Tamil People
| தமிழர் | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| c. 75.8 million | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 India
|
60,793,814 (2001) |
 Sri Lanka
|
3,135,770 (2012) |
 Malaysia
|
1,800,000 |
 Singapore
|
188,591 (2010) for others see Tamil diaspora |
| Languages | |
| Tamil | |
| Religion | |
Predominantly:
Minorities:
|
|
| Related ethnic groups | |
The Tamil people (Tamil: தமிழர், tamiẓar (singular) ?[t̪ɐmɪɻɐɾ], or Tamil: தமிழர்கள், tamiẓarkaḷ (plural) ?[t̪ɐmɪɻɐɾxɐɭ]), also known as ,Tamilans, or simply Tamils, are an ethnic group who speak Tamil as their mother tongue and trace their ancestry to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Union territory of Puducherry, or the Northern, Eastern Province and Puttalam District of Sri Lanka. Tamil people with a population of approximately 76 million living around the world are one of the largest and oldest of the existing ethno-linguistic cultural groups of people in the modern world. Tamils comprise 24.87% of the population in Sri Lanka, 5.91% in India, 10.83% in Mauritius, 5% in Singapore and approximately 6% in Malaysia.
From the 3rd century BCE onward, urbanisation and mercantile activity along the western and eastern coasts of what is today Kerala and Tamil Nadu led to the development of four large Tamil political states, Chera dynasty, Chola dynasty, Pandyan Dynasty and Pallava dynasty and a number of smaller states warring amongst themselves for dominance.
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