Chennai district, formerly known as Madras district, is one of the 38 districts in the state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. It is the smallest and the most densely populated district in the state. The district is coterminous with the city of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, which is administered by the

Greater Chennai Corporation The Greater Chennai Corporation, formerly known as the Corporation of Madras (1688-1996) and Corporation of Chennai (1996-2016), is the civic body that governs the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Inaugurated on 29 Septembe ...

. It is surrounded by Tiruvallur district in the north and the west, Kanchipuram district in the south-west, Chenglpattu district in the south, and 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 bet ...

in the east. As of 2011, the district had a population of 4,646,732 with a sex-ratio of 989 females for every 1,000 males. Much of the district's population descended from its settlements in the 1st century CE to the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, but the diversity has grown much since then. The district consists of only one civic body, the

megacity A megacity is a very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people. Precise definitions vary: the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in its 2018 "World Urbanization Prospects" report counted urban ...

of Chennai, which forms the core and the most notable portion of the much bigger Chennai

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big c ...

, or officially, the

Chennai Metropolitan Area The Greater Chennai Metropolitan Area, or simply the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), is the third-most populous metropolitan area in India, the 22nd-most in Asia, and the 40th-most in the world. The CMA consists of the core city of Chennai, wh ...

. In 2018, the district's limits were expanded, aligning with that of the newly expanded Greater Chennai Corporation, which had annexed adjacent municipalities. It resulted in the area being increased from to . The district is divided into three revenue divisions and ten

taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

Etymology

The name ''Chennai'' was derived from Damarla Chennappa Nayak, the father of a general of the Vijayanagar Empire.

Geography

Chennai district covers an area of 426 km² located on the

Eastern Coastal Plains The Eastern Coastal Plains is a wide stretch of landmass of India, lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal. It is wider and leveled than the Western Coastal Plains and stretches from Tamil Nadu in the south to West Bengal in the n ...

of India. It is situated on the northeastern corner of Tamil Nadu along the Coramandel coast, a region bounded by the

and is surrounded inland by the districts of

Tiruvallur Tiruvallur is a Grade I municipality and a fast developing city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of Coovum river about from downtown Chennai (Madras) and just 5 km from megacity border, in the western p ...

Kanchipuram Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...

and

Chengalpattu Chengalpattu, previously known as Chingleput, is a city and the headquarters of Chengalpattu district of the state Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located near to the industrial and IT hub. It is the headquarters of the district and is away ...

. It lies between 12°59' and 13°9' of the northern

latitude In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...

and 80°12' and 80°19' of the eastern

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...

at an average

altitude Altitude or height (also sometimes known as depth) is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context ...

of 6 metres above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

on a 'sandy shelving breaker swept' beach. Terrain slope varies from 1:5000 to 1:10,000. The terrain is very flat with contours ranging from 2 m to 10 m above

mean sea level There are several kinds of mean in mathematics, especially in statistics. Each mean serves to summarize a given group of data, often to better understand the overall value ( magnitude and sign) of a given data set. For a data set, the '' ...

with a few isolated hillocks in the southwest beyond the district limits at St. Thomas Mount,

Pallavaram Pallavaram (originally Pallava Puram) is a residential neighborhood of Chennai, India. Pallavaram was a part of Alandur until August 2015 and since then a new taluk with headquarters at Pallavaram was created. The town is known for its cant ...

and Tambaram. The district runs inland in a rugged semi-circular fashion and its coastline is about 25.60 km (2.5% of the total coastline of Tamil Nadu). Because of its strategic location and economic importance, it is referred to as the "Gateway of South India." The drainage system includes two

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

s, namely, Cooum (flowing in the northern part) and Adyar (flowing in the southern part), a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

(the

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

), and a

stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...

(the

Otteri Nullah The Otteri Nullah is an east–west waterway which runs through north Chennai, starting at the village of Mullam proceeding through Purasawalkam and then passing through Buckingham and Carnatic Mills before meeting the Buckingham Canal ...

) slicing the district into several islands. The district falls under Seismic Zone III indicating a moderate risk of

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

. Geologically the district is divided into three regions, namely, sandy, clayey and hard-rock regions. The

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former ...

comprises

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay pa ...

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especiall ...

and

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicat ...

. Of the total land area, reserved forests cover 2.71 km² and is concentrated in and around the Guindy National Park region, one of the few national parks in the world located within a city. The forest cover of the district is as follows:

Climate

Chennai has

Tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of ...

( Köppen: Aw)

Demographics

According to 2011 census, Chennai district had a population of 4,646,732 with a sex-ratio of 989 females for every 1,000 males, much above the national average of 929.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes The Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) are officially designated groups of people and among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups in India. The terms are recognized in the Constitution of India and the groups are designa ...

accounted for 16.78% and 0.22% of the population respectively. The average literacy of the district was 81.27%, compared to the national average of 72.99%. With the expanded limits Chennai district had a population of 6,748,026. The district had a total of 1,154,982 households. There were a total of 1,817,297 workers, comprising 10,210 cultivators, 10,251 main agricultural labourers, 29,143 in house hold industries, 1,569,950 other workers, 197,743 marginal workers, 4,244 marginal cultivators, 3,423 marginal agricultural labourers, 8,202 marginal workers in household industries and 181,874 other marginal workers.

Administration and politics

In 2013, five taluks on the district were split to create five new ones:

Velachery Velachery (''pronounced as'' veh·luh·cheh·ree) is a commercial and residential area in south Chennai, and is the largest commercial centre in south Chennai. It is surrounded by Guindy in the north, IIT Madras in the north-east, Taramani ...

, Purasawalkam, Ayanavaram, Aminjikarai and Guindy. In January 2018, the state government announced that the district will be expanded to match the boundaries of the

. This will integrate six additional taluks from

and

districts into the Chennai district. The new divisions and taluks of the district will be:

Revenue divisions and taluks

* North Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Tondiarpet, contains taluks of

Tiruvottiyur Tiruvottriyur (Thiruvottiyur or TVT) is a neighbourhood in North Chennai, administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation. It is part of the Tondiarpet division, located to the north of Chennai. It is one of the fifteen administrative zones in ...

, Madhavaram, Perambur, Tondiarpet, and

Purasaiwalkam Purasawakkam, also known as Purasaiwakkam or Purasai / Purasawalkam, is a residential shopping area in the district of Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is close to the Chennai Central and Chennai Egmore railway stations. E ...

. * Central Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Ambattur, contains the taluks of Mambalam,

Egmore Egmore is a neighbourhood of Chennai, India. Situated on the northern banks of the Coovum River, Egmore is an important residential area as well as a commercial and transportation hub. The Egmore Railway Station was the main terminus of the Ma ...

, Aminjikarai, Ayanavaram, Ambattur, and Maduravoyal. * South Chennai Revenue Division, headquartered at Guindy, contains the taluks of

Mylapore Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...

Etymology

Geography

Climate

Demographics

Administration and politics

Revenue divisions and taluks

Members of Parliament

Politics

See also

Notes

References

External links