Mahé, Puducherry
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Mayyazhi, Mahé മയ്യഴി, മാഹി |
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| Geographical Area | |
An image of Mahe Walkway
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 Map of Mahé District |
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 Mayyazhi, Mahé
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| Coordinates: 11°42′4″N 75°32′12″E / 11.70111°N 75.53667°ECoordinates: 11°42′4″N 75°32′12″E / 11.70111°N 75.53667°E | |
| Country | India |
| State | Puducherry |
| District | Mahé Sub-division |
| Government | |
| • Type | Municipality |
| • Body | Mahé Region |
| Area | |
| • Total | 9 km2 (3 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Total | 41,816 (approx) |
| • Density | 4,646/km2 (12,030/sq mi) |
| Languages | |
| • Official | Malayalam, English |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| PIN | 673 310 |
| Telephone code | 91 (0) 490 |
| Vehicle registration | PY-03 |
| Sex ratio | 1,000 ♂/1,184♀ |
| Literacy | 97.87% |
| Vidhan Sabha constituency | 1 |
| Civic agency | Mahé Region |
| Climate | Good (Köppen) |
| Website | mahe |
Mayyazhi, increasingly spelled Mahé, is a small town at the mouth of the Mahé River and is surrounded on all sides by the State of Kerala. The Kannur District surrounds Mahé on three sides and Kozhikode District from one side.
Formerly part of French India, Mahé now forms a municipality in Mahé district, one of the four districts of the Union Territory of Puducherry. Mahé has one member (MLA) in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly.
The name Mahé derives from Mayyazhi, the name given to the local river and region in the Malayalam language. The original spelling found on French documents from the early 1720s is Mayé, with Mahé and Mahié also found on documents, maps and geographical dictionaries until the early 19th century when the spelling Mahé became the norm. Therefore, the belief that the name of the town was given in honour of Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1699–1753), whose later fame derived in good part from his association with India, including his capture of Mayé in 1741, is incorrect.
Another claim that the spelling Mahé was officially adopted by the leader of the expedition that retook the city in 1726 in recognition of La Bourdonnais' role at the time is also unlikely. It is probable that the resemblance of Mayé, not to mention Mahé, with La Bourdonnais’ family name prompted later generations to assume that the famous Frenchman was somehow directly or indirectly associated with the name to the town or the spelling of the name.
Before the incursion of European colonial powers into India, this area was part of Kolathu Nadu which comprised Thulunadu, Chirakkal and Kadathanadu. The French East India Company constructed a fort on the site of Mahé in 1724, in accordance with an accord concluded between André Mollandin and Raja Vazhunnavar of Vatakara three years earlier. In 1741, Mahé de La Bourdonnais retook the town after a period of occupation by the Marathas.
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Wikipedia