Thiruvananthapuram District () is the southernmost district in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The district was created in 1949, with its headquarters in the city of

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

, which is also Kerala's administrative centre. The present district was created in 1956 by separating the four southernmost Taluks of the erstwhile district to form Kanyakumari district. The city of

is also known as the

Information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

capital of the state, since it is home to the first and largest IT park in India, Technopark, established in 1990. The district is home to more than 9% of total population of the state. The district covers an area of . At the 2011 census, it had a population of 3,301,427, making it the second most populous district in Kerala after

Malappuram district Malappuram (), is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, with a coastline of . The most populous district of Kerala, Malappuram is home to around 13% of the tot ...

. Its population density is the highest in Kerala, with . The district is divided into six subdistricts:

Chirayinkeezhu Chirayinkeezhu is a town in the Thiruvananthapuram district in the Indian state of Kerala. It was also the hometown of famous Malayalam film actor Prem Nazir. It is the seat of Chirayinkeezhu taluk. Anjengo Fort The well known Anjengo Fort ( ...

Neyyattinkara Neyyattinkara is a municipal town in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala, India. It also serves as the administrative headquarters of Neyyattinkara taluk. Nestled along the banks of the Neyyar River, one of the district's principal rivers, the ...

, Nedumangadu,

Varkala Varkala is a major coastal municipality and a northern suburb of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. In legends and myths related to Kerala, texts like the Keralolpathi, Kerala Mahatmyam describe the Varkala reg ...

, and Kattakada. The urban bodies in the district are the

Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, also known as Thiruvananthapuram Central, is the municipal corporation that administrates the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala. The city corporation is spread over 214.86 km2 with ...

, and the

, Attingal, and

Nedumangad Nedumangad is a municipal town in the Thiruvananthapuram district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the headquarters of Nedumangad Tehsil and Nedumangad Revenue Division. It is a suburb of the extended metropolitan region of Thiruvanantha ...

municipalities. Thiruvananthapuram district is located between and . At the southernmost extremity of the district, Kaliyikkavila is from

Kanyakumari Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

, the southernmost point on the Indian peninsula. 33.75% of the district population lives in urban areas. The district has three major rivers, several freshwater lakes, and over 300 ponds. Its eastern region is forested, northern regions are mostly under rubber cultivation and the remaining areas grow mixed dry-land crops of coconut, plantain, and tapioca, among others. Built-up areas and rice fields complete the land use pattern.

Etymology

The name Thiruvananthapuram, shared by the district and its headquarters city, comes from the

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 ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

word "Thiru" and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word "anantha-pura", meaning "Abode of Lord Anantha". The name derives from the deity of the

Hindu temple A Hindu temple, also known as Mandir, Devasthanam, Pura, or Kovil, is a sacred place where Hindus worship and show their devotion to Hindu deities, deities through worship, sacrifice, and prayers. It is considered the house of the god to who ...

at the center of Thiruvananthapuram city. Anantha is another name of Vishnu, the deity of Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. The district's official name in English was Trivandrum until 1991, when the government reinstated the city's original name, Thiruvananthapuram, in all languages.

History

The city of Thiruvananthapuram features several landmarks with regards to ancient tradition, folklore, and literature. Several other locations in the district feature similar landmarks. The

Chera dynasty The Chera dynasty ( or Cēra, ), also known as Keralaputra, from the early historic or the Sangam period in Tamil-speaking southern India, ruled over parts of present-day states Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The Cheras, known as one of the mu-ventar ...

governed the area of

Malabar Coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

between

in the south to

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and the administrative headquarters of the 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 Kera ...

in the north. This included

Palakkad Gap Palakkad Gap or Palghat Gap is a low mountain pass in the Western Ghats between Coimbatore in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Palakkad in the state of Kerala. It has an average elevation of with a width of . The pass is located between the ...

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

, Salem, and Kolli Hills. The region around

served as the eastern entrance to the

, the mountain pass that is the principal trade route between the

and

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The southernmost region of present-day Malabar coast (the coastal belt between Kanyakumari and Kollam) was ruled by the

Ay dynasty Ay dynasty (transliteration: Āy, ), also known as Kupaka in medieval period, was an Indian dynasty which controlled the south-western tip of the Indian peninsula, peninsula, from the early historic period up to the medieval period. The clan tr ...

, who were related to, and officially feudatories of the Cheras. The Ay Dynasty (later known as the Venad Dynasty and finally the Thiruvithamkur Dynasty), followed by the Nannan Dynasty (later known as the Mushika dynasty and finally the Kolathiri dynasty), were the two oldest and most important lineages of the

Velir The Velir were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakam in the early historic period of South India. They had close relations with Chera, Chola and Pandya rulers through ruling and coronation rights. Med ...

clan, who had very frequent intermarriages with the Cheras,

Cholas The Chola dynasty () was a Tamil dynasty originating from Southern India. At its height, it ruled over the Chola Empire, an expansive maritime empire. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd cen ...

, and the

Pandyas The Pandya dynasty (), also referred to as the Pandyas of Madurai, was an ancient Tamil dynasty of South India, and among the four great kingdoms of Tamilakam, the other three being the Pallavas, the Cholas and the Cheras. Existing sinc ...

