Kiltan or Kilthān Island is a

coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

island belonging to the Amindivi Subgroup of islands of the

Union Territory Among the states and union territories of India, a Union Territory (UT) is a region that is directly governed by the Government of India, central government of India, as opposed to the states, which have their own State governments of India, s ...

Lakshadweep Lakshadweep () is a union territory of India. It is an archipelago of 36 islands divided into three island subgroups: the Amindivi Islands in the north, the Laccadive Islands (separated from Amindivi roughly by the 11th parallel north), and th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is at a distance of 291 km away from Kannur, 303 km away from

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

, and west of the city of

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

. The nearest mainland body is Cannanore and the nearest port is

Mangalore Mangaluru (), formerly called Mangalore ( ), is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka and on the west coast of India. It is located between the Laccadive Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bengaluru, the st ...

History

Kiltan is settled during early periods of common immigration to the

islands. The island was part of an international trade route between the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

and

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Kiltan is the home of the Sufi saint Shaikh Ahmed Naqshabanthi.

Geography

Kiltan is one of the populated islands of Lakshadweep. It is located 51 km to the northeast of

Amini Island Amini is a census town in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep, India. It is also the name of the island where the town stands and of the atoll that contains that island. It lies west of the city of Kochi. History Amini Island was one of t ...

and 32 km to the southeast of Chetlat Island, between 11° 28′ and 11° 30′ N latitude and 72° 59′ and 73° 01′ E longitude, and has an area of 2.20 km². The reef and lagoon (total area of ) are located to the west of the island and the dry land has 3.4 km length and 0.6 km width at the broadest point. On the northern and southern ends of the island, there are high storm beaches. This island is 291 km away from Kannur, 303 km away from

, and 394 km (213 nautical miles) away from

. Its lagoon area is 1.76 km². Kiltan island also has crossed by 73rd meridian east through its landmark known as Kulikkara is a tomb of a Lady venerated by natives.

Economics

Historically, the primary source of income on the island was fishing and coconut production. However, in recent times, the island's residents have diversified their livelihoods, venturing into various fields, including government positions (in education, police, communication, transportation, business, and IT) and private employment opportunities like construction (building and road development), plumbing, and electrical work.

Demographics

The population in Kiltan was 3945 as per census 2011. Most people from Kiltan, as in Amini and Kadmat, belonged to the Koya, Mali and Melacheri families.R. H. Ellis, ''A short account of the Laccadive Islands and Minicoy'', AES reprint 1992 The language spoken is Jeseri, a mixture of

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

and Tamil influenced by

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

as in other islands. But the peoples don't use its script because its writing was stopped too earlier period. Kiltan has rich folk cultures and warm hospitality to its tradition. The Island has a 41-metre lighthouse and an average Heliport t used by Administration for Emergency medical services. In the past, Kiltan was nicknamed as Cheriyaponnani meaning Little

Ponnani Ponnani () is a Nagar Palika (Municipality), municipality in Ponnani Taluk, Malappuram District, in the state of Kerala, India. It serves as the administrative center of the Taluk and Block Panchayat of the same name. It is situated at the est ...

because of the Islanders acquired knowledge from here during the pre-colonial periods in relative that the Ponnani was known for centre of Islamic Religious knowledge in

Southern India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

Administration

The island has a Sub Divisional Officer appointing by administration from Kavaratti the Union capital of Lakshadweep commanding as executive and judicial head of islands. The Police station of Kiltan have dozens of constables and marines under a sub-inspector. Also there have a base camp for IRBN ( India Reserve Bettalion) for duties such as safeguarding of Treasury and use as additional force with police in case of an emergency.

Image gallery

File:20150107 Kiltan seen from south.jpg, Kiltan island seen from southern extreme point of reef also here is a small channel named Mooni File:Lakshadweep.jpg, Satellite picture showing the atolls of the Lakshadweep except for

Minicoy Minicoy, locally known as Maliku (), is an island in Lakshadweep, India. Along with Viringili, it is on Maliku atoll, the southernmost atoll of Lakshadweep archipelago. Administratively, it is a census town in the Indian States and territories ...

File:Map of Lakshadweep-en.svg, Map File:Kiltan jetty.jpg, Kiltan jetty File:20150107 Kiltan seen from south.jpg, Kiltan island seen from southern extreme point of reef also here is a small channel named Mooni File:IMG-20181007-WA0025.jpg, An evening from Cocafulluckyar Kiltan Island

References

External links

Lagoon sizes
*
List of Atolls

An ornithological expedition to the Lakshadweep archipelagoSources towards a history of the Laccadive Islands
{{Lakshadweep Islands of Lakshadweep Atolls of India Cities and towns in Lakshadweep district Islands of India Populated places in India