Thoothukudi (District)

Thoothukudi District ; தூத்துக்குடி மாவட்டம்
State	Tamil Nadu
Administrative headquarters :	Thoothukudi
Area :	4,745 km²
Residents :	1,750,176 (2011)
Population density :	369 inhabitants / km²
Website :	thoothukudi.tn.nic.in

The district Thoothukudi ( Tamil : தூத்துக்குடி மாவட்டம் ; formerly Tuticorin ) is a district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . The administrative center is the eponymous city of Thoothukudi . The Thoothukudi district has an area of 4,745 square kilometers and around 1.8 million inhabitants (2011 census).

geography

Beach in the fishing village of Manapad

The Thoothukudi district is located in southern Tamil Nadu near the southern tip of India on the coast of the Gulf of Mannar . Neighboring districts are Tirunelveli in the west, Virudhunagar in the north and Ramanathapuram in the northeast.

The area of the Thoothukudi district is 4,745 square kilometers. The area of the district belongs to the southern coastal plain of Tamil Nadu. The Thamirabarani River flows through the southern part of the district area and flows into the Gulf of Mannar south of Thoothukudi.

In the Thoothukudi district there is an alternately humid tropical climate . The annual mean temperature in Thoothukudi is 29.2 ° C, the annual mean precipitation is 621 mm. Due to the location in the rain shadow of the Western Ghats, the climate is drier than in other parts of Tamil Nadu. Most of the rainfall occurs during the northeast monsoon between October and December.

history

View of Tuticorin, Dutch copper engraving, 1752

In ancient times the area of today's district belonged to the Pandya kingdom. Located at the mouth of the Thamirabarani River, Korkai was the main port of the Pandyas. It is mentioned in the ancient Tamil sangam literature , which probably dates from the first centuries AD, and appears as kolchoi in ancient Greco-Roman sources. After the port of Korkai silted up, the nearby Kayal (now Palayakayal ) became an important trading post. Today's Palayakayal is probably identical to the port of Cael, which Marco Polo visited in 1292 . After this port also began to silt up, the Muslim port city of Kayalpattinam probably became the center of overseas trade from the 14th century .

The area of today's district came under the influence of the European colonial powers early on. In the 16th century, the Portuguese established their presence on the fishing coast . St. Francis Xavier worked as a missionary in the region in the 1540s and brought about the conversion of the Paravar fishing caste to Christianity. The most important Portuguese base was initially Punnaikayal (Punicale), then Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) from the 1580s. In 1658 the Dutch conquered the city. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Thoothukudi was contested between the Dutch and the British and changed hands several times before it finally became part of British India in 1825 .

During the British colonial era, the Thoothukudi area was incorporated into the Madras Province as part of the Tirunelveli (Tinnevelly) district. After Indian independence, the area came to the newly formed state of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) in 1956. Thoothukudi has existed as an independent district since 1986, when the Tirunelveli district was divided into the current Tirunelveli and Thoothukudi districts.

population

Church goers in Arockiapuram, a district of Thoothukudi

According to the 2011 Indian census, the Thoothukudi district has 1,750,176 inhabitants. The population density of 369 inhabitants per square kilometer is below the Tamil Nadu average (555 inhabitants per square kilometer). 50 percent of the district's residents live in cities. The degree of urbanization thus corresponds to the mean value for the state (48 percent). 20 percent of the district's population are scheduled castes . At 86 percent, the literacy rate is above the Tamil Nadu average (80 percent).

According to the 2011 census , the Hindus make up the majority of the residents of the Thoothukudi district with 79 percent. There is also a significant Christian minority of 17 percent. Muslims make up just under 5 percent of the population. The Christian and Muslim minorities are mainly concentrated along the coast. The high Christian population is explained by the conversion of the fishing caste of the Paravar by Saint Francis Xavier in the 16th century. Islam came early to the coastal areas of southern India through maritime trade with the Arabian Peninsula . The city of Kayalpattinam , located in the Thoothukudi district, was a center of Arabia trade and Islamic culture in Tamil Nadu and is still strongly influenced by Muslims today.

The main language in the Thoothukudi district as in the whole of Tamil Nadu is Tamil . According to the 2001 census, 98 percent of the district's residents speak it as their first language. There is also a small minority of Telugu speakers (2 percent).

economy

The district capital Thoothukudi is an industrial site and houses one of the twelve largest overseas ports in India. Traditionally, pearl fishing has been the main livelihood of the population in the coastal area around Thoothukudi. Today pearl mussels are grown industrially in pearl farms. Salt is also extracted on a large scale : 30% of the salt produced in all of India comes from the Thoothukudi district.

Attractions

Entrance to the Murugan Temple in Tiruchendur

Our Lady of Snow Basilica in Thoothukudi

Tiruchendur is one of six pilgrimage sites ( Arupadaividu ) of the Hindu god Murugan in the Thoothukudi district . According to the myth, Murugan is said to have defeated the demon Surapadman at this point . The Murugan Temple of Tiruchendur, located directly by the sea, is an important place of pilgrimage and attracts numerous believers , especially during the Skanda Sasti festival in the Tamil month of Aippasi (October – November).

Numerous other Hindu temples can be found along the Thamirabarani River. The small town of Alwarthirunagari , the birthplace of the Vishnuit poet saint Nammalvar, should be mentioned here . Alwarthirunagari houses the Adinatha temple, dedicated to God Vishnu , which dates back to the 13th century, but its current structure essentially dates from the 16th to 17th centuries. Century.

Several church buildings from the time of Portuguese rule remind of the colonial past of the Thoothukudi district. In Thoothukudi itself is the basilica Our Lady of Snow (Panimaya Matha) , built in 1718 . The church in the fishing village of Manapad dates back to 1581 and is said to house a fragment of the Holy Cross . There are numerous mosques in the Islamic city of Kayalpattinam . The oldest of these is the Al-Kabir Mosque from 1337.

In Adichanallur on the south bank of the Thamirabarani River you can visit the excavations of an Iron Age burial site. The small town of Kalugumalai , located in the northern part of the district, is home to an unfinished monolithic temple that was carved out of the rock during the Pandya period from the 8th century, as well as a number of Jain rock reliefs.

Administrative division

The Thoothukudi District is divided into 8 Taluks (sub-districts):

Taluk	main place	Population (2011)
Ettayapuram	Ettayapuram	74,991
Kovilpatti	Kovilpatti	321.323
Ottapidaram	Ottapidaram	123.356
Sathankulam	Sathankulam	98,690
Srivaikuntam	Srivaikuntam	202.962
Thoothukudi	Thoothukudi	478,328
Tiruchendur	Tiruchendur	310.945
Vilathikulam	Vilathikulam	139,581

Cities

In the Thoothukudi district there is one city ( Municipal Corporation ), two cities with their own municipalities ( Municipalities ), 19 small towns administered according to the Panchayat system ( Town Panchayats ) and 13 census towns . The number of inhabitants is given according to the 2011 census.