set up here, with some of them making Chennai their largest base.
Prominent financial institutions, including the World Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, ABN AMRO, Bank of America, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Goldman Sachs, Barclays, HSBC, ING Group, Allianz, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Asian Development Bank, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas Fortis, Irevna, Deutsche Bank and Citibank have back office and development centre operations in the city. Chennai is home to the national level commercial banks Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank and many state level co–operative banks, finance and insurance companies. Telecom and Electronics manufacturers based in and around Chennai include Samsung, Nokia Siemens, Motorola, Lenovo, Dell, Force10, Wipro, Flextronics and Siemens among others. Chennai is currently the largest electronics hardware exporter in India, accounting for 45% of the total exports in 2010–11. Telecom giants Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer and chemicals giant Dow Chemical Company, Dow Chemicals have research and development facilities in Chennai. The TICEL bio–tech park at Taramani and Golden Jubilee bio–tech park at Siruseri houses biotechnology companies and laboratories. The World Trade Center Chennai, World Trade Center complex is located at Perungudi
Perungudi is a neighbourhood of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated about south of Adyar. It is bordered on two sides by the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Perungudi lake. It is situated on the Old Mahabalipuram IT Expre ...
on the southern side of the city. According to Jones Lang LaSalle, demand for investment-grade buildings in Chennai is high from IT companies. The average annual gross demand in Chennai is 4.5 million square feet.
A study conducted by the National Housing Bank on the residential price index of Indian cities showed that Chennai experienced the highest growth after the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Medical tourism is an important part of Chennai's economy with 45 percent of total medical tourists to India making to Chennai. The Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry and the Tamil television industry are also significant parts of Chennai's economy. The city also has a permanent exhibition complex in Nandambakkam called the Chennai Trade Centre. It hosted the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet in 2019 which was a business summit organised by the Government of Tamil Nadu. With 385 ultra-rich living in the city as of 2013, Chennai is positioned in the sixth place among Indian cities that are home to the country's super-rich. The city is the third largest market in India for luxury cars.
Banking and finance
The Reserve Bank of India ranked Chennai as third-largest deposit centre and third-largest credit centre nationwide as of June 2012. Prior to the advent of modern commercial banks, the banking services in the city were offered to the public by ''Nattukottai Chettiars'' or ''Nagarathars'', chiefly in and around the neighbourhood of George Town, who offered loans as well as accepted money deposits from the public, in addition to offering loans to the agricultural labourers. Even today, many of the banking offices are housed in heritage structures belonging to the colonial era that are chiefly clustered around Rajaji Salai, Chennai, Rajaji Road in George Town. Chennai is home to the first European-style banking system in India with the establishment of the 'Madras Bank' on 21 June 1683, almost a century before the establishment of the first commercial banks, such as the Bank of Hindustan and the General Bank of India, which were established in 1770 and 1786, respectively. Upon the recommendation of the British Finance Committee on the formation of a government bank, the Madras Bank, then known as the 'Government Bank', started functioning again from 1806. In 1843, the bank merged with the Carnatic Bank (1788), the British Bank of Madras (1795) and the Asiatic Bank (1804) and became the Bank of Madras, which was one of the three Presidency banks of India, the other two being the Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Bombay. In 1921, the three Presidency banks merged to form the Imperial Bank of India, which later became the State Bank of India in 1955.
Chennai is the headquarters of the Indian Bank, the Indian Overseas Bank and the erstwhile Bharat Overseas Bank, which merged with the Indian Overseas Bank in 2007. The city is home to the Reserve Bank of India, South Zonal Office, south zonal office of the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, along with its zonal training centre and Reserve Bank Staff College, one of the two colleges of the bank. The city also houses the World Bank office, Chennai, permanent back office of the World Bank, which is one of the largest buildings owned by the bank outside its headquarters in Washington, DC. The Chennai office handles corporate financial, accounting, administrative and IT services of the bank, in addition to several value-added operations of the bank that were earlier handled only in its Washington, DC office, including the bank's analytical work in bond valuation which is estimated to be US$100 billion. Several foreign banks have established their branches in the city. The first Sri Lankan Bank in India was established when the Bank of Ceylon opened its branch in Madras on 31 October 1995.
