Dakshina Kannada

Dakshina Kannada ; ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡ
State	Karnataka
Division :	Mysore
Administrative headquarters :	Mangalore
Area :	4,559 km²
Residents :	2,083,625 (2011)
Population density :	457 inhabitants / km²
Website :	dakshinakannadk.nic.in

Dakshina Kannada ( Kannada : ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಕನ್ನಡ Dakṣiṇa Kannaḍa [ ˈd̪ʌkʂiɳa ˈkʌnːəɖa ], "Südkannada"; formerly English South Canara or South Kanara ) is a district of the Indian state of Karnataka . The administrative seat is the city of Mangalore .

geography

The Dakshina Kannada district is located in the coastal region in the southwest of Karnataka on the border with the neighboring state of Kerala . It borders on the districts of Udupi in the north, Chikmagalur in the northeast, Hassan in the east, Kodagu in the southeast (all Karnataka) and Kasaragod (Kerala) in the south. To the west lies the coast of the Arabian Sea . The Dakshina Kannada district has an area of 4,559 square kilometers and is divided into the five taluks Mangalore, Bantwal, Belthagandy, Puttur and Sullia.

Landscape in the district of Dakshina Kannada

Most of Dakshina Kannada belongs to the narrow coastal plain in western Karnataka. The coastal area north of the district capital Mangalore is called the Konkan Coast , south of Mangalore the Malabar Coast begins . In the fertile coastal plain, the landscape is characterized by rice fields and coconut palms. The most important rivers Dakshina Kannada are the Netravati and the Gurupura , both of which have their source in the Western Ghats and flow into a lagoon near Mangalore . In the east of the district area the terrain rises steeply to the Western Ghats , which demarcate the Deccan Plateau from the coastal plain. The mountain range reaches its greatest heights at 1,894 meters high Kudremukh on the border with the Chikmagalur district.

Due to its location on the west coast at the foot of the Western Ghats, the climate in Dakshina Kannada is humid and is largely determined by the monsoons . During the summer monsoon, the area receives heavy rainfall, especially between June and August. Therefore, the total rainfall is several times higher than in the interior of Karnataka: The average annual precipitation in Mangalore is 3290 millimeters, while it is only 900 millimeters in Bangalore .

history

Map of the old district of South Kanara (Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1931)

The current district Dakshina Kannada goes back to the District Kanara, which the British had set up in 1799 after the area in the Fourth Mysore War of Tipu Sultan , the ruler of Mysore conquered, and as part of the province of Madras in British India had incorporated . The Kanara district encompassed the entire coastal area of Karnataka, the area around Kasaragod and the island group of the Amindives . The name Kanara or Kannada has the same origin as the name of the state of Karnataka and the language spoken there, Kannada . It means "black land" and originally refers to the black earth of the Deccan highlands, but was then transferred to the coastal plain in the west.

In 1862 the district of Kanara was divided into the districts of South Kanara (now Dakshina Kannada) and North Kanara (now Uttara Kannada ). South Kanara stayed with Madras, while North Kanara moved to the province of Bombay . After India became independent in 1947, its states were reorganized according to language boundaries by the States Reorganization Act in 1956 . Dakshina Kannada became part of the Kannada-speaking state of Mysore (renamed Karnataka in 1973). The southern part of the district around the city of Kasaragod was added to the state of Kerala because of its predominantly Malayalam- speaking population and today forms the Kasaragod district . In addition, the archipelago of the Amindives came to the union territory of "Lakkadiven, Amindiven and Minicoy", which was renamed Lakshadweep in 1973 . In 1997 the district of Dakshina Kannada was divided again and the district of Udupi was formed from the northern part .

population

Fishermen in Mangalore

According to the 2011 Indian census, the Dakshina Kannada district has 2,083,625 inhabitants. Compared to the last census in 2001, the population had grown by 9.8 percent and thus more slowly than the average in Karnataka (15.7 percent). The Dakshina Kannada district is more densely populated than the rest of Karnataka: with 457 inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density is well above the mean of the state (319 inhabitants per square kilometer) and is the second highest of all the districts of Karnataka after Bengaluru Urban . 47.6 percent of the population lives in cities. The degree of urbanization is thus well above the average in Karnataka (38.6 percent). Dakshina Kannada has the highest literacy rate in the state: at 88.6 percent, it is well above the average in Karnataka (76.1 percent).

In religious terms, Dakshina Kannada is more inhomogeneous than the rest of Karnataka, the religious conditions are more similar to those of neighboring Kerala. According to the 2001 census, Hindus make up the majority of the district's population at 68.6 percent, but their proportion is significantly lower than the average in Karnataka. There are also larger minorities of Muslims (22.1 percent) and Christians (8.7 percent). Dakshina Kannada has the highest Muslim as well as Christian population share among the districts of Karnataka.

Dakshina Kannada is a multilingual area: Kannada , the main language of Karnataka, is used as the administrative language. The majority of the population of Dakshina Kannada speak Tulu as their mother tongue. This Dravidian regional language has a total of around 1.7 million speakers and is restricted to the area of Dakshina Kannada and parts of the neighboring districts of Udupi and Kasaragod. In addition, the so-called Mangalorer Catholics (will Mangalorean Catholics ), originally from Goa immigrated, Konkani spoken. Unlike in most of Karnataka, the Muslims do not use Urdu , but rather a dialect of Malayalam .

Cities

city	Population (2001)
Adyar	6,501
Bajala	9,960
Bajpe	8,032
Bantwal	36,829
Beltangadi	7,302
Kannur	7,241
Kotekara	14,323
Mangalore	398.745
Mudbidri	25,710
Mudushedde	7,426
Mulki	16,398
Mulur	5,057
Munnur	8,035
Pudu	12,409
Puttur	48,063
Someshwar	20,098
Sulya	18,026
Thokur-62	6,166
Thumbe	5,558
Ullal	49,862