Tamil Nadu, which holds in itself a land, a language and a culture, existed since the prehistoric times. Human settlement here is said to have existed contemporary to the civilizations in other parts of world. They existed not as isolated regions of human settlements but were well connected through trade. Tamil Nadu was earlier known as Tamilham. Even popular as the madras presidency during the medieval period, Tamil nadu holds a very illustrious history.The existence of ports such as Arikamedu, Karipattinam, and Korkai was proofs of the Tamilian advancement in establishing relations with other regions of the world. Tamil Nadu covers an area of 50,216 sq mi and its capital is Chennai.

The Tamilians were said to be of Dravidian origin and they originally resided in the northwest. With the advancement of the Indo-Aryans the Dravidians were pushed to the south. The Dravidian language spoken by nearly 63 million people in Tamil Nadu is their official language.The Sangam literature is the basis of Tamil History, culture and organizations from the 3rd century AD. The Cholas, the Pallavas, the Pandyas and the Cheras had their influence on Tamil Nadu and established their kingdoms. The Pallavas established their reign at kanchipuram in about the 4th century Ad. They held power over the land of the Tamils from 6th and 9th centuries. At the end of the 9th century the Cholas established themselves they extended their empire and established contacts South East Asia. The Tamilians have a long history of achievements, sea travel, city life and commerce.

In the 13 the century the Pandyas dominated. The establishment of the Vijayanagar Empire brought the downfall of the Pandyas. This empire ruled till the 16th century preserving and promoting Hindu culture. The Muslim powers influenced this region politically. The Marathas also influenced Madurai and Thanjavur till the advent of the English who wrested power from the French. During the 17th and the 18th centuries, conflicts between the trading companies of Europe for control of the major parts in the east. The British managed to control this region in the 19th century. This region was under the domain of the East India Company and continued till independence after which the three states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa were formed. The region under the jurisdiction of the Madras Presidency formed into a single unit and named Tamil Nadu in 1969.

Economy of Tamil Nadu
Agriculture: Major food crops are rice, jowar, ragi, bajra, maize, and pulses. Cotton, sugarcane, coconut, tea and coffee as well as a number of horticultural products like bananas and mangoes are cash crops while groundnuts, sesame, and sunflower are important oil seeds crop. Paddy is the main crop.

Industry: Industrially, the state has made rapid strides and there has been a great deal of diversification, although the traditional industries like hides and skins which have a major export angle, continue to occupy their important place, besides the exports of tanned hides and skins and of leather products, form the traditional shoes to fancy products, the state also export tea, coffee, spices, textiles and yarn engineering goods. Black granites and other products including handicraft articles.

Geography of Tamil Nadu:
Tamil Nadu covers an area of 130,058 sq km, and is the eleventh largest state in India. West and North of the state has lofty hills while the East and South are coastal plains. The bordering states are Kerala to the west, Karnataka to the northwest and Andhra Pradesh to the north. To the east is the Bay of Bengal. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari, which is the meeting point of the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean.

Tamil Nadu has a wide variety of minerals with the most reserves in India. Lignite almost 90% of India`s reserves, Magnesite 45% and Garnet over 40% among others. Forest cover over 17% of the state`s geographical area with several Protected areas of Tamil Nadu including wild life and bird sanctuaries.

Demography in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu`s population stood at 62,110,839 as of 2001 census. It is the sixth most populous State of the Indian Union behind Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The State accounts for 6.05% of the country`s population. Its population density at 478 persons per square kilometre, up from 429 in 1991, and much higher than the all India density of 324, makes it the eleventh most densely populated State. Approximately 47% of Tamil Nadu`s population live in urban areas, one of the highest percentages in India. During the decade 1991-2001, Tamil Nadu reported the second lowest decadal growth in population after Kerala, among the group of States with population exceeding 20 million in 2001. While Kerala`s population grew by 9.42% between 1991 and 2001, Tamil Nadu`s grew by 11.19%. In fact, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Orissa are the only three States in this group to have shown a decline in decadal percentage change in population in every decade since 1971.

Governance and Administration in Tamil Nadu
Chiefminister-M. Karununanidhi, Governor-S. S. Barnala, and the Chief-Justice- A. P. Shah " border="1">Tamil Nadu had a Bicameral legislature until 1986, when it was replaced with aUnicameral legislature, like most other states in India. The `Governor` is the Constitutional head of the state while the `Chief-minister` is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The Chief-Justice of the Chennai high-court is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief-minister and the Chief-Justice are S. S. Barnala, M. Karununanidhi and A. P. Shah respectively. The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39 Lok Sabha constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 30 districts, 7 municipal corporations, 152 municipalities, 561 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats.

Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state in E-Governance initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are already digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies All the Corporations and Municipal Office activities revenue collection etc, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerised, thereby improving the quality of service and transparency in operations.

Politics in Tamil Nadu
Since 1967 Regional Parties have dominated state politics in Tamil Nadu.One Re-organisation of Indian states according to linguistic and ethnic basis has moderated Tamil nationalism, especially the demand for separation from the Indian Union. The Anti-Hindi agitations in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and more powerful political force in the state. The DMK routed the Congress Party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress`s stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK`s first Chief Minister, and M Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai`s death in 1969. Karunanidhi`s leadership was soon challenged by MG Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR.

In1972, he split from DMK and formed the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). He was the Chief Minister of the state from1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR, the party split again into two factions, one led by Janaki Ramachandran, wife of MGR, and the other led by J. Jayalalithaa. After the defeat of AIADMK in 1989 assembly polls, both factions were merged and Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. In the State Elections held in May 2006, the prevailing government by the AIADMK was defeated by the DMK-led alliance.

Education in Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu has 350 engineering colleges and 1150 arts college, 2550 schools and 5000 hospitals. Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well in terms of Literacy in India during the decade 1991-2001. The state`s literacy rate increased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in 2001 which is well above the nation average. IIT Madras, Anna University, NIT Tiruchi in Engineering; Christian Medical College, and Madras Medical College in Medicine; Presidency College in Science; Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Agriculture; are the premier institutes in the state. Also Tamil Nadu produces the highest number of engineering graduates in India (around 30,000) every year which attracts many software companies to set up their shop in south India. The Dravidian movement, which began in Tamil Nadu, championed the cause to uplift the socially repressed people, but it also drew considerable support from the middle classes. Educating the people and eradicating superstitions were some of their objectives.

Culture of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam, Tanjore painting, and Tamil architecture were developed and practised in Tamil Nadu. Chola kings conquered lands as far north as the Ganges, and as far east as Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia resulting in dissemination of Tamil culture.

Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu and is one of the two classical languages of India, the other being Sanskrit.(as well as being one of the national languages of India). Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of Literature, Music and Dance, which continue to flourish today.

Transport
Tamil Nadu has a well established transportation system that connects all parts of the state. This is partly responsible for the investment in the state. Though the present transportation system is substantial, it needs to be developed further to keep pace with the rapid increase in use.

Media
There are different T.V. channels like Sun TV, Surya TV, Gemini TV, Teja TV and K TV. Other news channels are My Tamil News & Dinakaran.

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Folk Dances of Tamil Nadu
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Cities of Tamil Nadu