Chennai Cennaī Madras
Megacity
Clockwise from top: Chennai Central railway station; Valluvar Kottam; Marina beach; Ripon Building; Kathipara junction; the Triumph of Labour and Kapaleeswarar Temple
Nicknames:  Gateway of South India[1] Detroit of India[2] Health Capital of India[3]
Chennai Location in Tamil Nadu Show map of Tamil Nadu Chennai Location in India Show map of India
Coordinates: 13°4′57″N 80°16′30″E / 13.08250°N 80.27500°E / 13.08250; 80.27500
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
Region	Coromandel
District	Chennai district[a]
Established	1639
Government
• Type	Municipal Corporation
• Body	Greater Chennai Corporation
• Mayor	Priya Rajan
Area [4]
• Megacity	426 km2 (164 sq mi)
• Metro [5][a]	5,904 km2 (2,280 sq mi)
Elevation	7 m (23 ft)
Population  (2011)[6][7]
• Megacity	6,748,026
• Rank	6th
• Density	16,000/km2 (41,000/sq mi)
• Metro	8,696,010
• Metro rank	4th
Demonym	Chennaiite
Languages
• Native	Tamil English
Time zone	UTC+05:30 (IST)
Pincode(s)	600xxx
Area code	+91-44
Vehicle registration	TN-01 to TN-14, TN-18, TN-22, TN-85
GDP	$128.3 billion[8]
Website	Chennai Corporation
Population Note: The population as per 2011 census calculated basis pre-expansion city area of 174 sq.km. was 4,646,732.[7] Post expansion of city limits to 426 sq.km.,[4] the population including the new city limits was provided by Government of Tamil Nadu was 6,748,026.[9] The 2011 census data for the urban agglomeration is available and has been provided.[7]

Chennai (/ˈtʃɛnaɪ/ ^ⓘ, Tamil: [ˈt͡ɕenːaɪ̯], IAST: Cennaī), formerly known as Madras,^[b] is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is the state's primate city and is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most populous city in India and forms the fourth-most populous urban agglomeration. Incorporated in 1688, the Greater Chennai Corporation is the oldest municipal corporation of India and the second oldest in the world after London.

Historically, the region was part of the Chola, Pandya, Pallava and Vijayanagara kingdoms during various eras. The coastal land which then contained the fishing village Madrasapattinam, was purchased by the British East India Company from the Nayak ruler Chennapa Nayaka in the 17th century. The British garrison established the Madras city and port, and built Fort St. George, the first British fortress in India. The city was made the winter capital of the Madras Presidency, a colonial province of the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent. After India gained its independence in 1947, Madras continued as the capital city of the Madras State and present-day Tamil Nadu. The city was officially renamed as Chennai in 1996.

The city is coterminous with Chennai district, which together with the adjoining suburbs constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area,^[c] the 35th-largest urban area in the world by population and one of the largest metropolitan economies of India. Chennai has the fifth-largest urban economy, and had the third-largest expatriate population in India. As a gateway to South India, Chennai is among the most-visited Indian cities ranking 36th among the most-visited cities in the world in 2019. Ranked as a beta-level city in the Global Cities Index, Chennai regularly features among the best cities to live in India and is amongst the safest cities in India.

Chennai is a major centre for medical tourism and is termed "India's health capital". Chennai houses a major portion of India's automobile industry and hence the name "Detroit of India". It was the only South Asian city to be ranked among National Geographic's "Top 10 food cities" in 2015 and ranked ninth on Lonely Planet's best cosmopolitan cities of the world. In October 2017, Chennai was added to the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) list. It is a major film production centre and home to the Tamil-language film industry.

Etymology

The name Chennai was derived from the name of Chennappa Nayaka, a Nayak ruler who served as a general under Venkata Raya of the Vijayanagara Empire from whom the British East India Company acquired the town in 1639.^[11][12] The first official use of the name was in August 1639 in a sale deed to Francis Day of the East India Company.^[13] A land grant was given to the Chennakesava Perumal Temple in Chennapatanam later in 1646, which some scholars argue to be the first use of the name.^[14][11]

The name Madras is of native origin, and has been shown to have been in use before the British established a presence in India.^[15] A Vijayanagara-era inscription found in 2015 was dated to the year 1367 and mentions the port of Mādarasanpattanam, along with other small ports on the east coast, and it was theorized that the aforementioned port is the fishing port of Royapuram.^[16] Madras might have been derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing village north of Fort St. George but it is uncertain whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans.^[17]

In August 1996, the Government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the name from Madras to Chennai.^[18] The name Madras continues in occasional use for the city as well as for places or things named after the city earlier.^[19]

History

Stone Age implements have been found near Pallavaram in Chennai and according to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Pallavaram was a megalithic cultural establishment, and pre-historic communities resided in the settlement.^[20] The region around Chennai was an important administrative, military, and economic centre for many centuries. During the 1st century CE, Tamil poet named Thiruvalluvar lived in the town of Mylapore, a neighbourhood of present-day Chennai.^[21] The region was part of Tondaimandalam which was ruled by the Early Cholas in the 2nd century CE by subduing Kurumbas, the original inhabitants of the region.^[22] Pallavas of Kanchi became independent rulers of the region from 3rd to 9th century and the areas of Mahabalipuram and Pallavaram were built during the reign of Mahendravarman I.^[23] In 879, Pallavas were defeated later by the Cholas led by Aditya I and Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan later brought the region under Pandya rule in 1264.^[22] The region came under the influence of Vijayanagara Empire in the 15th century.^[24][22]