. Present-day

city, district, and Kanyakumari district, were ruled by the

during ancient and medieval ages, which was a

kingdom based in the southernmost part of Indian Subcontinent. Ay kingdom had experienced attacks and conquests by

and

in various periods. Later it became a part of

Venad Venad was a medieval kingdom between the Western Ghat mountains of India with its capital at city of Quilon.Noburu Karashmia (ed.), A Concise History of South India: Issues and Interpretations. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2014. 143 ...

in late Middle Ages, which was eventually expanded as the powerful kingdom of

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

in 18th century CE. The

-Dravidian kind of architecture is also found in Padmanabhaswamy temple, which makes it distinct from the architectural style of temples in

in general. 1733 Homann Heirs Map of India - Geographicus - India-homannheirs-1733

In 1684, during the

regency In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

of Umayamma Rani, the

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

acquired a sandy spit of land at Anchuthengu, near

on the sea coast about north of Thiruvananthapuram city, with a view to erecting a factory and fortifying it. The location had earlier been frequented by the Dutch, then by the British. It was from here that the English gradually extended their diplomacy to other parts of

Modern history begins with

Marthanda Varma Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma (Malayalam: ; 1706 – 7 July 1758) was the founding monarch of the southern Indian Kingdom of Travancore (previously Venadu) from 1729 until his death in 1758. He was succeeded by Rama Varma ("Dharma Raja") ...

(1729 CE–1758 CE), generally regarded as the Father of modern

. In the early 18th century CE, the

Travancore royal family The Travancore royal family was the ruling house of the Kingdom of Travancore. They signed a treaty with the British in 1788, thereby adopting British dominance. Later, in 1805, they revised the treaty, leading to a diminution of royal authorit ...

adopted some members from the royal family of

Kolathunadu Kolattunādu () (Kola Swarupam, as Kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along w ...

(a long separated younger sister dynasty of Ay/Venad/Thiruvithamkur with whom they had the tradition of mutual adoption of heirs for centuries) based in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and Municipal corporation (India), municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the maj ...

. Thiruvananthapuram was known as a great center of intellectual and artistic activity at this time.

became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful

Zamorin The Samoothiri (Anglicised as Zamorin; Malayalam: , , Arabic: ''Sāmuri'', Portuguese: ''Samorim'', Dutch: ''Samorijn'', Chinese: ''Shamitihsi''Ma Huan's Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores' 433 Translated and Edi ...

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 ...

in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. The temple of Vishnu reclining on Anantha, the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple, is the most recognizable and iconic landmark of the city and the district and dates back to the 16th century. In addition to the presiding deity of Padmanabha, this temple contains several shrines, dedicated to

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

Narasimha Narasimha (, , or , ), is the fourth avatara of the Hindu god Vishnu in the Satya Yuga. He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed Hiranyakashipu, ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma. Narasimha has th ...

Ganesha Ganesha or Ganesh (, , ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva (Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in the Ganapatya sect. His depictions ...

, and Ayyappa. It was built by King Marthanda Varma of the Travancore royal family in 1745, when he transferred the Travancore capital from Padmanabhapuram, now in neighbouring Kanyakumari District in

. King Marthanda Varma began his reign as 'Sree Padmanabhadasa', the Servant of Sree Padmanabha. The vast temple complex, with its tall

Gopuram A ''gopuram'' or ''gopura'' ( Tamil: கோபுரம், Telugu: గోపురం, Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of th ...

decorated with detailed carvings reflected in a huge

temple tank Temple tanks are water well, wells or reservoirs built as part of the temple complex near Indian temples. They are called pushkarini, kalyani, kunda, sarovara, Theertham, tirtha, talab, pukhuri, ambalakkuḷam, etc. in different languages and r ...

, is today a center of attraction for devotees and sightseers. The city was the capital of the

state from 18th century CE until

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic movement t ...

. The Thiruvananthapuram Municipality came into existence in 1920 as the first municipality in

region. After two decades, during the reign of Sree Chithira Thirunal, Thiruvananthapuram Municipality was converted into Corporation on 30 October 1940. Consequent to the recommendations of the State Reorganization Commission, the Vilavancode subdistrict of Thiruvananthapuram was merged with

, along with another three southern subdistricts, Thovala, Agastheewaram, and Kalkulam from

which eventually formed Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district. The state of

came into being on 1 November 1956.

Kilimanoor palace

In 1705 ( ME 880) the son and two daughters of Ittammar Raja of Parappanad royal house (originally based at Parappanangadi in present-day

) were adopted into the Royal house of

. Ittammar Raja's sister and her sons, Rama Varma and Raghava Varma, settled in Kilimanoor and married the now adopted sisters.

, the founder of the Kingdom of

, was the son of Raghava Varma. The nephew of Raghava Varma, Ravi Varma Koil Thampuran, married the sister of Marthanda Varma. Their son became known as Dharma Raja Kartika Thirunnal Rama Varma. In 1740 when an allied force, led by Dutchman Captain Hockert supporting the Deshinganadu King, attacked Venad, an army from Kilimanoor resisted and then defeated them. Although a small victory, this was the first time an Indian army had defeated a European power. In 1753, in recognition of this feat, Marthanda Varma exempted the areas controlled by the Kilimanoor palace from taxes, and granted them autonomous status. The present palace complex was built at this time, together with the Ayyappa temple. for the family deity, ''Sastha'' or Ayyapan.

