Tamil Nadu, India

Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost state of India. The tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language and one of the longest surviving classical languages of the world. The capital and largest city is Chennai.

Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern cape of the peninsula, with the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, and encloses a part of the union territory of Puducherry. It shares an international maritime border with the Northern Province of Sri Lanka at Pamban Island.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Tamil Nadu region could have been inhabited more than 385,000 years ago by archaic humans. The state has more than 5,500 years of continuous cultural history. Historically, the Tamilakam region was inhabited by Tamil-speaking Dravidian people, who were ruled by several regimes over centuries such as the Sangam era triumvirate of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, the Pallavas (3rd–9th century CE), and the later Vijayanagara Empire (14th–17th century CE). European colonization began with establishing trade ports in the 17th century, with the British controlling much of the state as a part of the Madras Presidency for two centuries. After the Indian Independence in 1947, the region became the Madras State of the Republic of India and was further re-organized when states were redrawn linguistically in 1956 into its current shape. The state was renamed as Tamil Nadu, meaning "Tamil Country", in 1969. Hence, culture, cuisine and architecture have seen multiple influences over the years and have developed diversely.

, Tamil Nadu had an economy with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of , making it the second-largest economy amongst the 28 states of India. It has the country's 9th-highest GSDP per capita of and ranks 11th in human development index. Tamil Nadu is also one of the most industrialised states, with the manufacturing sector accounting for nearly one-third of the state's GDP. With its diverse culture and architecture, long coastline, forests and mountains, Tamil Nadu is home to a number of ancient relics, historic buildings, religious sites, beaches, hill stations, forts, waterfalls and four World Heritage Sites. The state's tourism industry is the largest among the Indian states. The state has three biosphere reserves, mangrove forests, five National Parks, 18 wildlife sanctuaries and 17 bird sanctuaries. The Tamil film industry, nicknamed as Kollywood, plays an influential role in the state's popular culture.

Etymology

The name is derived from Tamil language with ''nadu'' meaning "land" and Tamil Nadu meaning "the land of Tamils". The origin and precise etymology of the word Tamil is unclear with multiple theories attested to it. In the ancient Sangam literature, Tamilakam refers to the area of present-day Tamil Nadu, Kerala and parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. ''Tolkāppiyam'' (2nd to 1st century BCE) indicates the borders of Tamilakam as Tirumala and Kanniyakumari. The name ''Tamilakam'' is used in other Sangam era literature such as ''Puṟanāṉūṟu'', '' Patiṟṟuppattu'', '' Cilappatikaram'', and ''Manimekalai''. ''Cilappatikaram'' (5th to 6th century CE) and ''Ramavataram'' (12th century CE) mention the name ''Tamil Nadu'' to denote the region.

History

Prehistory (before 5th century BCE)

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Tamil Nadu region could have been inhabited more than 385,000 years ago by archaic humans. Artifacts recovered in Adichanallur by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) indicate a continuous history from more than 3,800 years ago. Neolithic celts with the Indus script dated between 1500 and 2000 BCE indicate the use of the Harappan language. Excavations at Keezhadi have revealed a large urban settlement, with the earliest artefact dated to 580 BCE, during the time of urbanization in the Indo-Gangetic plain. Further epigraphical inscriptions found at Adichanallur use Tamil Brahmi, a rudimentary script dated to 5th century BCE. Potsherds uncovered from Keeladi indicate a script which might be a transition between the Indus Valley script and Tamil Brahmi script used later.

Sangam period (5th century BCE–3rd century CE)

The Sangam period lasted for about eight centuries, from 500 BCE to 300 CE with the main source of history during the period coming from the Sangam literature. Ancient Tamilakam was ruled by a triumvirate of monarchical states, Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas. The Cheras controlled the western part of Tamilkam, the Pandyas controlled the south, and the Cholas had their base in the Kaveri delta. The kings called ''Vendhar'' ruled over several tribes of ''Velala'' (peasants), headed by the ''Velir'' chiefs. The rulers patronized multiple religions including vedic religion, Buddhism and Jainism and sponsored some of the earliest Tamil literature with the oldest surviving work being Tolkāppiyam, a book of Tamil grammar.

