Marina Beach

The Marina Beach ( engl. [ nə ː bi ː tʃ məri ], Tamil: மெரீனா கடற்கரை [ ː na ː meri kaɖərkarɛi̯ ] ) is a sand beach in Chennai ( Madras), the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 13- kilometer-long beach is one of the most famous landmarks of Chennai.

Topography

The Marina Beach begins at the mouth of the Cooum River near Fort St. George and ends in Beasant Nagar district in the south. The length of the beach is 13 kilometers. It is often rumored that admittedly dubious claim, the Marina Beach is the second longest beach in the world. At its widest point of the Marina Beach about 400 meters wide.

The history of the beach, the road follows Kamaraj Salai (formerly Beach Road), one of the main roads of Chennai.

History

Until the 19th century the beach included only a narrow coastal strip. After the Cooum estuary was north have been created during the British colonial period 1875-1905 the harbor, the coastline changed dramatically: By running from south to north coast flow of the port more and more sediments began south of the beach section discontinued. The process continues to this day and causes the Marina Beach is growing annually by 40 square meters and the estuaries of the Cooum and Adyar are now almost completely silted up. At the same time the coastal section of the port of coastal erosion is affected north. The name Marina Mountstuart Elphinstone Grant Duff coined, 1881-1886 Governor of Madras who was largely the beach promenade, in reference to the city of Palermo in Sicily.

The Marina Beach was affected by the devastating tsunami after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004. The tsunami wave surprised many morning walkers on the beach and invited around 160 fatalities on Marina Beach.

Visitor attractions

The Marina Beach is one of the most popular attractions in Chennai for both tourists as well as residents of the city. Mainly in the evenings and on weekends populate large numbers of people who come to stroll to the beach, the Marina Beach. The great influx of visitors is increasingly leading to littering the beach: alone, in a day during the Pongal festival fell to 150 tons of garbage. Nevertheless, the city government of Chennai has sought to beautify the beach.

The Marina Beach bordered a series of statues of personalities of the total Indian history and the history of Tamil Nadu. At the north end of the beach there are the monumental grave monuments of politicians CN Annadurai and MG Ramachandran. Along the Kamaraj Salai are numerous representative buildings in the Indo - Saracenic style of the colonial era, also called Ice House, which houses a museum of the Hindu philosopher Vivekananda, and as a widely visible landmark lighthouse built in 1977. Close to the beach is located in the district of Santhome the St. Thomas Basilica.