Infrastructure
Communication
Chennai is one of four Indian cities connected to the rest of the world by Submarine communications cable, undersea fibre-optic cables, the other three beingMumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
, Kochi, and Tuticorin. The city is the Cable landing point, landing point of major submarine telecommunication cable networks such as SEA-ME-WE 4, SMW4 (connecting India with Western Europe, Middle East and Southeast Asia), i2i (connecting India with Singapore), TIISCS, TIC (connecting India with Singapore), Bay of Bengal Gateway, BBG (connecting India with the Sultanate of Oman, Malaysia, the UAE, and Sri Lanka), Gulf Bridge International, and BRICS (submarine cable), BRICS (connecting India with Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa). The 3,175-km-long, 8-fiber-paired i2i has the world's largest design capacity of 8.4 terabits per second. Work to lay a 2,300-km undersea optical submarine cable connecting Andaman and Nicobar Islands to mainland India through Chennai, carrying 100 Gbit/s optical waves, is slated to begin in December 2019 and completed by March 2020. It will connect Port Blair and the islands of Havelock Island, Havelock, Little Andaman (Hutbay), Car Nicobar, Kamorta Island, Kamorta, Great Nicobar, Long Island, Andaman, Long Island and Rangat with Indian mainland.
, eight mobile phone service companies operate seven GSM networks including Airtel, Aircel, BSNL, Vodafone, Tata Docomo GSM, Idea, Reliance GSM and three CDMA networks including MTS, Reliance CDMA, Tata Docomo CDMA in the city. 2G Mobile internet connections are provided by all the operators, and 3G and 4G mobile broadband are provided by few operators in the city. There are four land line companies providing commercial and domestic broadband Internet services. Chennai was the first Indian city to deploy Wi-Fi internet access in a widespread manner. , there were 9.8 million mobile phone users in Chennai. In 2010, Chennai had the fourth highest number of active Internet users in India, with 2.2 million users. As of 2018, the city topped in broadband speed among Indian cities, with a recorded download speed of 32.67 Mbit/s.
Power
Major power plants in the city include North Chennai Thermal Power Station, GMR Vasavi Diesel Power Plant, Ennore Thermal Power Station, Basin Bridge Gas Turbine Power Station, Madras Atomic Power Station and Vallur Thermal Power Project. According to the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO), , the city consumes about 20 percent of the electricity in the state of Tamil Nadu. The peak evening demand of the city is 1,500 MW which is about 50 percent of the state's peak evening demand of 3,000 megawatt. This includes 37 percent consumption by the industrial sector, 30 percent by the domestic sector, 18 percent by the agricultural sector, and 11.5 percent by the commercial sector. The peak power consumption is for four months between May and August, with the city consuming the highest during June because it is when the summer peaks. On 20 June 2013, the city consumed the highest of 52,785 MU.
, the city consumes around 3.83 crore units of power a day or 1,400 crore units annually. Hourly consumption of power in the city is about 2,000 to 3,000 MW. Availability of power in the city has become a concern in recent years due to increasing demand and slow-paced addition of power plants, due to which scheduled power cuts have become increasingly common. However, this situation was eradicated by the end of 2014. , the total electricity consumption by the street lamps in the city is 27 MW, costing about per month. The 426 sq km of the city has over 248,000 streetlights, including 88,000 in the newly expanded areas.
Health care
Chennai is known for its advanced medical facilities, including both government-run and private hospitals. The government-aided hospitals include Government General Hospital, Chennai, General Hospital, Adyar Cancer Institute, Tambaram TB Sanatorium, TB Sanatorium, and National Institute of Siddha. The National Institute of Siddha is one of the seven apex national-level educational institutions that promote excellence in Indian system of medicine and Ayurveda. Major hospitals in Chennai include Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Speciality Hospital, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chettinad Health City, Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, MIOT Hospitals, Sri Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute, Fortis Malar Hospital, Lifeline Hospitals, Vasan Healthcare, Dr Mehta Hospitals, Global Hospitals & Health City, Sankara Nethralaya and Vijaya Medical & Educational Trust. Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad and 30 percent to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. The city has been termed ''India's health capital''.