The kingdoms had significant diplomatic and trade contacts with other kingdoms to the north and with the Romans. Much of the commerce from the Romans and Han China were facilitated via seaports including Muziris and Korkai with spices being the most prized goods along with pearls and silk. From 300 CE, the region was ruled by the Kalabhras, warriors belonging to the Vellalar community, who were once feudatories of the three ancient Tamil kingdoms. The Kalabhra era is referred to as the "dark period" of Tamil history, and information about it is generally inferred from any mentions in the literature and inscriptions that are dated many centuries after their era ended. The twin Tamil epics Silappatikaram and Manimekalai were written during the era. Tamil classic Tirukkural by Valluvar, a collection of couplets is attributed to the same period.

Medieval era (4th–13th century CE)

Around the 7th century CE, the Kalabhras were overthrown by the Pandyas and Cholas, who patronised Buddhism and Jainism before the revival of Saivism and Vaishnavism during the Bhakti movement. Though they existed previously, the period saw the rise of the Pallavas in the sixth century CE under Mahendravarman I, who ruled parts of South India with Kanchipuram as their capital. The Pallavas were noted for their patronage of architecture: the massive gopuram, ornate towers at the entrance of temples, originated with the Pallava architecture. They built the group of rock-cut monuments in Mahabalipuram and temples in Kanchipuram. Throughout their reign, the Pallavas remained in constant conflict with the Cholas and Pandyas. The Pandyas were revived by Kadungon towards the end of the 6th century CE and with the Cholas in obscurity in Uraiyur, the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas and the Pandyas. The Pallavas were finally defeated by Chola prince Aditya I in the 9th century CE.

The Cholas became the dominant kingdom in the 9th century under Vijayalaya Chola, who established Thanjavur as Chola's new capital with further expansions by subsequent rulers. In the 11th century CE, Rajaraja I expanded the Chola Empire with conquests of entire Southern India and parts of present-day Sri Lanka and Maldives, and increased Chola influence across the Indian Ocean. Rajaraja brought in administrative reforms including the reorganisation of Tamil country into individual administrative units. Under his son Rajendra Chola I, the Chola Empire reached its zenith and stretched as far as Bengal in the north and across the Indian Ocean. The Cholas built many temples in the Dravidian style with the most notable being the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur, one of the foremost temples of the era built by Rajaraja, and Gangaikonda Cholapuram, built by Rajendra.

The Pandyas again reigned supreme early in the 13th century under Maravarman Sundara I. They ruled from their capital of Madurai and expanded trade links with other maritime empires. During the 13th century, Marco Polo mentioned the Pandyas as the richest empire in existence. The Pandyas also built a number of temples including the Meenakshi Amman Temple at Madurai.

Vijayanagar and Nayak period (14th–17th century CE)

In the 13th and 14th centuries, there were repeated attacks from Delhi Sultanate. The Vijayanagara kingdom was founded in . The Vijayanagara empire eventually conquered the entire Tamil country by and ruled for almost two centuries until its defeat in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by a confederacy of Deccan sultanates.
Later, the Nayaks, who were the military governors in the Vijaynagara Empire, took control of the region amongst whom the Nayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavur were the most prominent. They introduced the palayakkararar system and re-constructed some of the well-known temples in Tamil Nadu including the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.

Later conflicts and European colonization (17th to 20th century CE)

In the 18th century, the Mughal Empire administered the region through the Nawab of the Carnatic with his seat at Arcot, who defeated the Madurai Nayaks. The Marathas attacked several times and defeated the Nawab after the Siege of Trichinopoly (1751–1752). This led to a short-lived Thanjavur Maratha kingdom.

