South Canara was a district of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

, located at . It comprised the towns of

Kassergode Kasaragod ( and Malayalam: , English: ''Kassergode'', Tulu: ''Kasrod'', Arabic: ''Harkwillia'') is one of the 14 districts in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Its northern border Thalappady is located just 10 km south to Ullal, whi ...

and

Udipi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...

and adjacent villages, with the capital in

Mangalore city The Mangalore City Corporation is the municipal corporation responsible for overseeing the local administration of the Indian city of Mangalore and it's suburbs, which are a major urban area and the most important port city of karnataka state. ...

. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of

, with

Tulu Tulu may refer to: People *Derartu Tulu (born 1972), Ethiopian long-distance runner *Walid Yacoubou (born 1997), Togolese footballer nicknamed "Tulu" India *Tulu calendar, traditional solar calendar generally used in the regions of southwest Kar ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, Konkani, Marathi,

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' Beary The Beary (also known as Byari) is a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka. They are an ethnic group of Indian Muslims with their own distinct cu ...

languages being spoken side by side. It was succeeded by the

-speaking areas of

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is a district of Karnataka state in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangalore. It is part of the larger Tulu Nadu region. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east ...

district, the

-speaking area of

Kasaragod district Kasaragod ( and Malayalam: , English: ''Kassergode'', Tulu: ''Kasrod'', Arabic: ''Harkwillia'') is one of the 14 districts in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Its northern border Thalappady is located just 10 km south to Ullal, whi ...

and the Amindivi islands sub-division of the Laccadives, in the year 1956.

Geography

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka– ...

was the administrative headquarters of the district. The district covered an area of . South Canara District was bordered by North Canara to north, the princely state of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

to east,

Coorg Kodagu (also known by its former name Coorg) is an administrative district in the Karnataka state of India. Before 1956, it was an administratively separate Coorg State, at which point it was merged into an enlarged Mysore State. It occupies ...

state to southeast,

Malabar District Malabar District, also known as Malayalam District, was an administrative district on the southwestern Malabar Coast of Bombay Presidency (1792-1800) and Madras Presidency (1800-1947) in British India, and independent India's Madras State (19 ...

to south, and

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channe ...

to west. South Canara was one of the two districts on the western coast (

Malabar coast The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing ...

) of

along with

(otherwise known as ''Malayalam District'').

History

South Canara was annexed by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

following the defeat of

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

in the Fourth Mysore War 1799 and along with North Kanara formed the district of

Kanara Kanara, also known as Karavali is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The region comprises three civil districts, ...

in the Madras Presidency. In 1859, Kanara was split into two districts, North and South. North Kanara was transferred to the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

, and South was retained by Madras.

Taluks

The district was divided into six

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 ...

s: * Amindivi Islands ( Laccadives) (Area:) * Coondapoor (Area:; Headquarters: Coondapoor) *

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala an ...

(Area:; Headquarters: Kasaragod) *

(Area:; Headquarters: Mangalore) *

Udupi Udupi (alternate spelling Udipi; also known as Odipu) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. Udupi is situated about north of the educational, commercial and industrial hub of Mangalore and about west of state capital Bangalore by road. ...

(Area:; Headquarters: Udupi) * Uppinangady (Area:; Headquarters: Puttur)

Administration

The district was administered by a

District Collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal revenu ...

. For purpose of convenience, the district was divided into three sub-divisions: * Coondapoor sub-division: Coondapoor and Udupi taluks * Mangalore sub-division: Mangalore, and the Amindivi islands * Puttur sub-division: Uppinangady and Kasaragod taluks. The district had two municipalities, those of Mangalore and Udupi.

Demographics

South Kanara had a total population of 1,748,991 in 1951, of whom 76.58% were Hindus, 14.31% Muslim and 8.85% Christian. The most widely spoken language was Tulu which was the mother tongue of 40 percent of the population, followed by Malayalam which formed the mother tongue of 24 percent of the population. Around 17 percent of the total population spoke Kannada. Around 13 percent of the population speaks Konkani as their mother tongue. In 1901, South Kanara had a density of . The 1908 '' Imperial Gazetteer of India'' lists South Canara, along with the

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...

and Ganjam districts, as the three districts of the

where

Brahmins Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests ( purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

are most numerous. The majority of the people were

Billava The Billava, Billoru, Biruveru people are an ethnic group of India. They are found traditionally in Tulu Nadu region and engaged in toddy tapping, cultivation and other activities. They have used both missionary education and Sri Narayana Guru's ...

s and Bunts. There were more

(12% of the population) in South Kanara than any other district of the Madras Presidency making South Kanara, along with

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...

and Ganjam as one of the three districts of the province where Brahmins were most numerous. The original

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of the region are Tuluvas ( Bunts,

s, Mogaveeras, Tulu gowda, Kulalas,

Devadiga Devadiga are a community from the districts of Udupi and Dakshina Kannada in the Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are f ...

Beary The Beary (also known as Byari) is a community concentrated along the southwest coast of India, mostly in the Mangalore district of the south Indian state of Karnataka. They are an ethnic group of Indian Muslims with their own distinct cu ...

s, Jogis) and

Malayali The Malayali people () (also spelt Malayalee and also known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala in India, occupying its southwestern Malabar coast. They are predomin ...

s in the Kasaragod Taluk (

Nambudiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal e ...

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom hist ...

s, Thiyyas, Mappilas etc). The Brahmins who settled first belonged chiefly to the Sthanika and thus they were called as Tulu Brahmins. Others were

Shivalli The Shivalli Brahmins are a Hindu community in Karnataka. They are divided into two groups, the first of which follows the Dvaita philosophy founded by the Vaishnava saint Madhvacharya of Udupi are called Shivalli Madhva Brahmins, and the secon ...

, Saraswat,

Havyaka Havyaka Brahmins are the Hindu Pancha Dravida Vedic Brahmins from the Indian state of Karnataka. Havyakas profess the Advaita philosophy propounded by Adi Shankaracharya. Most Havyakas can trace their immediate ancestry to either Sirsi, Utta ...

, Kotaha sub-sections, Mahars, the hill-tribes ('' Koragas'').

References

External links

South Canara
by Vikas Kamat from ''Kamat.com'' {{Wiktionary, South Canara Regions of Karnataka History of Mangalore Districts of the Madras Presidency South Kanara District Regions of Kerala