The city has more than 12,500 beds in its hospitals, including about 5,000 in multi-specialty hospitals in the private sector and over 6,000 beds in the public sector. This works to 2.1 beds per 1,000 population against the national average of less than one bed per 1,000 population and the World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
's norms of three beds per 1,000 persons, higher than any other city in the country.
Waste management
The city generates 4,500 tonnes of garbage every day of which 429 tonnes are plastic waste. The city has three dumpyards, one each atPerungudi
Perungudi is a neighbourhood of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is situated about south of Adyar. It is bordered on two sides by the Old Mahabalipuram Road and the Perungudi lake. It is situated on the Old Mahabalipuram IT Expre ...
, Kodungaiyur
Kodungaiyur is a residential neighbourhood in the northern part of the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It comes under Perambur Taluk of the Chennai District.
Location and surroundings
Kodungaiyur covers a vast area bordering Manali to th ...
, and Pallikaranai
Pallikaranai is a neighborhood and a residential area in south Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located in proximity to the IT industry in Old Mahabalipuram Road, Chennai's central business districts and the automobile hub in GST road has attracted m ...
. The corporation has planned to close these yards and create four new dumpyards at Malaipattu, Minjur, Vallur and Kuthambakkam villages, ranging in size from to . The civic body also spends 400 crore a year on solid-waste management.
Tourism and hospitality
With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance, including the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, is a town in Chengalpattu district in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, best known for the UNESCO World Heritage Site of 7th- and 8th-century Hindu Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram. It is o ...
, Chennai is one of the most-visited cities in India. The city serves as the gateway to the South India, southern part of India with tourists landing in the city and then visiting the rest of the region. Chennai was the most-visited Indian city by foreign tourists in 2009 and issued the third-highest number of visas on arrival in 2014. In 2011, Chennai was ranked the 41st most visited city, with 3,174,500 tourists, a 14-percent increase from 2010. About 830,620 domestic tourists arrived in Chennai in March 2011. Chennai's leading tourist countries-of-origin are Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. In 2015, the city received 4,243,700 foreign tourists, making it the third-most-visited city in India after Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
and Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and 43rd-most visited city in the world by foreign tourists. , the city had 21 List of hotels in Chennai, luxury hotels in the five-star category, with over 4,500 rooms in the inventory. The collective luxury room inventory across four- and five-star categories as of 2018 is around 7,000. About 85 percent of the room demand in Chennai comes from business travellers.
Entertainment
Chennai is the base for Tamil cinema, sometimes nicknamed as ''Kollywood'', alluding to the neighbourhood of Kodambakkam where a number of film studios are located. Many film personalities have gone on to become politicians including C. N. Annadurai
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...
, M. Karunanidhi, M. G. Ramachandran and Jayalalithaa. Chennai hosts major film studios, including AVM Productions, the oldest surviving studio in India. , there are 120 cinema screens and multiplexes. Major multiplexes include SPI Cinemas, Sathyam Cinemas, Escape cinemas, Devi and Mayajaal. Chennai's expansive theatre network stages many Tamil plays of many genres: political satire, slapstick comedy, history, mythology and drama. English plays are popular in the city, along with the more common Tamil-language plays.
Recreation
The zoo, beaches and wildlife parks form the primary recreation areas of the city. Chennai has a 19+ km coastline with its corporation limits. The city boasts two popular beaches, the Marina Beach, Marina and the Elliot's Beach, Elliot's. Marina Beach, The Marina spans between the deltas of Cooum and Adyar, and is the second-longest urban beach in the world. Elliot's Beach lies south of the Adyar delta. Covelong Beach lies along the Coromandal Coast. Madras Crocodile Bank Trust is a reptile zoo located south of the city covering an area of and had over 450,000 visitors in 2007. The center has one of the world's largest collections of reptiles and has bred 14 of the 23 existing species of crocodiles and alligators. TheArignar Anna Zoological Park
Arignar Anna Zoological Park (abbreviated AAZP), also known as the Vandalur Zoo, is a zoological garden located in Vandalur, is in the southwestern part of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, about from the Chennai Central and from Chennai Airport. Establish ...
