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Nilgiris District

The Nilgiris district
நீலகிரி மாவட்டம்
Nilagiri Mavattam
District
The Nilgiri Mountain Railway
Location in Tamil Nadu, India
Location in Tamil Nadu, India
Coordinates: 11°25′N 76°41′E / 11.417°N 76.683°E / 11.417; 76.683Coordinates: 11°25′N 76°41′E / 11.417°N 76.683°E / 11.417; 76.683
Country India
State Tamil Nadu
District Nilgiris
Established February 1882
Headquarters Udhagamandalam
Talukas Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Kundah, Kotagiri, Gudalur, Pandalur
Government
 • Collector & District Magistrate Dr P Shankar IAS
Area
 • District 2,565 km2 (990 sq mi)
Elevation 2,789 m (9,150 ft)
Population (2011)
 • District 735,394
 • Density 421.97/km2 (1,092.9/sq mi)
 • Metro 454,609
Languages
 • Official Tamil
Time zone IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN 643001
Telephone code 0423
ISO 3166 code [[ISO 3166-2:IN|]]
Vehicle registration TN-43
Coastline 0 kilometres (0 mi)
Largest city Udhagamandalam
Sex ratio M-49.6%/F-50.4% ?/?
Literacy 80.01%%
Legislature type elected
Legislature Strength 3
Precipitation 3,520.8 millimetres (138.61 in)
Avg. annual temperature −6 °C (21 °F)
Avg. summer temperature 6 °C (43 °F)
Avg. winter temperature −12 °C (10 °F)
Website nilgiris.nic.in

The Nilgiris District is in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri (English: Blue Mountains) is the name given to a range of mountains spread across the borders among the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats. Their highest point is the mountain of Doddabetta, height 2,633 m. The small district is contained mainly within this mountain range; the administrative headquarters is located at Ooty (Ootacamund or Udhagamandalam).

Nilgiris District ranked first in a comprehensive Economic Environment index ranking districts in Tamil Nadu (not including Chennai) prepared by the Institute for Financial Management and Research in August 2009. Tea and coffee plantations have been important to its economy. As of 2011, the Nilgiris district had a population of 735,394, with a sex-ratio of 1,042 females for every 1,000 males.

The history of peoples settled in the Nilgiri hills has been recorded for several centuries. The Blue Mountains were likely named for the widespread blue Strobilanthes flower, or perhaps the smoky haze enveloping the area.

This area was long occupied by the indigenous tribal peoples of the Toda, Kota, Kurumba and Irula. The lower Wynaad plateau in the west of the district had a different tribal population. The Todas and Kota, who are similar in culture, language and genetic ancestry, were settled across much of the Nilgiri plateau. In addition, the Badaga, though officially recognised by the British in their Gazetteer as primitive tribes now after independence for reasons unknown are a major non-tribal group, and the largest indigenous group in the Nilgiris District, the Badagas were the agriculturist in the District, cultivating traditional crops such as Samai, Batha, Ragi and under British influence cultivated English Vegetables and later moved on to tea cultivation.

Unlike elsewhere in the country, no historical evidence is found of a state on the Nilgiris, or that it was part of any ancient kingdom or empire. It seems always to have been a tribal land. The Toda had small hamlets (“mund”) located across most of the plateau. The Kota lived in seven dispersed villages ("kokal"). The Badaga had 435 villages ("hatti”) in central and eastern parts of the plateau. They and the Toda had only a few hamlets on the lower Wynaad plateau and in the nearby Biligiri Rangan hills.


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