Nagapattinam - General Information
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Nagapattinam - General Information
Nagapattinam district, the land of communal harmony, was carved out by bifurcating the composite Thanjavur district on 18.10.1991. This district hastraditionally been referred to as East Thanjavur and Paddy granary of South India Nagapattinam District lies on the shores of the Bay of Bengal between Northern Latitude 10.10' and 11.20' East Longtitute 79.15' and 79.50' This is peninsular delta District surrounded by Bay of Bengal on the East, Palk Straint on the South and land on the West and Northern Side.
This District is predominantly, A Coastal District having a large coast line of 141 kilometres. This District has a numerous places of historical importance. Nagapattinam is an old Port Town. This District is having an area of 2715.83 Sq. Kms in its fold. The District Headquaters is Nagapattinam. This district is enveloping 11 Panchayat Unions, 3Municipalties, 9 Town Panchayats on its Development Side. On the Revenue Side,it is housing 2 Revenue divisions with 4 and 3 Taluks respectively and 523 revenueVillages.
Decades back to Sangam-age, NAGAPATTINAM district was ruled over by Chola Kings and by Pandiyas for a short while. Among the Chola kings, King Karikalan renovated and built the renowned port of Poompuhar (located in Nagapattinam district). Kosagan - the brilliant and illustrious king of Chola age built numerous shiva temples including the famous Singaravelar temple at Sikkal. Nagapattinam is one of the oldest port cities of Chola empire. It was called as "Naval Pattinam"- The city of ships. During 1620 AD, a Danish settlement was established at Tharangambadi in this district.
As of 2001 India censusGRIndia, Nagapattinam had a population of 92,525. Males constitute 50% of the population and females 50%. Nagapattinam has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 69%. In Nagapattinam, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. The major languages spoken in the Nagapattinam District are Tamil and Telugu. The vast majority of the population are Hindu by religion, with a Muslim minority of about 8% and much smaller groups of Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains.
The main occupation in the town of Nagapattinam is fishing. Fishermen from nagapattinam fish in the waters of Bay of Bengal and sell them in the town's fish market. There are a large number of ice factories for preserving the fish caught. Its fishing Industry was severely damaged by the tsunamis that struck its coast on 26th December 2004.
Agriculture is the most important occupation in the inner parts of the dstrict. It is practiced in the villages surrounding the town. It has vast farmlands where rice is cultivated. These farmlands are irrigateg through an extensive network of canals from the distributaries of the river Cauvery. The produce is transported through rail to other parts of the country.
The Nagapattinam district lies on the east coast to the south of Cuddalore district and another part of the Nagapattinam district lies to the south of Karaikkal and Tiruvarur districts. Its northern boundary is about 75 Km southwards from the Head Quarters of the Cuddalore district. Thanjavur district and Tiruvarur district flank it on the west and on the south and east it is bordered by the Bay of Bengal. The district lies between 10.25° and 11.40° North Longitude and 76° 49° and 80.01° East longitude. The general geological formation of the district is plain and coastal. The Cauvery and its offshoots are the principal rivers. Rising in the Coorg Mountains, this river bifurcates about nine miles at the west of Trichy into two branches, of which the northern one takes the name of Coleroen and the southern one retains that of the Cauvery.
All along the course of Cauvery and its dis-tributaries, on both the banks numerous narrow strips of river porombokes lands called Paduagais that are cut up by countless patta lands. These strips ranging in width from about 3 metres to 100 meters are made up of bits of lands. Even though the Padugais and Poromboke lands are very dry they are very fertile. Flood banks of Cauvery and its dis-tributaries are away from the watercourses in the upper reaches where the river is wide and closer in the lower reaches and the river become narrow gradually. The marine land or coastal land has plain lands except for few sand dunes.
However there is a general tilt from coastal line to inland area. The Vederanyam salt swamp, which is the largest swamp in Tamilnadu, runs along the coast from Point Calimere westwards to Muthupet. Consequently extensive lagoons have been formed in these areas. The terrain is an open plain, sloping towards the east and devoid of any hills. In south and Southwest of Thanjavur the country rises and forms a small plateau known as Vallam table land, broken by small ridges of grits and sandstone?s.Most of the rivers flow to the east into the Bay of Bengal. The most important feature of the district is the Cauvery River spread over with its numerous branches.
There are no less than eleven ports on the coast Nagapattinam district, of which eight are open to foreign trades. The coastline has a number of harbours of which mention may be made of Nagore, Point Calimere, Nagapattinam. The significant small ports are Kilvellore, Thirumulaivasalam, Nagapattinam, Velankanni, Topputturai, Muttupet and Adiramapatnam. The Nagapattinam district is made up the 6 Taluks of Nagapattinam, Kilvellore, Vedaranniyam, Mayiladuthurai, Sirkali and Thrangampadi. The East Side faces the Bay of Bengal. The district is the most part of a flat plain, slopping very gently to the sea on the east. The total geographical area of the district is about 3536.38 Sq.km. The details of the name of the taluks with area in Sq.km. are given below.
Nagapattinam, Kilvellore, Vedaranniyam, Mayiladuthurai, Sirkazhi, Tharangampadi, Thirukuvalai.
Vedaranniyam salt swamp forms another great natural division. It runs along the coast from Point Calimere for about 48 kms. and is about 7 to 8 km. wide. This is the longest swamp of its kind in the state. It is filled by two periodical high tides during the full moon of months, May and June and retains sea water to a depth of two feet over a considerable area enclosed by low earthen banks, which when closed prevent the water from flowing back into the sea after the tide recedes. It is in this manner the well-known Vedaranniyam spontaneous salt is produced.
Nagapattinam - General Information
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