Districts of Kerala

The Indian state of Kerala borders with the states of Tamil Nadu on the south and east, Karnataka on the north and the Lakshadweep Sea coastline on the west. The Western Ghats, bordering the eastern boundary of the State, form an almost continuous mountain wall, except near Palakkad where there is a natural mountain pass known as the Palakkad Gap. When the independent India amalgamated small states together Travancore and Cochin states were integrated to form Travancore-Cochin state on 1 July 1949. However, Malabar remained under the Madras province. The States Reorganisation Act of 1 November 1956 elevated Kerala to statehood.

The state of Kerala is divided into 14 revenue districts. On the basis of geography the state's districts are generally grouped into three parts :- The North Kerala districts of Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode ; the Central Kerala districts of Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Idukki, Malappuram, Kottayam and the South Kerala districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta. Such a regional division occurred being part of historical Kingdoms of Kochi, Travancore and British Province of Malabar. The Travancore region is again divided into three zones as Northern Travancore (Hill Range) (Idukki and parts of Ernakulam), Central Travancore (Central Range) (Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha and Kottayam) and Southern Travancore (South Range) (Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam). Almost all of the districts in Kerala have the same name as the important town or city in the district, the exception being Idukki district, Wayanad district& Ernakulam district. The 14 districts are further divided into 75 taluks, and 941 Gram panchayats. Some of the districts and their towns were renamed in 1990 like Thiruvananthapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum), Kollam (Quilon or Venad), Alappuzha (Alleppey),Thrissur (Trichur or Thirushivaperur), Palakkad (Palghat), Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kannur (Cannanore).

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