Europeans started to establish trade centres from the 16th century along the eastern coast. The Portuguese arrived in 1522 and built a port named São Tomé near present-day Mylapore in Madras. In 1609, the Dutch established a settlement in Pulicat and the Danes had their establishment in Tharangambadi. On 20 August 1639, Francis Day of the British East India Company met with the Vijayanager emperor Peda Venkata Raya and obtained a grant for land on the Coromandel coast for their trading activities. A year later, the company built Fort St. George, the first major English settlement in India, which became the nucleus of the British Raj in the region. By 1693, the French established trading posts at Pondichéry. In September 1746, the French captured Madras during the Battle of Madras. The British regained control of Madras in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and resisted a French siege attempt in 1759. The British and French competed to expand the trade which led to Battle of Wandiwash in 1760 as part of the Seven Years' War. The Nawabs of the Carnatic surrendered much of their territory to the British East India Company in the north and bestowed tax revenue collection rights in the South, which led to constant conflicts with the Palaiyakkarars known as the Polygar Wars. Puli Thevar was one of the earliest opponents, joined later by Rani Velu Nachiyar of Sivagangai and Kattabomman of Panchalakurichi in the first series of Polygar wars. The Maruthu brothers along with Oomaithurai, the brother of Kattabomman, formed a coalition with Dheeran Chinnamalai and Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, which fought the British in the Second Polygar War. In the later 18th century, the Mysore kingdom captured parts of the region and engaged in constant fighting with the British which culminated in the four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

By the 18th century, the British had conquered most of the region and established the Madras Presidency with Madras as the capital. After the defeat of Mysore in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 and the British victory in the second Polygar war in 1801, the British consolidated most of southern India into what was later known as the Madras Presidency. On 10 July 1806, the Vellore mutiny, which was the first instance of a large-scale mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company, took place in Vellore Fort. After the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act 1858, which transferred the governance of India from the East India Company to the British crown, forming the British Raj.

Failure of the summer monsoons and administrative shortcomings of the Ryotwari system resulted in two severe famines in the Madras Presidency, the Great Famine of 1876–78 and the Indian famine of 1896–97 which killed millions and the migration of many Tamils as bonded laborers to other British countries eventually forming the present Tamil diaspora. The Indian Independence movement gathered momentum in the early 20th century with the formation of the Indian National Congress, which was based on an idea propagated by the members of the Theosophical Society movement after a Theosophical convention held in Madras in December 1884. Tamil Nadu was the base of various contributors to the Independence movement including V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramaniya Siva and Bharatiyar. The Tamils formed a significant percentage of the members of the Indian National Army (INA), founded by Subhas Chandra Bose.

Post-Independence (1947–present)

After the Independence of India in 1947, the Madras Presidency became Madras state, comprising present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. Andhra state was split from the state in 1953 and the state was further re-organized when states were redrawn linguistically in 1956 into the current shape. On 14 January 1969, Madras state was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning "Tamil country". In 1965, agitations against the imposition of Hindi and in support of continuing English as a medium of communication arose which eventually led to English being retained as an official language of India alongside Hindi. After independence, the economy of Tamil Nadu conformed to a socialist framework, with strict governmental control over private sector participation, foreign trade, and foreign direct investment. After experiencing fluctuations in the decades immediately after Indian independence, the economy of Tamil Nadu consistently exceeded national average growth rates from the 1970s, due to reform-oriented economic policies. In the 2000s, the state has become one of the most urbanized states in the country with a higher Human Development Index compared to national average.

Environment

Geography

Tamil Nadu covers an area of and is the tenth-largest state in India. Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar to the south-east, and the Laccadive Sea at the southern cape of the peninsula. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, and the union territory of Puducherry. It shares an international maritime border with the Northern Province of Sri Lanka at Pamban Island. The Palk Strait and the chain of low sandbars and islands known as Rama's Bridge separate the region from Sri Lanka, which lies off the southeastern coast. The southernmost tip of mainland India is at Kanyakumari where the Indian Ocean meets the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.

The Western Ghats run south along the western boundary with the highest peak at Doddabetta () in the Nilgiri Hills. The Eastern Ghats run parallel to the Bay of Bengal along the eastern coast and the strip of land between them forms the Coromandel region. They are a discontinuous range of mountains intersected by Kaveri river. Both mountain ranges meet at the Nilgiri mountains which run in a crescent approximately along the borders of Tamil Nadu with northern Kerala and Karnataka, extending to the relatively low-lying hills of the Eastern Ghats on the western portion of the Tamil Nadu–Andhra Pradesh border. The Deccan plateau is the elevated region bound by the mountain ranges and the plateau slopes gently from west to east resulting in major rivers arising in the Western Ghats and flowing east into the Bay of Bengal. The coastline of Tamil Nadu is long, and is the second longest state coastline in the country after Gujarat. There are coral reefs located in the Gulf of Mannar and Lakshadweep islands. Tamil Nadu's coastline was permanently altered by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.