, one of the largest zoological parks in the world, annually attracts nearly 2 million visitors. Guindy National Park
Guindy National Park is a protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai, India, is the 8th-smallest National Park of India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding R ...
, a protected area of Tamil Nadu, has a children's park and a Chennai Snake Park Trust, snake park, which gained statutory recognition as a medium zoo from the Central Zoo Authority of India in 1995. Chennai is one of the few cities in the world to accommodate a national park, the Guindy National Park
Guindy National Park is a protected area of Tamil Nadu, located in Chennai, India, is the 8th-smallest National Park of India and one of the very few national parks situated inside a city. The park is an extension of the grounds surrounding R ...
, within its limits. An estimated 4.5 percent of the city's area is under green cover. This enables birding. The seven zones of the old corporation limits have about 260 parks, many of which suffer poor maintenance. The city has a per capita park space of 0.41 sq m, which is the least among all metros in India. The eight zones in the newly added areas of the city have about 265 locations that have been identified for development of new parks. The largest park is the 358-acre Tholkappia Poonga, developed to restore the fragile ecosystem of the Adyar estuary. The horticulture department-owned Semmoli Poonga is a 20-acre downtown botanical garden.
Chennai houses several theme parks, namely MGM Dizzee World and Queen's Land. However, several fatal accidents have occurred in the theme parks. Wonderla plans to open an amusement park in 2017. Other important recreation centres include Madras Boat Club, which is over 140 years old, and Gymkhana Club, Chennai, Gymkhana Club, which is famous for its 18-hole golf courses. Built in 1867, Madras Boat Club is the second-oldest surviving Indian rowing club.
Shopping
Chennai is home to several malls, due to its status as an Information technology industry, IT hub. Major ones include Express Avenue, Express Avenue (EA), Chennai Citi Centre, Citi Centre, Abhirami Mega Mall, Abirami mega mall, Spencer Plaza, Ampa Skywalk, Phoenix Market City (Chennai), Phoenix Market City and Forum Vijaya Mall. Chennai is an important gold market in India contributing to 45 percent of the 800-tonne annual national gold uptake. The city is also the base to the World Gold Council's India operations. The city's retail industry is majorly concentrated in T. Nagar which accounts for major share jewellery and clothes sold in Chennai. According to the 2012 report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, ''Main Streets Across the World'', Khader Nawaz Khan Road at Nungambakkam ranked 10th position in the list of 'Top 10 Global Highest Retail Rental Growth Markets 2012', with 36.7 percent jump in rents.Transport
Air
The Chennai International Airport is the fourth-busiest in India in terms of passenger traffic behind New Delhi,Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
and Bengaluru. It handled about 15.2 million passengers in 2013–2014; in terms of international passengers, Chennai is the third-busiest airport behind Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, and Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai. Chennai handles 400 flights a day, again placing it fourth among Indian airports. The city is connected to major hubs across Asia, Europe, Middle East and Africa through more than 30 national and international carriers.
The existing airport is undergoing modernisation and expansion with an addition of , while a new greenfield airport is to be constructed at an estimated cost of 2,000 crore in Sriperumbudur on of land. The new airport is said to be likely to handle cargo spillover traffic from the existing one.
Rail
Chennai hosts the Southern Railway headquarters, Chennai, headquarters of the Southern Railway (India), Southern Railway. The city has four main railway terminals.Chennai Central
Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...
, Chennai Egmore
Chennai Egmore, formerly known as Madras Egmore, also known as Chennai Elumbur (station code: MS), is a railway station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore, it is one of the four intercity railway terminals in t ...
, Chennai Beach and Tambaram
Tambaram is a southern suburb of Chennai, India. Located in the Chengalpattu district of Tamil Nadu, it is governed by Tambaram City Municipal Corporation and is a part of the Chennai Metropolitan Area.
Etymology
Tambaram is an ancient town ...
