South India · Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
Sources: wikimedia
About Coimbatore
- Inland
Where it is
Coimbatore is a major city in western Tamil Nadu, on the Noyyal River at the foot of the Western Ghats, near the Palghat Gap that leads through the mountains into Kerala.
History
Part of the ancient Kongu Nadu, the region was ruled by the Cheras and then the Cholas, and later by the Vijayanagara Empire, the Madurai Nayaks and the Kingdom of Mysore before the British annexed it in 1799. A textile boom in the 1920s and 1930s turned it into an industrial city, nicknamed the Manchester of South India.
People
Tamil is the official language, and most people speak its local Kongu dialect, with Telugu and Malayalam also spoken. The city's mills, foundries and workshops, and the farms of the surrounding Kongu region, have long shaped its way of life.
Known for
- Cotton mills and textile industries
- Wet grinders, motors and pumps
- The Marudamalai Murugan temple
- The Adiyogi Shiva bust in the Velliangiri foothills
- Gateway to Ooty and the Nilgiris
Did you know?
The Coimbatore wet grinder, used in South Indian kitchens to grind batter for idli and dosa, carries a geographical indication tag.
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