Velu Thampi Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi of Thalakulam (1765–1809) was the Dalawa or Prime Minister of the Indian kingdom of Travancore between 1802 and 1809 during the reign of Bala Rama Varma Kulasekhara Perumal. He is best known for being one ...

Dalawa held meetings at Kilimanoor palace while planning uprisings against the British. He handed over his sword at the palace before going into his final battle against the British, and India's first President, Dr

Rajendra Prasad Rajendra Prasad (3 December 1884 – 28 February 1963) was an Indian politician, lawyer, journalist and scholar who served as the first president of India from 1950 to 1962. He joined the Indian National Congress during the Indian independen ...

received this sword from the palace and it was kept in the

National Museum A national museum can be a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In the United States, most nati ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. Afterwards the sword was moved to the Napier Museum, Thiruvananthapuram.

Geography

The district is located between and . The southernmost part of the city, Parassala, is just away from the southern

peninsular A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . ...

tip of India,

Cape Comorin Kanyakumari (Tamil; / kəɳjɑkʊmɑɾiː/; referring to Devi Kanya Kumari, officially known as Kanniyakumari, formerly known as Cape Comorin) is a town and a municipality in Kanyakumari district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the ...

(Kanyakumari). The district stretches along the shores of the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

on the west.

Kollam district Kollam district (), (formerly Quilon district) is one of 14 List of districts in Kerala, districts of the state of Kerala, India. The district has a cross-section of Kerala's natural attributes; it is endowed with a long coastline, a major La ...

lies to the north, with the

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

and Kanyakumari districts of

to the east and south respectively.

Climate

The climate of Thiruvananthapuram district is generally hot and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the equator, where the sun may shine directly overhead. This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's ax ...

. Large forest reserves have a favorable effect on the climate and induce rains. Cold weather is experienced in the

mountain ranges A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...

. Lower down, the weather is bracing, and generally hot in the coastal regions. The mean maximum temperature is 95 °F (35 °C) and the mean minimum temperature is 69 °F (20 °C). As the district stretches from north to south, with the

to the west, the

relative humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation (meteorology), precipitation, dew, or fog t ...

is generally high. It rises to about 95% during the

southwest monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

. The total annual rainfall in the district is about per annum. The southwest monsoon, from June to September is the principal rainy season, during which the district receives most of its annual rainfall. The second rainy season is the

Northeast monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscill ...

, from October to November. The district also experiences thunderstorm rains in the pre-monsoon months of April and May. December to February are the coolest months. The average temperature drops to 69 °F (20 °C) in these months, generally considered India's

winter season Winter is the coldest and darkest season of the year in temperate and polar climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Diffe ...

. The summer season starts in February and continues until May. The average temperature rises to 95 °F (35 °C) in these months.

Economy

The media and

information technology Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...

sectors are mainstays of Thiruvananthapuram district's economy, and other major sectors are tourism and

leisure Leisure (, ) has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, Employment, work, job hunting, Housekeeping, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as ...

, agriculture, and education. India's first animation park, the Kinfra Animation Park, is in the district. Technopark Trivandum Ganga and Yamuna Buildings

Technopark Trivandum Ganga and Yamuna Buildings

Thiruvananthapuram district has 2 central-sector, 14 state-sector, 1 co-operative-sector, 4 joint-sector, and 60 private-sector medium- and large-scale enterprises. As of 31 March 2003, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) units employed 9,262 people, and had invested Rs. 3439.4 million. In 2002, there were 901 registered working factories, including oil mills, cashew factories,

Cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...

Sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

s, printing units, rubber industrial units, chemical units, match factories, general engineering units, and automobile workshops. The Shree Mulam Thirunal Shashtiabdapoorthy Memorial Institute (S.M.S.M. Institute) in Thiruvananthapuram city is a major state government emporium marketing products of Kerala's handicraft industries. The Neyyar Irrigation Project, commissioned in 1959, irrigates an area of . The Neyyar river is the source of water for the Neyyar reservoir. The dam is long and high. The catchment draining into the reservoir, covering an area of of forest, receives an annual average rainfall of about 2260 mm from the two monsoons. The total length of the main canal and its branches is .

Administration

Collectorate

The headquarters of the district administration is at Kudappanakunnu, Thiruvananthapuram. The district administration is headed by the

District collector The district magistrate, also known as the district collector or deputy commissioner, is a career civil servant who serves as the executive head of a district's administration in India. The specific name depends on the state or union territo ...

. He/She is assisted by five deputy collectors with responsibility for general matters, land acquisition, revenue recovery, land reforms, disaster management and elections. For revenue administration, the district is divided into two revenue divisions: Thiruvananthapuram and Nedumangad, each headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) or Sub Collector, who is also the

Sub Divisional Magistrate A sub-divisional magistrate, also known as assistant collector, sub collector, revenue divisional officer, or assistant commissioner, is the administrative head of a Subdivision (India), sub-division in an Indian district, exercising Executive (g ...

