South India
South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area and 20% of India's population. It is bound by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two mountain ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Penna, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non-perennial sources of water. Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas in the region.
The majority of the people in South India speak at least one of the four major Dravidian languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. During its history, a number of dynastic kingdoms ruled over parts of South India, and shaped the culture in those regions. Major dynasties that were established in South India include the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Hoysalas, Rashtrakutas and Vijayanagara. European countries entered India through Kerala and the region was colonized by Britain, Portugal and France.
After experiencing fluctuations in the decades immediately after Indian independence, the economies of South Indian states have registered a sustained higher-than-national-average growth over the past three decades. South India has the largest combined largest gross domestic product compared to other regions in India. The South Indian states lead in some socio-economic metrics of India with a higher HDI as the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than in most northern states. As of 2011, literacy rates in the southern states are higher than the national average at approximately 76%. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India.
Etymology
"South India" is also known as "Peninsular India" indicating its location in a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides. The term "Deccan", referring to the area covered by the Deccan Plateau that covers most of peninsular India excluding the coastal areas, is an anglicised form of the Prakrit word dakkhiṇa derived from the Sanskrit word dakshiṇa meaning south. Carnatic, derived from "Karnāḍ" or "Karunāḍ" meaning black country, has also been associated with South India.History
Ancient and medieval era
shows that ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE. Towards the beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region; however, there does not appear to be a fully developed Bronze Age preceding the Iron Age in South India. The region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean to East Asia. Trade with Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, Jews, and Chinese began during the Sangam period. The region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the East with the West.Several dynasties such as the Cheras of Karuvur, the Pandyas of Madurai, the Cholas of Thanjavur, the Zamorins of Kozhikode, the Satavahanas of Amaravati, the Pallavas of Kanchi, the Kadambas of Banavasi, the Western Gangas of Kolar, the Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, the Chalukyas of Badami, the Hoysalas of Belur, and the Kakatiyas of Orugallu ruled over the region from the 6th century BCE to the 14th century CE. In the 15th century, Vijayanagara empire was the last kingdom to conquer all of Southern India. After repeated invasions from the Sultanate of Delhi, the Vijayanagara empire fell in 1646 and the region was ruled by various Deccan Sultanates, polygars and Nayak governors of the erstwhile Vijayanagara empire who declared independence.
Colonial era
The Europeans arrived in the 15th century; and by the middle of the 18th century, the French and the British were involved in a protracted struggle for military control over South India. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 and the end of the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, the British consolidated their power over much of present-day South India, with the exception of French Pondichéry. The British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad State, Mysore, and the Madras States Agency. The region played a major role in the Indian independence movement. Of the 72 delegates who participated in the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December 1885, 22 hailed from South India.Post-independence
After Indian Independence in 1947, the region was organized into the states of Madras State, Mysore State, Hyderabad State, and Travancore-Cochin. Dravida Nadu was a proposal for a separate sovereign state for the speakers of the Dravidian languages in South India. Initially, the demand of Dravida Nadu proponents was limited to Tamil-speaking regions, but it was later expanded to include other Indian states with a majority of Dravidian-speakers in the region. The States Reorganisation Act 1956, which reorganized the states based on linguistic lines, weakened the demand for a separate sovereign state.The reorganisation resulted in the region being organised into the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Madras, and Mysore. The Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to it from Travancore-Cochin, and the state was subsequently renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1968. Andhra Pradesh was created from the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State. Kerala was formed by the merger of Malabar district and Kasaragod taluk of South Canara district of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin. Mysore State was reorganised with the addition of the districts of Bellary and South Canara and the Kollegal taluk of Coimbatore district from the Madras State, the districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, North Canara, and Dharwad from Bombay State, the Kannada-majority districts of Bidar, Raichur and Gulbarga from Hyderabad State and the province of Coorg. Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka in 1973. The union territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahé. The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organized into the union territory of Lakshadweep. Telangana was created on June 2, 2014, by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh and comprises ten districts in northwestern Andhra Pradesh.