. Chennai Central station, the city's largest, provides nationwide access, whereas Chennai Egmore provides access to destinations primarily within Tamil Nadu; however, it also handles a few inter–state trains. A fifth terminal has been proposed to decongest Chennai Central. The Chennai suburban railway network, one of the oldest in the country, facilitates transportation within the city. It consists of four broad gauge sectors terminating at two locations in the city, namely Chennai Central and Chennai Beach. While three sectors are operated on-grade, the fourth sector is primarily an Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System, elevated corridor, linking Chennai Beach to Velachery
Velachery (''pronounced as'' veh·luh·cheh·ree) is a commercial and residential area in south Chennai, and is the largest commercial centre in south Chennai. It is surrounded by Guindy in the north, IIT Madras in the north-east, Taramani in ...
and is connected with the rest of the rail network.
Metro rail
Chennai Metro is a rapid-transit system serving the city and was partially commenced on 29 June 2015. To improve the city's public transportation system and prepare the city for the future commuting needs, the Chennai Metro was planned and approved by the state cabinet during 2007 for which construction began on 2009. Phase I of the Chennai Metro network consists of the Blue Line and the Green Line covering a length of 45.1 kilometres (28.0 mi) consisting of 40 List of Chennai metro stations, stations with Alandur metro station, Alandur and Chennai Central metro station, Chennai Central serving as interchanges. 55% of the corridors in Phase I are underground and the rest are elevated. The first stretch of Phase I, covering seven stations from Koyambedu toAlandur
Alandur is a zone of Chennai corporation, and an urban node in Chennai district in Guindy division in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is Surrounded by Guindy in the North and East, Adambakkam in the South, Pazhavanthangal in the South-Wes ...
over a distance of , began operation on 29 June 2015. As of March 2019, the entire Phase 1 stretching from Chennai Central railway station, Chennai Central to Alandur
Alandur is a zone of Chennai corporation, and an urban node in Chennai district in Guindy division in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is Surrounded by Guindy in the North and East, Adambakkam in the South, Pazhavanthangal in the South-Wes ...
on the Green Line (Chennai Metro), Green line and Washermanpet to Chennai International Airport on Blue Line (Chennai Metro), Blue line are commercially operational, bringing the total operational network over 45 km. With this, the entirety of Phase I is operational. In December 2016, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) announced the Phase-2 of Chennai Metro for a length of 104 km consisting of 104 stations, subject to approval from the State and Central governments. The Phase 2 was subsequently approved in late 2018, with certain provisos, and soil testing for the various stations are in full swing with construction set to begin in late 2019/ early 2020. As of April 2019 ridership has risen considerably to around 100,000 daily commuters, post the inaugural of the entire Phase I. Phase I-A, which is an extension of the Blue Line (Chennai Metro), Blue line from Washermanpet to Thiruvottiyur is expected to be inaugurated by June 2020.
Road
As of 2019, the city corporation maintains about 471 bus route roads and 33,0000 interior roads. The Chennai–Mumbai and Chennai–Kolkata prongs of the Golden Quadrilateral system of National Highway (India), National Highways start from the city. In addition, four major National Highway (India), National Highways (NH), namely, National Highway 4 (India, old numbering), NH 4 toMumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
(via Bangalore and Pune), National Highway 5 (India), NH 5 to Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
(linked via National Highway 6 (India), NH 6) (via Visakhapatnam and Bhubaneswar), National Highway 45 (India), NH 45 to Theni (via Villupuram, Tiruchirapalli and Dindigul) and National Highway 205 (India), NH 205 to Madanapalle (via Tirupati (city), Tirupati) originate in the city, connecting it to other Indian cities. Chennai is connected to other parts of the state and the Union Territory of Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to:
* Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India
** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry
** Puducherry t ...
by State Highway (India), state highways.
The government has constructed grade separators and Overpass, flyovers at major intersections, and built Inner Ring Road, Chennai, Inner Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, Chennai, Outer Ring Road. The Anna Flyover, Gemini flyover, built in 1973, crosses over the arterial road, and eases the traffic movements towards Anna Salai and towards the Kathipara Junction, Kathipara Flyover. , according to the Transport Department, there were 25.8 lakh two–wheelers and 5.6 lakh four–wheelers in the city, and the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus fleet were 3,421, equaling 0.1% of all vehicles in the city.