Taluks

The district is divided into two revenue divisions which together incorporate six

Taluks A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ce ...

, each of which is headed by a

Tehsildar In Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan, a tehsildar, talukdar, or mamlatdar is a land revenue officer accompanied by revenue inspectors. They are in charge of obtaining taxes from a tehsil with regard to land revenue. A tehsildar is also known as a ...

, within them. *Taluks in the Thiruvananthapuram Revenue Division are: *Taluks in the Nedumangad Revenue Division are:

Revenue villages

Thiruvananthapuram district is divided into 124 revenue villages for the ease and decentralisation of its revenue administration. They are further incorporated into 6

taluks A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ce ...

as eludicated below.

Neyyattinkara Taluk

Anavoor Anavoor is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating populatio ...

* Athiyannur * Balaramapuram * Chenkal *

Kanjiramkulam Kanjiramkulam is an educational hub in Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State, India and is located on Thiruvananthapuram – Kanyakumari NH 66 bypass signal junction and in between Neyyattinkara, municipality – Vizhinj ...

* Karode * Karumkulam * Kollayil * Kottukal * Kulathoor * Kulaviyode * Kunnathukal *

* Pallichal * Parassala * Parasuvaikkal * Perumkadavila * Perumpazhuthoor * Poovar * Thirupuram * Vellarada * Vizhinjam

Kattakada Taluk

* Amboori * Kallikkad * Keezharoor * Kulathummal *

Malayinkeezhu Malayinkeezhu is a suburb of Trivandrum, the largest city and capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is located at the south-eastern side of Thiruvananthapuram Metropolitan Area, and is at a distance of 13 km from the heart of the city ...

* Mannoorkara * Maranalloor * Ottasekharamangalam * Perumkulam * Vazhichal * Veeranakavu * Vilappil * Vilavoorkkal

Thiruvananthapuram Taluk

* Andoorkonam * Attipra * Ayiroopara * Cheruvakkal * Kadakampally * Kadinamkulam * Kalliyoor * Kazhakoottam * Keezhthonnakkal * Kowdiar * Kudappanakunnu *

Manacaud Manacaud is a locality in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, India. This place is situated between Kamaleswaram and Attakulangara on East Fort - Kovalam - Vizhinjam Road. The United Arab Emirates embassy is also situated in Manacaud. Lo ...

* Melthonnakkal * Menamkulam * Muttathara * Nemom * Pallippuram * Pangappara *

Pattom Pattom is a dense commercial region of Thiruvananthapuram city in Kerala, India. It is located approximately 4 kilometres north of centre of Thampanoor. Pattom is largely a residential area, also housing few important administration offices of Ke ...

* Peroorkada * Pettah * Sasthamangalam * Thirumala * Thiruvallam * Thycaud * Uliyazhathura * Ulloor * Vanchiyoor * Vattiyoorkavu * Veiloor * Venganoor

Nedumangad Taluk

* Anad * Aruvikkara * Aryanadu * Kaduvakuzhy * Kallara * Karakulam * Karippoor * Koliyakode * Kurupuzha * Manikkal *

* Nellanad * Palode * Panavoor * Pangode * Peringamala * Pullampara * Thekkada * Thennoor * Tholicode * Uzhamalackal * Vamanapuram * Vattappara * Vellanad *

Vembayam Vembayam is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. Location Vembayam is located on Main Central Road, at a distance of 21 km from Thiruvananthapuram. It comes under Nedumangad Taluk. Nearest airport is ...

Vithura Vithura, also known as the Hill City Of Thiruvananthapuram, is located 36 km from Thiruvananthapuram capital of the Kerala state in India. Vithura is the culmination of the crossroads to many tourist, cultural, and religious centres. Su ...

Chirayinkeezhu Taluk

* Alamkode * Anchuthengu * Attingal * Avanavanchery * Azhoor *

* Edakode * Elamba *

Kadakkavoor Kadakkavoor is a developing special grade town consisting central government postal office, railway station, sub-treasury, police station, electricity board, telecom office and banks in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, India. This ...

* Karavaram * Keezhattingal *

Kilimanoor Kilimanoor is a panchayat and a town in the Varkala taluk of Thiruvananthapuram district in Kerala, India. It is located on Main central Road, MC/SH 1 Road, northwest of the city of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), east of Attingal and eas ...

* Kizhivillam * Koonthalloor * Koduvazhannoor * Mudakkal * Nagaroor * Pazhayakunnummel * Pulimath * Sarkara * Vakkom * Vellalloor

Varkala Taluk

* Ayiroor * Chemmaruthy * Cherunniyoor *

Edava Edava is a panchayat in Varkala Taluk, which is the northernmost tip of Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. Edava is located 5km north of Varkala, 21km south of port city Kollam and 44km north of capital city Thiruvanant ...

* Kadampattukonam * Kudavoor * Madavoor * Manamboor * Muthana * Navaikulam * Ottoor * Pallickal *

* Vettoor

Politics

Thiruvananthapuram district sees a dynamic political landscape with major alliances led by the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

. The

Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current List of current Indian ruling and opposition parties, r ...