The Portuguese arrived in 1522 and built a port named São Tomé after the Christian apostle, St. Thomas, who is believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 CE. In 1612, the Dutch established themselves near Pulicat, north of Chennai^[25] On 20 August 1639, Francis Day of the British East India Company along with the Nayak of Kalahasti Chennappa Nayaka met with the Vijayanager Emperor Peda Venkata Raya at Chandragiri and obtained a grant for land on the Coromandel coast on which the company could build a factory and warehouse for their trading activities.^[26] On 22 August, he secured the grant for a strip of land about 10 km (6 mi) long and 1.6 km (1 mi) inland in return for a yearly sum of five hundred lakh pagodas.^[27][28] The region was then formerly a fishing village known as "Madraspatnam".^[25] A year later, the company built Fort St. George, the first major English settlement in India, which became the nucleus of the growing colonial city and urban Chennai.^[29][30]

In 1746, Fort St. George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritius, who plundered the town and its outlying villages.^[25] The British regained control in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and strengthened the town's fortress wall to withstand further attacks from the French and Hyder Ali, the king of Mysore.^[31] They resisted a French siege attempt in 1759.^[32] In 1769, the city was threatened by Hyder Ali during the First Anglo-Mysore War with the Treaty of Madras ending the conflict.^[33] By the 18th century, the British had conquered most of the region and established the Madras Presidency with Madras as the capital.^[34]

The city became a major naval base and became the central administrative centre for the British in South India.^[35] The city served as the baseline for the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India started on 10 April 1802.^[36] With the advent of railways in India in the 19th century, the city was connected to other cities such as Bombay and Calcutta, promoting increased communication and trade with the hinterland.^[37]

After India gained its independence in 1947, the city became the capital of Madras State, predecssor of the current state of Tamil Nadu.^[38] The city was the location of the hunger strike and death of Potti Sreeramulu which eventually resulted in the re-organization of Indian states based on linguistic boundaries in 1956.^[39]

In 1965, agitations against the imposition of Hindi and in support of continuing English as a medium of communication arose which marked a major shift in the political dynamics of the city and eventually led to English being retained as an official language of India alongside Hindi.^[40] On 17 July 1996, the city was officially renamed from Madras to Chennai, in line with then a nationwide trend to using less Anglicised names.^[41] On 26 December 2004, a tsunami lashed the shores of Chennai, killing 206 people in Chennai and permanently altering the coastline.^[42] The 2015 Chennai Floods submerged major portions of the city, killing 269 people and resulting in damages of ₹86.4 billion (US$1 billion).^[43]

Environment

Geography

Chennai is located on the south–eastern coast of India in the north–eastern part of Tamil Nadu on a flat coastal plain known as the Eastern Coastal Plains with an average elevation of 6.7 m (22 ft) and highest point at 60 m (200 ft).^[44][45] Chennai's soil is mostly clay, shale and sandstone.^[46] Clay underlies most of the city with sandy areas found along the river banks and coasts where rainwater runoff percolates quickly through the soil. Certain areas in South Chennai have a hard rock surface.^[47][48] As of 2018, the city had a green cover of 14.9 percent, against the World Health Organization recommendation of 9 square metres of green cover per capita in cities with a built-up area of 71 percent. Waterbodies cover an estimated 6 percent of the total area, and at least 8 percent of the area has classified as open space.^[49]

Two major rivers flow through Chennai, the Cooum River (or Koovam) through the centre and the Adyar River to the south. The Buckingham Canal, 4 km (2.5 mi) inland, runs parallel to the coast, linking the two rivers. Kosasthalaiyar River traverses through the northern fringes of the city before draining into the Bay of Bengal, at Ennore.^[50] The Otteri Nullah, an east–west stream, runs through north Chennai and meets the Buckingham Canal at Basin Bridge.^[51] The ground water table in Chennai is at 4–5 m below ground on average and is replenished mainly by rain water.^[52] Of the 24.87 km coastline of the city, 3.08 km experiences erosion, with sand accretion along the shoreline can be noticed at the Marina beach and the area between the Ennore Port and Kosasthalaiyar river.^[53]

Geology

Chennai is classified as being in Seismic Zone III, indicating a moderate risk of damage from earthquakes.^[54] Owing to the geotectonic zone the city falls in, the city is considered a potential geothermal energy site. The crust has old granite rocks dating back to nearly a billion years indicating volcanic activities in the past with expected temperatures of 200 to 300 °C at 4 to 5 km depth.^[55]

Climate

Chennai has a dry-summer tropical wet and dry climate which is designated As under the Köppen climate classification.^[56][57] The city lies on the thermal equator and is also on the coast, which prevents extreme variation in seasonal temperature.^[56] The hottest time of the year is from April to June with an average temperature of 35–40 °C (95–104 °F).^[58] The highest recorded temperature was 45 °C (113 °F) on 31 May 2003.^[59] The coldest time of the year is in December–January, with average temperature of 19–25 °C (66–77 °F) and the lowest recorded temperature of 13.9 °C (57.0 °F) on 11 December 1895 and 29 January 1905.^[60]

Chennai receives majority of rainfall from the NE monsoon between October and December while smaller amounts come from the SW monsoon between June and September. The average annual rainfall is about 120 cm (47 in).^[61] The highest annual rainfall recorded is 257 cm (101 in) in 2005.^[62] Prevailing winds in Chennai are usually southwesterly between April and October and north-easterly during the rest of the year.^[63] The city relies on the annual monsoon rains to replenish water reservoirs.^[64] Cyclones and depressions are common features during the season.^[65] Water inundation and flooding happen in low-lying areas during the season with significant flooding in 2015 and 2023.^[66]