When opened, the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) was the largest bus station in Asia. It is the main intercity bus station of Chennai, administered by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation, seven government-owned transport corporations, which operate intercity and interstate bus services. There are many private bus companies. The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai), MTC provides an exclusive intracity bus service, consisting of 3,421 buses on 724 routes, which provides transportation to 55.2 lakh passengers daily. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation operates Volvo air-conditioned services from Chennai to nearby Pondicherry (city), Pondicherry, Vellore, Hosur and Trichy.
The other means of road transport in the city include vans, regionally known as ''Maxi Cabs'', auto rickshaws, on-call metered taxis and tourist taxis.
Chennai outer ring road is 62.3 km long connecting NH 45 (GST Road) at Perungalathur, NH 4 (GWT Road) at Nazarathpet, NH 205 (CTH Road) at Nemilicherry (Thiruninravur), NH 5 (GNT Road) at Nallur and TPP road at Minjur under the process by Chennai Metropolitan Area
The Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area, or simply the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the core city of Chennai, wh ...
.
Sea
The city is served by two major ports,Chennai Port
Chennai Port, formerly known as Madras Port, is the second largest container port of India, behind Mumbai's Nhava Sheva. The port is the largest one in the Bay of Bengal. It is the third-oldest port among the 13 major ports of India with offici ...
, one of the largest artificial ports in India, and Ennore Port
Kamarajar Port Limited, formerly Ennore Port, is located on the Coromandel Coast, Chennai about 18 km north of Chennai Port. It is the 12th major port of India, and the first port in India which is a public company. The Kamarajar Port Limi ...
. Chennai Port is the largest in the Bay of Bengal, with an annual cargo tonnage of 61.46 million (2010–2011), and the second-largest container-hub in India, with an annual container volume of 1.523 million TEUs (2010–2011). The port handles transportation of automobiles, motorcycles and general industrial cargo. The Ennore Port with an annual cargo tonnage of 11.01 million (2010–2011), handles coal, ore and other bulk and rock mineral products. Royapuram fishing harbour is used by fishing boats and Kattupalli Shipyard near Ennore Port
Kamarajar Port Limited, formerly Ennore Port, is located on the Coromandel Coast, Chennai about 18 km north of Chennai Port. It is the 12th major port of India, and the first port in India which is a public company. The Kamarajar Port Limi ...
was inaugurated in January 2013.
Media
Newspaper publishing started in Chennai with the launch of a weekly, ''The Madras Courier'', in 1785. It was followed by the weeklies ''The Madras Gazette'' and ''The Government Gazette'' in 1795. ''The Spectator'', founded in 1836, was the first English newspaper in Chennai to be owned by an Indian and became the city's first daily newspaper in 1853. The first Tamil newspaper, ''Swadesamitran'', was launched in 1899. First Telugu journal printed from Madras was ''Satya Doota'' in 1835 and ''Andhra Patrika'' found in 1908 was the most successful Telugu newspaper from Madras.
The major English dailies published in Chennai are ''The Hindu'', ''The New Indian Express'', ''The Deccan Chronicle'' and ''The Times of India'' and many more. The evening dailies are, ''The Trinity Mirror'' and ''News Today''. , ''The Hindu'' was the city's most read English newspaper, with a daily circulation of 267,349. The major business dailies published from the city are ''The Economic Times'', ''The Hindu Business Line'', ''Business Standard'', ''Mint (newspaper), Mint'' and ''The Financial Express (India), The Financial Express''. The major Tamil dailies include the ''Dina Thanthi'', ''Dinakaran'', ''Dina Mani'', ''Dina Malar'', ''The Hindu (Tamil), The Hindu Tamil'', ''Tamil Murasu'', ''Makkal Kural'' and ''Malai Malar''. ''Malayala Manorama'' and ''Mathrubhumi'' are the major Malayalam dailies while major Telugu dailies include ''Eenadu'', ''Vaartha'', ''Andhra Jyothi'' and ''Sakshi''. If one types in ''Chennai'' in the input box and submits, the list is displayed. The one and only Hindi Newspaper published from Chennai is the ''Rajasthan Patrika''. The Local weekly Newspapers circulated to residents are T. Nagar Times, Pillar Times, Arcot Road Talk, Chrompet Times. Chennai's First Corporate Leisure Newspaper, ''The Shopping Express''. Magazines published from Chennai include ''Ananda Vikatan'', ''Kumudam'', ''Kalki (Tamil magazine), Kalki'', ''Kungumam (magazine), Kungumam'', ''Puthiya Thalaimurai'', ''Thuglak'', ''Frontline magazine, Frontline'' and ''Sportstar''