(LDF), led by CPI(M), and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by Congress, dominate the scene, alongside the

National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

(NDA), led by the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

. In the 2019 General Election, both Thiruvananthapuram and Attingal parliamentary constituencies in the Thiruvananthapuram district were won by the Indian National Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF). In the 2021 Assembly Election, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) secured an impressive victory by winning 13 out of the total 14 seats in the Thiruvananthapuram district.

Legislative representation

There are two

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

constituency in Thiruvananthapuram: Attingal and

. There are 14

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 30 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 ...

seats in Thiruvananthapuram district.

Major Towns

The major towns in these district include: *Varkala taluk:

, Edava, Navaikulam *Chirayinkeezh taluk: Chirayinkeezhu, Attingal, Kilimanoor, Vakkom *Thiruvanathapuram taluk: Thiruvanathapuram, Kazhakootam, Sreekariyam, Ullor, Pattom, Veli, Akkulam, Pothancad *Neyyattinkara taluk:Nemom, Balaramapuram,

, Aamaravila, Parassala *Kattakada taluk: Kattakada, Vellarada, Amboori *Nedumanagad taluk: Nedumangad,

, Tholicode, Aryanad

Municipal towns

There are 4 municipal towns in the district. They are:

Transport

National Highway 66 (formerly known as National Highway 47) stretches from Kaliyikkavila at its southern end to Navaikulam near Parippally in the north, covering a distance of within the district. The

Main Central Road Kerala's State Highway 1 or KL SH 1, also known as Main Central Road or MC Road, is the arterial state highway starting from Kesavadasapuram in Thiruvananthapuram and ends at Angamaly, a suburb of Greater Cochin in Ernakulam district, in the s ...

covers a distance of , passing through Kesavadasapuram,

, Venjaramoodu,

, and Nilamel in the north. The

Kerala Public Works Department Kerala Public Works Department (KPWD) is a department under the Government of Kerala, government of the state of Kerala, India. It manages the construction and maintenance of civil structures owned by the government viz; government buildings, g ...

maintains some of road in the district. Local bodies are responsible for the maintenance of of road. There are 116 bridges in Thiruvananthapuram District. Rail transport in the district is operated by

Southern Railway zone Southern Railway (SR) is one of the eighteen zones of Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Chennai and operates across the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and the union territory of Puducherry. The origin of the Southern Rai ...

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. Thiruvananthapuram is connected to the rest of the country by

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

railway line. of railway line passes through the district. Thiruvananthapuram district currently has 20 stations, including

Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station Thiruvananthapuram Central (station code: TVC,) is an NSG–2 category railway station in Thiruvananthapuram railway division of Southern Railway zone. It is a major railway station that serves the city of Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of ...

. Domestic and international airlines operate from

Thiruvananthapuram International Airport Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is an international airport that serves Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. Established in 1932, it is the first airport in the state of Kerala and the fifth international airport of ...

, which has direct flights to many international cities, including

Kuwait City Kuwait City (; ) is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the south shore of Kuwait Bay on the Persian Gulf, it is the political, cultural and economic center of the emirate, containing Kuwait's Seif Pal ...

Dubai Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...

Dammam Dammam (Arabic: الدمام ad-Dammām) is a city and governorate, and the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 1,386,166 as of 2022, making it the country's fifth- ...

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

Malé Malé is the capital and most populous city of the Maldives. With a population of 211,908 in 2022 within its administrative area and coterminous geographical area of , Malé is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city i ...

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

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Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

Manama Manama ( ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and List of cities in Bahrain, largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 297,502 as of 2012. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

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, and

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. Domestic flights link it with

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, and

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Thiruvananthapuram district has a

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 3,301,427. This gives it a ranking of 103rd in India out of a total of

640 Year 640 ( DCXL) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 640 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming y ...

districts. The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to 8.2 billion in 2025. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 70 million annu ...

over the decade 2001–2011 was 2.25%. Thiruvananthapuram has a

sex ratio A sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. However, many species deviate from an even sex ratio, ei ...

of 1088

females An organism's sex is female (symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and male ...

for every 1000 males, and a

literacy rate Literacy is the ability to read and write, while illiteracy refers to an inability to read and write. Some researchers suggest that the study of "literacy" as a concept can be divided into two periods: the period before 1950, when literacy was ...

of 92.66%. 53.66% of the population lives in urban areas. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes make up 11.30% and 0.81% of the population respectively.

Religion

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

(66.46%) constitute the majority of the population, followed by Christians (19.10%) and Muslims (13.72%). The Hindu community consists of

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 hi ...

s, Nadars,

Tamil Brahmins Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil language, Tamil-speaking Hindus, Hindu Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Telangana in addition to othe ...

Ezhavas The Ezhavas, () also known as ''Thiyya'' or ''Tiyyar'' () in the Malabar region, and Chovar () in the south, are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the p ...

, Viswakarma etc. The Christians belong mainly to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

(including the

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

Syro-Malankara Catholic Church The Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, also known as the Malankara Syrian Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic '' sui iuris'' particular church that employs the West Syriac Rite and is in full communion with the worldwide Catholic Church posse ...

