Uttara Kannada

Uttara Kannada ; ಉತ್ತರ ಕನ್ನಡ
State	Karnataka
Division :	Belgaum
Administrative headquarters :	Karwar
Area :	10,263 km²
Residents :	1,436,847 (2011)
Population density :	140 inhabitants / km²
Website :	uttarakannada.nic.in

Uttara Kannada ( Kannada : ಉತ್ತರ ಕನ್ನಡ Uttara Kannaḍa [ ˈut̪ːəra ˈkʌnːəɖa ], "North Kanada"; formerly English North Canara or North Kanara ) is a district of the Indian state of Karnataka . The administrative seat is the city of Karwar .

geography

Beach in Gokarna

The district of Uttara Kannada is located in the coastal region in the northwest of Karnataka on the border with the neighboring state of Goa . It borders the districts of Udupi in the south, Shimoga in the southeast, Haveri and Dharwad in the east, Belgaum in the north (all Karnataka) and South Goa (Goa) in the northwest. To the west lies the coast of the Arabian Sea .

With an area of 10,263 square kilometers, Uttara Kannada is one of the largest districts of Karnataka. The district area is part of two different landscape areas: In the west lies the narrow coastal strip on the Konkan coast , in the east the Western Ghats rise, which demarcate the coastal region from the highlands of the Dekkan . Most of Uttara Canada consists of mountainous lands that are covered with dense forests: 80 percent of the district area is forested.

The Uttara Kannada district is divided into the eleven taluks Bhatkal, Honavar, Siddapur, Kumta, Sirsi, Ankola, Karwar, Yellapur, Mundgod, Supa and Haliyal.

history

The current district Uttara 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 Kanara District was divided into the North Kanara (now Uttara Kannada) and South Kanara (now Dakshina Kannada ) districts. North Kanara moved from the province of Madras 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 . Uttara Kannada became part of the Kannada-speaking state of Mysore (renamed Karnataka in 1973).

population

According to the 2011 Indian census, the Uttara Kannada district has 1,436,847 inhabitants. Between 2001 and 2011, the population grew by 6.2 percent and thus significantly lower than the average in Karnataka (15.7 percent). Because of its largely mountainous terrain, the district of Uttara Kannada is only sparsely populated: with 140 inhabitants per square kilometer, the population density is the second lowest of all the districts of Karnataka and is well below the state average (319 inhabitants per square kilometer). Only 7.4 percent of the district's residents live in cities. The degree of urbanization is thus much lower than the mean value of Karnataka (38.6 percent). The literacy rate at 84.0 percent, on the other hand, is well above the state average (76.1 percent).

According to the 2001 census , Hindus make up the majority of the inhabitants of the Uttara Kannada district with 83.6 percent. There are also minorities of Muslims (11.9 percent) and Christians (3.3 percent). In Mundgod there is a colony of Tibetan refugees who were settled here from the 1960s. In addition to Kannada , the main language of Karnataka, Konkani , the language of the northern neighboring state of Goa, is also spoken in Uttara Kannada . Traditionally, the Gangavalli River is considered the border between the Konkani and Kannada language areas. Some Konkani activists are calling for the Konkan-speaking parts of the Uttara Kannada district to join Goa. As in most parts of Karnataka, Urdu is also widespread among the Muslim population of the district . In the Taluk Bhatkala of the Uttara Kannada district, Urdu has the status of an associated official language due to the high proportion of its speakers in the population.

Attractions

Madhukeshwara Temple in Banavasi

On the coast of the Uttara Kannada district is the place Gokarna , which is important both as a place of pilgrimage and as a tourist destination. In Gokarna there is an important Hindu temple which is dedicated to the god Shiva in his form as Mahabaleshwara. The beaches of Gokarna also attract numerous backpackers, for whom Gokarna is an alternative to Goa further north.

Other sights in the Uttara Kannada district are the town of Banavasi , the former capital of the Kadamba dynasty, with the Madhukeshwara Temple from the 9th century and Murudeshwara , which has a modern temple with a 72 meter high gopuram (gate tower) and a 37 meter high Shiva statue can boast.

Cities

city	Population (2001)
Ambikanagara	4,848
Ankola	14.306
Bhatkal	31,785
Dandeli	53,287
Haliyal	20,652
Honavar	17,833
Karwar	62,960
Kumta	27,597
Mundgod	16,171
Siddapur	14,049
Sirsi	58,711
Venkatapura	5,968
Yellapur	17,938