Doordarshan runs two terrestrial television channels and two satellite television channels from its Chennai centre, which was set up in 1974. Private Tamil satellite television networks such as Sun TV (India), Sun TV, Raj Network, Raj TV, Zee Tamizh, Star Vijay, Jaya TV, Makkal TV, Vasanth TV, Kalaignar TV, Captain TV and PuthiyaThalaimurai TV broadcast out of Chennai. The Sun Network one of India's largest broadcasting companies is based in the city. While the cable TV service is entirely controlled by the state government, direct–to–home (Direct broadcast satellite, DTH) is available via DD Direct Plus, Dish TV, Tata Sky, Videocon DTH, Sun direct DTH, Reliance Big TV and Digital TV. Chennai is the first city in India to have implemented the Conditional Access System for cable television. Radio broadcasting began in 1924 by the Madras Presidency Radio Club. The radio station at the Rippon Buildings complex was founded in 1930 and was then shifted to All India Radio in 1938. The city has four amplitude modulation, AM and 11 frequency modulation, FM radio stations operated by All India Radio, Anna University and Suryan FM, Radio Mirchi, BIG FM 92.7, BIG FM, Hello FM, Radio City (Indian radio station), Radio City, Radio One (India), Radio One among others.
Education
Chennai is home to some of the best educational institutions in the country. The city ranks second among Indian metropolitan city centres with a 90.33 percent literacy rate. Chennai has a mix of public and private schools, some of which also receive financial support from the government.
The public school system is managed by the Chennai Corporation with an enrollment of 142,387 students in over List of schools in Chennai, 330 schools. Tamil and English are the primary medium of instruction, though some schools also use Telugu and Urdu as medium of instruction in their schools. Public schools run by the Chennai Corporation are all affiliated with the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education, Tamil Nadu State Board, while private schools may be affiliated with either of the Tamil Nadu Board of Secondary Education or the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). A few schools are affiliated with the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) board or the Montessori, Montessori system. Education in Chennai starts with two years of Kindergarten from age three onward and then follows the Indian Education in India, 10+2+3 plan, ten years of school, two years of higher secondary education, and three years of undergraduate education.
English is the medium of instruction in the majority of institutions for higher education. The University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
, founded in 1857, is one of India's first three modern universities. Colleges for science, arts, and commerce degrees are typically affiliated with the University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...
, which has six campuses in the city. The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) and the College of Engineering, Guindy, Anna University are two well-known centres for engineering education in the city. The Indian Army's Officers Training Academy is also headquartered in the city.
Chennai has a plethora of libraries, including British Council Library, American Library, Connemara Public Library, and Anna Centenary Library. The Connemara Public Library is one of four National Depository Centres in India that receive a copy of all newspapers and books published in the country. The Anna Centenary Library is the largest library in Asia.
Chennai has two Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR research institutions namely Central Leather Research Institute and Structural Engineering Research Centre. Chennai Book Fair, an annual book fair organised in Chennai by the Booksellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI), is the largest exhibition for Tamil book publishers to display their books. The fair is typically held for about 10 days between the last week of December and the third week of January.
Sports and recreation
Cricket is the most popular sport in Chennai. It was introduced in 1864 with the foundation of the Madras Cricket Club. The M.A. Chidambaram Stadium established in 1916 is among the oldest cricket stadiums in India. The stadium was also one of the venues of the ICC Cricket World Cup, 1987,1996 and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cups. Chemplast Cricket Ground located at the IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...
campus is another important venue for cricket matches. Prominent cricketers from the city include former cricket captains Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan, S. Venkataraghavan and Kris Srikkanth, Kris Srikkanth. A cricket fast bowling academy called the MRF Pace Foundation, whose coaches include T. A. Sekhar and Glenn Mcgrath, is based in Chennai. Being home to the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team Chennai Super Kings, the city hosted the finals of the IPL's Indian premier league 2011, 2011 and 2012 Indian Premier League, 2012 series.