, the

Syro-Malabar Catholic Church The Syro-Malabar Church, also known as the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, is an Eastern Catholic church based in Kerala, India. It is a '' sui iuris'' (autonomous) particular church in full communion with the Holy See and the worldwide Cathol ...

), the

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

churches, the

Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of Protestant denominations in South India that occurred after the independence of India. With a membership of over 4.5 million, it ...

, the

Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church The Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church (MOSC) also known as the Indian Orthodox Church (IOC) or simply as the Malankara Church, is an Autocephaly, autocephalous Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox church headquartered in #Catholicate ...

, and the

Mar Thoma Syrian Church The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian ChurchS. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India''. APH Publishing; 2000. . p. 442. and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malab ...

.The Malankara Orthodox in the district are covered by the Malankara Orthodox Diocese of Trivandrum with 94 parishes at formation and currently under bishop Gabriel Mar Gregorios. The Sunni Muslim community also forms a major division of the Muslim population of the district.

Language

is the predominant mother tongue.

is mostly spoken in the southern parts of the district and among the Tamil population in the capital city especially by Nadars and Tamil Brahmins and various other Tamil communities. Thiruvananthapuram city is more cosmopolitan, with speakers of languages including

, English, Telugu,

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

, Tulu and a small percentage of

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

Socio-economic conditions

More than 50% of the total population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. Agricultural workers constitute 42% of the total labour class. Most of the workforce is engaged in low-income, low capital intensity occupations. Political and social awareness and the efforts of social, religious and cultural leaders have contributed to breaking down the traditional feudal order. Economic changes have also had an impact on community social life and attitudes.

Culture

Thiruvananthapuram Padmanabhaswamy Temple

In the 20th century, Thiruvananthapuram witnessed a cultural renaissance. Kerala Varma Valiakoi Thampuran (1845–1914), who spent a major part of his life in Thiruvananthapuram, translated

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. His surviv ...

's ''

Abhijñānaśākuntalam ''Abhijnanashakuntalam'' (Devanagari: अभिज्ञानशाकुन्तलम्, IAST: ''Abhijñānaśākuntalam''), also known as ''Shakuntala'', ''The Recognition of Shakuntala'', ''The Sign of Shakuntala'', and many other variant ...

'' into Malayalam, which earned him the title of ''Kerala Kalidasa''. He is regarded as the father of modern Malayalam prose. The city is home to animation companies, including Toonz India Ltd and Tata Elxsi Ltd. The Kinfra Film and Video Park, near the Technopark, is an advanced film and animation production facility. Other major cultural events include the annual flower show in Thiruvananthapuram city, the Attukal Pongala, the Varkala Sivagiri pilgrimage in December, the Kaalioottu in Sarkara Devi Temple near Chirayinkeezh, the

Navarathri Navaratri () is an annual Hindu festivals, Hindu festival observed in honor of the goddess Durga, an aspect of Adi Parashakti, the supreme goddess. It spans over nine nights, first in the month of Chaitra (March/April of the Gregorian calen ...

festival at the Poojamandapam near Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Aaraat of Padmanabha Swamy Temple, the Beemapally Uroos, and the Vettucaud Perunaal. Medex TRV

Flora and fauna

The district has a rich diversity of plants, ranging from rare

orchid Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Eart ...

medicinal plant Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

s, and spices to hedge plants, tuber crops, and plants yielding edible fruits and fibre.

Aromatic In organic chemistry, aromaticity is a chemical property describing the way in which a conjugated system, conjugated ring of unsaturated bonds, lone pairs, or empty orbitals exhibits a stabilization stronger than would be expected from conjugati ...

plants and spices, such as pepper and

ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

, are cultivated on a large scale on the hilly tracts. Nedumangad taluk is one of the biggest centres for the cultivation and trade of pepper and other hill produce. A major portion of the district lies on the middle plain, where coconut, rice, tapioca, tuber crops, plantains, and vegetables are cultivated. The forests of the district abound in a variety of animals and birds, providing excellent wildlife habitats. Elephants,

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes. Thus monkeys, in that sense, co ...

s, and rare reptiles are among the most prominent species. Nestled in the Western Ghats, a

wildlife sanctuary A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geolog ...

extends over an area of nearly around the Neyyar reservoir. The forest at the foot of the Kulathupuzha range is the habitat of rare species of snakes and lizards. Among characteristic mammals of the region are the Nilgiri langur,

lion-tailed macaque The lion-tailed macaque (''Macaca silenus''), also known as the wanderoo, is an Old World monkey endemic to the Western Ghats of South India. Characteristics Lion-tailed macaques are covered in black fur, and have a striking gray or silver ...

, Nilgiri brown mongoose, and the Malabar civet.

Carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s include the tiger,

wild cat Felidae ( ) is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats. A member of this family is also called a felid ( ). The 41 extant Felidae species exhibit the greatest diversity in fur patterns of all terrestria ...

jackal Jackals are Canidae, canids native to Africa and Eurasia. While the word has historically been used for many canines of the subtribe Canina (subtribe), canina, in modern use it most commonly refers to three species: the closely related black-b ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

, and

dhole The dhole ( ; ''Cuon alpinus'') is a canid native to South, East and Southeast Asia. It is anatomically distinguished from members of the genus ''Canis'' in several aspects: its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third ...

