Nagapattinam district
The district of Nagapattinam (Tamil: நாகப்பட்டினம் மாவட்டம், also: Nagapatnam ) is a district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Administrative center of the district is the eponymous town of Nagapattinam.
Geography
The district of Nagapattinam lies to the east of the state on the Coromandel Coast. The district consists of two parts, which are separated by the union territory of Pondicherry to Karaikal district belonging. Other neighboring districts are Cuddalore in the north and Thanjavur and Tiruvarur in the West.
The area of the district of Nagapattinam is 2,416 square kilometers. The district area occupies the eastern part of the Cauvery Delta. The flat and fertile land is intersected by numerous arms of this estuary largest stream of Tamil Nadu. The coastline of the district is 187 kilometers. The coastline of the Bay of Bengal initially runs in a north-south direction, before they close Vedaranyam makes a sharp bend at Point Calimere ( Kodikkarai ). The southern part of the coast bordering the Palkbucht located between India and Sri Lanka.
The district of Nagapattinam is divided into eight taluks. In the northern part of the district are the taluks Sirkazhi, Mayiladuthurai, Tharangambadi and Kuthalam, in southern taluks the Nagapattinam, Kilvelur, Tirukkuvalai and Vedaranyam.
History
The Kaveri delta was the heartland of the Chola Empire, which had as its capital from the 9th to the 13th century, Thanjavur ( Tanjore ). From the 16th century initially dominated the Nayaks and later the Maratha kings of Thanjavur the area. At the same time, the European colonial powers began bases in the coastal region of present-day district to establish: the city of Nagapattinam was originally from the 16th century, a stronghold of the Portuguese, in 1660 was the site of the Netherlands. Nagapattinam was the most important Dutch possession in India, before it was conquered in 1781 by the British. The Danish East India Company had 1620 Tranquebar ( Tharangambadi ) founded and built the fort there Dansborg. 1845 Tranquebar was sold to the British. In the immediate vicinity Karaikal, which until 1954 was part of 1739 to French India is.
1799 annexed the British the Kingdom of Thanjavur and annexed the area as a district Thanjavur in the province of Madras one. After Indian independence, the area came in 1956 to the newly formed State of Madras (now Tamil Nadu ). In 1991, the district of Nagapattinam was dissolved as a separate district from the district of Thanjavur. Its present form was given to the district in 1997 when the district Tiruvarur was formed from parts of the districts of Nagapattinam and Thanjavur.
The devastating tsunami after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean in 2004, which killed a total of around 165,000 people in South and Southeast Asia, called for 6,051 deaths in the district of Nagapattinam. This stretch of coast near Nagapattinam was next to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands the most affected by the tsunami area of India.
Population
According to the Indian census of 2011, the district of Nagapattinam has 1,614,069 inhabitants. Compared to the last census, the population had grown by 8.4 per cent and thus slower than the average for Tamil Nadu ( 15.6 per cent). The population density is 668 inhabitants per square kilometer above the mean of the state ( 555 inhabitants per square kilometer). The district of Nagapattinam is rural: the urbanization rate is 22.5 percent, less than half as high as the average of Tamil Nadu ( 48.5 per cent). The literacy rate is 84.1 percent higher than the average of Tamil Nadu ( 80.3 per cent) and India overall ( 74.0 percent). Because of the fertility of the soil in the Kaveri delta, agriculture plays an important role: According to the 2001 census, 65 percent of the population are employed in the agricultural sector.
The population of the district are the Hindus according to the 2001 census, with 89.2 percent, a large majority. There are also minorities of Muslims ( 7.6 per cent ) and Christians (3.1 percent).
Attractions
In Nagapattinam district are important religious sites of both the Hindus, Christians, and Muslims. The Basilica of Velankanni, where in the 16th century, a Marian apparition is said to have taken place, is the most important Christian pilgrimage site in India. But the eleven-day religious festival that takes place every year in August / September, attracts an estimated two million pilgrims. In Nagore in Nagapattinam, a shrine ( Dargah ) is the grave of the Muslim Sufi saint Syed Shahul Hamid Qadir Vali ( Nagore Andavar ), who lived in the 16th century. Once a year, a 14-day festival in honor of the saint. In Vaitheeswarankoil, Tiruvenkadu and Keezhperumpallur are three of the nine Navagraha Temple, a group of Hindu temples in the Kaveri delta, which are associated with the heavenly bodies. Significant Hindu shrines are also located in Sirkazhi ( Brahmapuriswarar Temple ) and Mayiladuthurai ( Mayuranathaswami and Parimala - Ranganathar Temple ).
Of tourist interest are also Tharangambadi with the Fort Dansborg and two churches from the Danish colonial period and the reported amounts as a nature reserve mangrove forests at Point Calimere.