Karaikal district (
French: ''District de Karikal'') is one of the four districts of 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 ...
in India.
Geography
Karaikal district occupies an area of .
Karaikal is a small coastal enclave of territory which was formerly part of
French India
French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...
. Together with the other former French enclaves of
Pondicherry
Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...
,
Yanam
Yanam (Telugu: ''యానాం'') is a town located in the Yanam district in Puducherry. It has a population of 35,000 and is entirely surrounded by Andhra Pradesh. It was formerly a French colony for nearly 200 years, and, though united wi ...
, and
Mahé, Karaikal forms 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 ...
. Karaikal is bounded on the North by
Mayiladuthurai district
Mayiladuthurai district is one of the 38 List of districts of Tamil Nadu, districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters is located at Mayiladuthurai.
Geography
The district is bounded on the north by Cuddalore di ...
, on the South by
Nagapattinam district
Nagapattinam district is one of the 38 districts (a coastal district) of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Nagapattinam district was carved out by bifurcating the erstwhile composite Thanjavur district on 19 October 1991. The town of Nagapatt ...
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 ...
state, on the west by
Tiruvarur district
Thiruvarur district is one of the 38 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. As of 2011, the district had a population of 1,264,277 with a sex-ratio of 1,017 females for every 1,000 males.
Geography
The district occupies an area of 2,161 ...
(also belonging to Tamil Nadu), and on the East by 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 ...
.
Demographics
According to the
2011 census Karaikal district has a
population
Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...
of 200,222,
roughly equal to the nation of
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...
.
[
] This gives it a ranking of 589th in India (out of a total of
640).
[ The district has a population density of .][ Its ]population growth rate
Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...
over the decade 2001-2011 was 17.29%.[ Karaikal has a ]sex ratio
The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species devia ...
of 1048 females
Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction.
A female has larger gametes than a male. Females a ...
for every 1000 males,[ and a ]literacy rate
Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...
of 87.83%.[
]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 the principal language spoken and 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 ...
are the predominant linguistic group in the district.
Hindus
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 ...
formed the majority of the population at 75.41% of the population followed by Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
at 10.70%, Muslims
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 Abraha ...
at 6.46% and others at 0.12%.
Transportation
;Air
The nearest airport is in Trichy
Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...
(Tiruchirappalli). Karaikal Airport
Karaikal Airport (french: Aéroport de Karaikal) under construction at Karaikal, in the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, India.
The District Administration of Karaikal had acquired around 300 acres of land in 2013 ne ...
is a greenfield airport under construction. It will be the first airport in the country to be built entirely with private capital.
;Train
Karaikal railway station
Karaikal railway station (station code: KIK) is a railway terminus, situated in the town of Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India. The station is east of Tiruchirappalli and from Chennai and connects Karaikal to various parts ...
is a railway terminus, situated in the town of Karaikal in the Union Territory of Puducherry, India.
;Port
Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL), a private port developed by the Chennai-based MARG Limited, became operational in April 2009. The port is located on the Eastern coast of India at keezhavanjore village in Karaikal District of Puducherry, around 300 km along the coast south of Chennai Port and around 360 km along the coast north of Tuticorin Port. The shoreline of the port is between 10° 50′ 56″ N and 10° 49′ 44″ N.[http://www.karaikalport.com/]
Educational institutions
See also
*French colonial empire
The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
*French East India Company
The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...
*French India
French India, formally the ( en, French Settlements in India), was a French colony comprising five geographically separated enclaves on the Indian Subcontinent that had initially been factories of the French East India Company. They were ''de ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karaikal District
Districts of Puducherry
Proposed states and union territories of India