(Indian wild dog). The

Sloth bear The sloth bear (''Melursus ursinus''), also known as the Indian bear, is a myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent. It feeds on fruits, ants and termites. It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of ...

gaur The gaur (''Bos gaurus''; ) is a large bovine native to the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and has been listed as Vulnerable species, Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 1986. The global population was estimated at a maximum of 21,000 ...

, a few species of

deer A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...

and

elephants Elephants are the Largest and heaviest animals, largest living land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana''), the African forest elephant (''L. cyclotis''), and the Asian ele ...

are also seen. Reptiles include snakes, lizards,

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large, semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term "crocodile" is sometimes used more loosely to include ...

s, and

tortoise Tortoises ( ) are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin for "tortoise"). Like other turtles, tortoises have a shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, and like o ...

s. There are some 75–80 species of snakes in this area of which some are highly venomous.Flora and fauna

Tourism

Tourism is a major sector of Thiruvananthapuram's economy. A full range of tourist options is available in the district, including hill stations, the Kerala backwaters, beaches, lagoons, and wildlife sanctuaries.

Kovalam Kovalam is a beach and seaside resort in the city of Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, India. Kovalam is located southeast of the city center. The beaches around Kovalam are popular vacation destinations for both domestic and international travelle ...

and its internationally known beaches are in Thiruvananthapuram district. Thiruvananthapuram is a major destination for chartered flights to India for

medical tourism Medical tourism is the practice of traveling abroad to obtain medical treatment. In the past, this usually referred to those who traveled from less-developed countries to major medical centers in highly developed countries for treatment unavaila ...

, with over fifty recognized

Ayurveda Ayurveda (; ) is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. It is heavily practised throughout India and Nepal, where as much as 80% of the population report using ayurveda. The theory and practice of ayur ...

centres in and around the city. The city also offers world-class modern hospitals. Convalescent facilities are available at nearby five-star beach resorts and hill stations.

Education

Thiruvananthapuram district is a major academic hub. The

University of Kerala University of Kerala (formerly known as University of Travancore) is a state-run public university in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital of Kerala, India. It was established in 1937 by a promulgation of the Maharajah of Travancore, Chithi ...

is in Thiruvananthapuram city. There are 20 arts and sciences colleges in the district, and the estimated total number of students is 15,926. The University of Kerala has its research and higher-education centres at Kariavattom. Thiruvananthapuram Medical College is the premier health institute of the state and one of the finest in the country. It is being upgraded to the status of an

All India Institute of Medical Sciences The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of autonomous government public medical universities of higher education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. These institutes ha ...

(AIIMS). Thiruvananthapuram's three main engineering colleges are the College of Engineering, Trivandrum, Government Engineering College, Barton Hill, and Sree Chitra Thirunal College of Engineering. The two main law colleges are the Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram and the Kerala Law Academy Law College. Among the many other well-known arts and sciences colleges are

University College Thiruvananthapuram University College, Thiruvananthapuram, often abbreviated as UCT, is a public college situated in Palayam, Thiruvananthapuram, India. Established in 1866, it is one of the oldest colleges in Kerala. The college has been accorded "College with Pot ...

, Mahatma Gandhi College,

Mar Ivanios College Mar Ivanios College is an autonomous educational institution situated in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. The college was ranked as 45th best college in the country by Ministry of Education's National Institutional Ranking Framework in 2023, ...

, Government Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram, College of Fine Arts Trivandrum, Sree Narayana College Chempazhanthy and

Swathi Thirunal College of Music Swathi Thirunal College of Music is a music college in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It was founded in 1939. It was first named as "The Music Academy". The name was renamed as Swathi Thirunal College of Music in 1962. The founder of this ...

, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Centre for Development Studies, L B S Institute of Technology for Women, Central Polytechnic College, Vattiyoorkavu and the College of Engineering Attingal. * There are 1,129 schools in the district, classified as Government, Aided, or Unaided schools. * Government schools are directly run by the state government, and follow the state government syllabus. * Aided schools also follow the state syllabus. Additionally, there are four

Kendriya Vidyalaya The Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan () is a system of Government of India, central government schools in India. Governed by the Ministry of Education (India), Ministry of Education, Government of India. , it has a total of 1,257 schools in India, ...

s and

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) is a system of central schools for students predominantly from rural areas in India, targeting socially and economically backward students who lack access to accelerated learning due to financial, social and rura ...

run directly by the Central government and following the

Central Board of Secondary Education The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is a national-level board of education in India for public and private schools, controlled and managed by the Government of India. Established in 1929 by a resolution of the government, the Board ...

(CBSE) syllabus. * Private schools run by education trusts or boards may follow any or all of the CBSE,

Indian Certificate of Secondary Education The Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) is an academic qualification awarded by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations, a private, non-governmental board of education in India. The CISCE conducts these examinati ...