The city's professional Association football, football club Chennaiyin FC competes in Indian Super League, the country's top tier association football league associated with Asian Football Confederation, Asian Football Federation and recognized by FIFA. The club uses the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (Chennai), Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium nicknamed the Marina Arena as their home ground and are champions of the Indian Super League in 2015 and 2018.
Chennai was the venue of the 1995 South Asian Games. Chennai is home to a World Series Hockey (WSH) team, the Chennai Cheetahs. The Mayor Radhakrishnan Stadium is associated with Field hockey, hockey and was venue for the international hockey tournament the 2005 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, 2005 Men's Champions Trophy and the 2007 Men's Hockey Asia Cup, 2007 Men's Asia Cup. The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is associated for hosting association football, Football and athletic competitions, it also houses a multi–purpose indoor complex for competition in volleyball, basketball and table tennis. Water sports are played in the Velachery Aquatic Complex. Tennis sport is popularising among the city youths, Since 1997 Chennai has been host to the only ATP World Tour event held in India, the Chennai Open which has been shifted to Pune as Maharashtra Open from 2017. Vijay Amritraj, Mahesh Bhupathi Ramesh Krishnan and Somdev Devvarman are tennis players from Chennai.
Chennai is home to Chennai Slam, two-time national champion of India's top professional basketball division, the UBA Pro Basketball League.
Madras Boat Club (founded in 1846) and the Royal Madras Yacht Club (founded by Francis Spring, Sir Francis Spring in 1911) promote the sailing sports in Chennai, and organise national and international sailing events. Automobile racing in India has been closely connected with Chennai since its beginnings shortly after independence. Motor racing events are held on a special purpose track in Madras Motor Race Track, Sriperumbudur, which has also been the venue for several international competitions. Formula One driver Karun Chandhok was born in Chennai.
Horse racing is held at the Guindy Race Course, while rowing competitions are hosted at the Madras Boat Club. The city has two 18-hole golf courses, the Cosmopolitan Club (Chennai), Cosmopolitan Club and the Gymkhana Club, Chennai, Gymkhana Club, both established in the late nineteenth century. The city has a rugby union team called the Chennai Cheetahs.
Home to the country's first FIDE titles#International Master (IM), international chess master, the first Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, the first FIDE titles#Woman Grandmaster (WGM), female grandmaster, the first Arbiter (chess), international arbiter, and 12 of the 34 world chess grandmasters from India, Chennai is often dubbed "India's chess capital". Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand grew up and resides in Chennai. Other sports persons of repute from Chennai include table tennis players Sharath Kamal and two–time world carrom champion, Maria Irudayam. Chennai was the host of the World Chess Championship 2013 match between Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen. In 2022, Chennai hosted the 44th Chess Olympiad, in which 1,400 players from across 187 countries will participate.
City based teams
International relations
Foreign missions
The consular presence in the city dates back to 1794, when William Abbott was appointed US consular agent for South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. , there were 43 List of diplomatic missions in Chennai, foreign representations in Chennai, including consulates general, deputy high commissions and honorary consulates. The Consulate General of the United States, Chennai, American Consulate in Chennai is one of the top adjudication posts in the world and the number one in processing employment-based visas. It was ranked among the top globally in issuing 'L' and 'H' category visas for workers and professionals and was ranked eighth globally in terms of all category of visas being issued.
The Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO), which is the office of the field officers in charge of immigration and registration activities in the city, is located at Shastri Bhavan at Haddows Road.
Twin towns – Sister cities
Chennai has Twin towns and sister cities, sister city relationships with the following cities of the world:See also
* Areas of Chennai * List of people from Chennai * Timeline of Chennai historyNotes
References
External links
Official website
of Chennai district
Official website of the Corporation of Chennai
*
Chennai
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' entry {{Authority control Chennai Cities and towns in Chennai district Metropolitan cities in India Populated coastal places in India Port cities in India Coromandel Coast Populated places established in the 1640s 1640s establishments in Asia Smart cities in India