Geology

Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of the western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II and III. The volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan plateau were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period, between 67 and 66 million years ago. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted many years and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table. The predominant soils of Tamil Nadu are red loam, laterite, black, alluvial and saline. Red soil, with a higher iron content, occupies a larger portion of the state and all the inland districts. Black soil is found in western Tamil Nadu and parts of the southern coast. Alluvial soil is found in the fertile Kaveri delta region, with laterite soil found in pockets, and saline soil across the coast where the evaporation is high.

Climate

The region has a tropical climate and depends on monsoons for rainfall. Tamil Nadu is divided into seven agro-climatic zones: northeast, northwest, west, southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly, and Kaveri delta. A tropical wet and dry climate prevails over most of the inland peninsular region except for a semi-arid rain shadow east of the Western Ghats. Winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperatures averaging above ; summer is exceedingly hot with temperatures in low-lying areas exceeding ; and the rainy season lasts from June to September, with annual rainfall averaging between across the region. Once the dry northeast monsoon begins in September, most precipitation in India falls in Tamil Nadu, leaving other states comparatively dry.

A hot semi-arid climate predominates in the land east of the Western Ghats which includes inland south and south central parts of the state and gets between of rainfall annually, with hot summers and dry winters with temperatures around . The months between March and May are hot and dry, with mean monthly temperatures hovering around , with precipitation. Without artificial irrigation, this region is not suitable for agriculture.

The southwest monsoon from June to September accounts for most of the rainfall in the west of the region. The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon hits the Western Ghats from Kerala and moves northward along the Konkan coast, with precipitation on the western region of the state. The lofty Western Ghats prevent the winds from reaching the Deccan Plateau; hence, the leeward region (the region deprived of winds) receives very little rainfall. The Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon heads toward northeast India, picking up moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The Coramandel coast does not receive much rainfall from the southwest monsoon, due to the shape of the land. The northern and eastern parts of Tamil Nadu receive most of their rains from the northeast monsoon.

The northeast monsoon takes place from November to early March, when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The North Indian Ocean tropical cyclones occur throughout the year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, bringing devastating winds and heavy rainfall. The annual rainfall of the state is about of which 48 per cent is through the northeast monsoon, and 52 per cent through the southwest monsoon. The state has only 3% of the water resources nationally and is entirely dependent on rains for recharging its water resources. Monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought.

Flora and fauna

Forests occupy an area of constituting 17.4% of the geographic area. There is a wide diversity of plants and animals in Tamil Nadu, resulting from its varied climates and geography. Deciduous forests are found along the Western Ghats while tropical dry forests and scrub lands are common in the interior. The southern Western Ghats have rain forests located at high altitudes called the South Western Ghats montane rain forests. The Western Ghats eco-region is one of the eight hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are about 2,000 species of wildlife that are native to Tamil Nadu, 5640 species of angiosperms (including 1,559 species of medicinal plants, 533 endemic species, 260 species of wild relatives of cultivated plants, 230 red-listed species), 64 species of gymnosperms (including four indigenous species and 60 introduced species) and 184 species of pteridophytes apart from bryophytes, lichen, fungi, algae, and bacteria. Common plant species include the state tree: palmyra palm, eucalyptus, rubber, cinchona, clumping bamboos (''Bambusa arundinacea''), common teak, ''Anogeissus latifolia'', Indian laurel, grewia, and blooming trees like Indian laburnum, ardisia, and solanaceae. Rare and unique plant life includes ''Combretum ovalifolium'', ebony (''Diospyros nilagrica''), '' Habenaria rariflora'' (orchid), '' Alsophila'', ''Impatiens elegans'', ''Ranunculus reniformis'', and royal fern.

Important ecological regions of Tamil Nadu are the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Nilgiri Hills, the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve in the Agastya Mala-Cardamom Hills and Gulf of Mannar

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