(ICSE),

National Institute of Open Schooling The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) (), formerly National Open School is a national level board of education in India, controlled and managed by the Government of India. It was established by the Ministry of Education (erstwhile Mi ...

(NIOS) or Kerala state syllabi. The first international school in Kerala, the Trivandrum International School, was started in August 2003.

Media

Thiruvananthapuram has long been a media center in India. ''Kerala Chandrika'', the first newspaper of the state, was published from Thiruvananthapuram in 1789. Now, more than 30 newspapers have been published from the district, including ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'', ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

'', '' The Deccan Chronicle'', ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'', ''

Malayala Manorama '' Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew, it was first published as a weekly on 14 March 1888, and currently has a rea ...

'', '' Mathrubhoomi'', '' Kerala Kaumudi'', '' Desabhimani'', '' Deepika'', ''

Madhyamam ''Madhyamam'' (meaning ''Medium'') is a Malayalam-language newspaper published in Kerala, India, since 1987.Chandrika'', '' Thejas'', '' Siraj'', ''Janmabhoomi'' and ''Metro Vaartha''. Weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies, bi-monthlies and quarterlies are published from parts of the district. The Kerala Information and Public Relations Department is the main government agency disseminating information to the public and for the provision of feedback. Most Malayalam television channels are based in Thiruvananthapuram. The government-owned

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

began broadcasting from the city in 1981.

Asianet Asianet may refer to: JioStar channels * JioStar, is an Indian media conglomerate wholly owned by Disney India. ** Asianet, a Malayalam language general entertainment channel ** Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertainment channel ** As ...

, the first private Malayalam channel, began its telecasts from Thiruvananthapuram in 1991. The district has many radio stations, most broadcasting from Thiruvananthapuram city.

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

has an AM (1161 MHz), an FM (Ananthapuri FM; 101.9 MHz) and a SW ( various frequencies ) station in the city. FM radio channels broadcasting from Thiruvananthapuram are Gyanvani 105.6 MHz, Ananthapuri FM (AIR) 101.9 MHz, Big FM 92.7 MHz, Club FM 94.3 MHz,

Radio Mirchi Radio Mirchi ("''Mirchi"'' in Hindi meaning red chilli), also known as 98.3 Mirchi, is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the ENIL, EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiarie ...

98.3 MHz, Red FM 93.5 MHz, and Radio DC 90.4 MHz. Radio DC broadcasts at low-power CRS. This channel is only available within a radius from the broadcasting station. Wireline telephone services are provided by BSNL, Reliance, and Tata Indicom. The main

GSM The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a family of standards to describe the protocols for second-generation (2G) digital cellular networks, as used by mobile devices such as mobile phones and Mobile broadband modem, mobile broadba ...

networks operating in the district are BSNL CellOne,

Airtel Bharti Airtel Limited is an Indian multinational telecommunications company based in New Delhi. It operates in 18 countries across South Asia and Africa, as well as the Channel Islands. Currently, Airtel provides 5G, 4G and LTE Advanced ...

Tata Docomo Tata Docomo was an Indian mobile network operator, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Teleservices deriving its name from NTT Docomo who invested in the company in 2008. In October 2017, Bharti Airtel announced a merger deal with Tata Telese ...

Idea Cellular Idea Cellular was an Indian telecommunications company based at Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was an integrated GSM operator and had 220.00 million subscribers as of June 2018. In 2018 Idea Cellular merged with Vodafone India into Vodafone ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

, Reliance, and

Virgin Mobile Virgin Mobile is a wireless communications brand used by seven independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Mobile branded wireless communications services are available in Ireland, Canada, Colombia, Chile, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emi ...

. The main

CDMA Code-division multiple access (CDMA) is a channel access method used by various radio communication technologies. CDMA is an example of multiple access, where several transmitters can send information simultaneously over a single communicatio ...

providers are Reliance, MTS, and Tata Indicom. Major broadband internet services are provided by BSNL DataOne, Asianet Dataline, and Siti Cable.

Sports

Greenfield International Stadium Kerala 2

The most popular sports in the district are football and cricket. Basketball, badminton and volleyball, played mostly in schools, are also popular. The Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) is headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram city. The Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium, in city center, is a prominent football stadium and has hosted matches in national and international-level. The University Stadium, owned by the

, is a multi purpose stadium and has hosted two international cricket matches. The Central Stadium has facilities for athletics, football, basketball, volleyball and has cricket practice nets. The Jimmy George Sports Hub is another major sports establishment in the district. The Greenfield International Stadium is one of the largest international stadia in India and can be used for both cricket & football.

References

1city.in

External links

Official District website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thiruvananthapuram District 1957 establishments in Kerala Districts of Kerala

Etymology

History

Kilimanoor palace

Geography

Climate

Economy

Administration

Collectorate

Taluks

Revenue villages

Neyyattinkara Taluk

Kattakada Taluk

Thiruvananthapuram Taluk

Nedumangad Taluk

Chirayinkeezhu Taluk

Varkala Taluk

Politics

Legislative representation

Major Towns

Municipal towns

Transport

Demographics

Religion

Language

Socio-economic conditions

Culture

Flora and fauna

Tourism

Education

Media

Sports

See also

References

Further reading

External links