Karnataka


Date of formation	November 1, 1973
Capital	Bangalore
Governor	T. N. Chaturvedi
Chief Minister	Dharam Singh
Area	192,000 km²
Population - Total - Density	52,733,958 (2001) 274.7/km²
Literacy rate: - Total - Male - Female	58.36% 66.34% 50%
Urbanization:	33.98%

Karnataka is one of the four southern statess of India. Bangalore, the capital city is the only city with a population of more than 1 million. Other major cities include Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli-Dharwad, Bellary and Belgaum. There are many noteworthy Hindu holy places in Karnataka, of which Udupi, Dharmasthala, Sringeri, Horanadu, Kollur are well known.

As of 2001, it is one of 10 Indian states with a population greater than 50 million. 90% of India's gold production comes from Karnataka.

It has Goa to its northwest, Maharashtra to its north, Andhra Pradesh to its east, Tamil Nadu to its east and southeast, and Kerala to its southwest. The western border is the shore of the Arabian Sea.

The state has three principal physical zones;

The coastal strip, between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, which is lowland, with moderate to high rainfall levels.
The Western Ghats, a mountain range inland from the Arabian Sea, rising to about 900m average height, and with moderate to high rainfall levels.
The Deccan Plateau, comprising the main inland region of the state, which is drier and verging on the semi-arid.

The districts of Karnataka are:

Bagalkot
Bangalore (Urban)
Bangalore Rural District
Belgaum
Bellary
Bidar
Bijapur
Chamrajnagar
Chikmagalur
Chitradurga
Dakshina Kannada, also called South Canara
Davangere
Dharwad
Gadag
Gulbarga
Hassan
Haveri
Kodagu, also called Coorg
Kolar
Koppal
Mandya
Mysore
Raichur
Shimoga
Tumkur
Udupi
Uttara Kannada, also called North Kanara

There are several suggested etymologies for the name Karnataka. The most reasonable one is that it comes from "karu" + "nadu" meaning "elevated land". It is interesting to note that Karnataka has one of the highest average elevations of Indian states at 1500 feet.

Table of contents

1 Language
2 History
3 External links

Language

Due to the linguistic basis for the formation of the Indian states, language is a very important part of a state's identity. The predominant language of this area is Kannada, which is its official language. Other languages include Kodava Takk, Tulu and Konkani, as well as the languages of the surrounding states: Marathi, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam.

History

The history of Karnataka can be traced back to the times of Ashoka. They were ruled by the Kadambas, the Gangas, the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagar kings, Tippu Sultan and Hyder Ali, the Wodeyars of Mysore and by the British over time.

On November 1, 1956, Mysore state was enlarged to its present boundaries, incorporating the state of Coorg and the western districts of Hyderabad state, the southernmost portion of Bombay state, and the northwestern coastal region of Madras state. On November 1, 1973 the name of Mysore state was changed to Karnataka.