City India

Kerala

Kerala has the highest media exposure in India with newspapers publishing in nine different languages; mainly English and Malayalam.

About Kerala

Kerala is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions.

The state has an area of 38,863 km2 (15,005 sq mi) and is bordered by Karnataka to the north and northeast, Tamil Nadu to the south and southeast, and the Arabian Sea [note] on the west. The city of Thiruvananthapuram is the state capital. The city of Kochi (Largest UA) and Kozhikode are other major cities. According to a survey by The Economic Times, five out of ten best cities to live in India are located in Kerala. Kerala is a popular tourist destination for its backwaters, yoga, Ayurvedic treatments and tropical greenery.

Kerala has the highest Human Development Index in India, comparable with that of first world nations but with a much lower per capita income. The state has the highest literacy rate in India with 99 percent. The state recently became and is currently the only one to have banking facilities in every village. A survey conducted in 2005 by Transparency International ranked Kerala as the least corrupt state in the country. Kerala has witnessed significant migration of its people, especially to the Persian Gulf countries during the Kerala Gulf boom and is heavily dependent on remittances from its large Malayali (Malayalam language speaking) expatriate community.

History
Evidence of Kerala's early human occupation includes Dolmens of the Neolithic era, in the Marayur area. They are locally known as "muniyara", derived from muni (hermit or sage, and ara (dolmen).

Rock-engravings in the Edakkal Caves (in Wayanad) are thought to date from the early to Late Neolithic eras around 5000 B.C. The use of a specific Indus script pictogram in these caves suggests some relationship with the Indus Valley Civilization during the late Bronze Age and early Iron age.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu once shared a common language and culture, within an area known as Tamilakam. In the 1st century BCE, Tamil-speaking Dravidian Villavars [clarification needed] established the Chera Dynasty that ruled northern Kerala from a capital at Vanchi. Southern Kerala was ruled by the Pandyan Kingdom, with a trading port variously identified by ancient Western sources as "Nelcynda" and "Neacyndi" The Cheras had trading links with China, West Asia, Egypt and the Roman Empire. The value of Rome's annual trade with India as a whole was estimated at no less than 50,000,000 sesterces; contemporary Sangam literature describes Roman ships coming to Muziris in Kerala, laden with gold to exchange for pepper. One of the earliest western traders to use the monsoon winds to reach Kerala may have been Eudoxus of Cyzicus, around 118 or 166 BCE, under the patronage of Ptolemy VIII, king of the Hellenistic Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt. Kerala is identified on the Tabula Peutingeriana, the only known surviving map of the Roman cursus publicus.

Geography
Kerala is wedged between the Lakshadweep sea and the Western Ghats. Lying between north latitudes 8°18' and 12°48' and east longitudes 74°52' and 77°22', Kerala experiences the humid equatorial tropic climate. The state has a coast of length 590 km (370 mi) and the width of the state varies between 35 and 120 km (22–75 miles). Geographically, Kerala can be divided into three climatically distinct regions: the eastern highlands (rugged and cool mountainous terrain), the central midlands (rolling hills), and the western lowlands (coastal plains). Located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, Kerala lies near the centre of the Indian tectonic plate; hence, most of the state is subject to comparatively little seismic and volcanic activity. Pre-Cambrian and Pleistocene geological formations compose the bulk of Kerala’s terrain. Anamudi from Eravikulam National Park

The eastern Kerala region consists of high mountains, gorges and deep-cut valleys immediately west of the Western Ghats' rain shadow. Forty-one of Kerala’s west- flowing rivers, and three of its east-flowing ones originate in this region. The Western Ghats form a wall of mountains interrupted only near Palakkad, where the Palakkad Gap breaks through to provide access to the rest of India. The Western Ghats rises on average to 1,500 m (4920 ft) above sea level, while the highest peaks may reach to 2,500 m (8200 ft). Anamudi is the highest peak at an elevation of 2,695 metres (8,842 ft). Just west of the mountains lie the midland plains comprising central Kerala, dominated by rolling hills and valleys. Generally ranging between elevations of 250–1,000 m (820–3300 ft), the eastern portions of the Nilgiri and Palni Hills include such formations as Agastya Mala and Anamala.

Climate
With 120–140 rainy days per year, Kerala has a wet and maritime tropical climate influenced by the seasonal heavy rains of the southwest summer monsoon. In eastern Kerala, a drier tropical wet and dry climate prevails. Kerala's rainfall averages 3,107 mm (122 in.) annually. Some of Kerala's drier lowland regions average only 1,250 mm (49 in.); the mountains of eastern Idukki district receive more than 5,000 mm (197 in.) of orographic precipitation, the highest in the state.

During summer, Kerala is prone to gale force winds, storm surges, cyclone-related torrential downpours, occasional droughts, and rises in sea level. The mean daily temperatures range from 19.8 °C to 36.7 °C. Mean annual temperatures range from 25.0–27.5 °C in the coastal lowlands to 20.0–22.5 °C in the eastern highlands.

States of India

Kerala Updates

Banks in Kerala
Pan Card


Top Schools in Dehradun

Best Play School

Best Residential Schools