Geography
Topography
South India is a peninsula in the shape of an inverted triangle bound by the Indian Ocean in the South, the Arabian Sea in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in the north. The Narmada River flows westwards in the depression between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges, which define the northern spur of the region. The southernmost tip of mainland India is at Kanyakumari where the Indian Ocean meets the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The Palk Strait, the Gulf of Mannar, and the chain of low sandbars and islands known as Rama's Bridge separate the region from Sri Lanka, which lies off the southeastern coast of the Indian mainland.The low-lying islands of Lakshadweep are situated off the southwestern coast of India. In the Lakshadweep, the Eight Degree Channel separates the Laccadive and Amindivi Islands from the Minicoy Island to the south. Laccadive Sea is a smaller sea. There are coral reefs located in the Gulf of Mannar and the Lakshadweep islands.
The Western Ghats runs south along the western coast from south of the Tapti river to Kanyakumari and forms a narrow strip of land with the Arabian Sea, divided into Konkan and Malabar regions. Anaimudi in the Anaimalai Hills in the Western Ghats is the highest peak in South India at. The Eastern Ghats run parallel to the eastern coast along the Bay of Bengal and the strip of land between them forms the Coromandel region. They are a discontinuous range of mountains, which have been eroded and quadrisected by the four major rivers of South India-Godavari, Mahanadi, Krishna, and Kaveri. Both the mountain ranges meet at Nilgiris, which run in a crescent approximately along the borders of Tamil Nadu with northern Kerala and Karnataka, encompassing the Palakkad and Wayanad hills and the Sathyamangalam ranges, and extending to the relatively low-lying hills of the Eastern Ghats on the western portion of the Tamil Nadu–Andhra Pradesh border, forming the Tirupati and Annamalai hills.
The Deccan Plateau is the elevated region bound by the mountain ranges. The plateau rises to in the north and to more than in the south, forming a raised triangle within the downward-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent's coastline. It also slopes gently from West to East resulting in major rivers arising in the Western Ghats and flowing east into the Bay of Bengal. The volcanic basalt beds of the Deccan were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period, between 67 and 66 million years ago. Multiple layers were formed by repeated volcanic activity that lasted many years and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on the top. Large lakes in the region include Vembanad, and Pulicat Lakes.
Climate
The region has a tropical climate and depends on monsoons for rainfall. According to the Köppen climate classification, it has a non-arid climate with minimum mean temperatures of. The humid tropical monsoon climate characterised by moderate to high year-round temperatures and seasonally heavy rainfall above per year, is experienced in a strip of south-western lowlands abutting the Malabar Coast, the Western Ghats, and the Lakshadweep islands.A tropical wet and dry climate, drier than areas with a tropical monsoon climate, prevails over most of the inland peninsular region except for a semi-arid rain shadow east of the Western Ghats. Winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperatures averaging above ; summer is exceedingly hot with temperatures in low-lying areas exceeding ; and the rainy season lasts from June to September, with annual rainfall averaging between across the region. Post September, only parts of Tamil Nadu receives precipitation, leaving other states comparatively dry. A hot semi-arid climate predominates in the land east of the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills. The region – which includes Karnataka, inland Tamil Nadu and western Andhra Pradesh – gets between of rainfall annually, with hot summers and dry winters with average temperatures of. The months between March and May are hot and dry, with mean monthly temperatures hovering around, with an average of precipitation. Without artificial irrigation, this region is not suitable for agriculture.
The southwest monsoon from June to September accounts for most of the rainfall in the region. The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon hits the Western Ghats along the coastal state of Kerala and moves northward along the Konkan coast, bringing rainfall to the coastal areas west of the Western Ghats. The lofty Western Ghats prevent the winds from reaching the interior of the Deccan Plateau, resulting in the leeward region receiving very little rainfall. The Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon heads toward northeast India, picking up moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The Coramandel coast does not receive much rainfall from the southwest monsoon, due to the shape of the land. Tamil Nadu and southeastern Andhra Pradesh receive rains from the northeast monsoon. The northeast monsoon takes place from November to early March, when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The North Indian Ocean tropical cyclones occur throughout the year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, bringing devastating winds and heavy rainfall.