| Chengalpattu District Chengalpattu | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District of theMadras Presidency | |||||||||||||
| 1793–2003 | |||||||||||||
 Flag | |||||||||||||
 Location of Chingleput district at the time of the formation ofMadras State in 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Capital | Karunguzhi (1793 - 1825) and (1835 - 1859),Kanchipuram (1825 - 1835),Saidapet (1859 - 1947), Chingleput (1947-2003) | ||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• 1901 | 7,974.5 km2 (3,079.0 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
• 1901 | 1,312,122 | ||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||
• Collectorates merged into a single district | 1793 | ||||||||||||
• Bifurcated into the districts ofKanchipuram andTiruvallur | 2003 | ||||||||||||
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 This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Chingleput".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 233. | |||||||||||||
Chingleput district was a district in theMadras Presidency ofBritish India. It covered the area of the present-day districts ofKanchipuram,Chengalpattu andTiruvallur and parts ofChennai city. It was sub-divided into six taluks with a total area of 7,970 square kilometres (3,079 sq mi). The first capital was the town ofKarunguzhi, with an interruption between 1825 and 1835, administrative headquarters were transferred toKanchipuram. In 1859, the capitalSaidapet, now a neighbourhood in the city of Chennai, was made the administrative headquarters of the district.[1]
Excavations made byRobert Bruce Foote indicate that the region was inhabited in theStone Age. During the end of first millennium B. C, it was under the Thondaiman kings. ThePallavas with their capital atKanchi came to power in about 500 A. D. When the Pallava kingdom began to decline, the region was conquered by the Western Gangas in about 760 A. D. Chingleput was ruled by theRashtrakutas,Cholas and theKakatiyas ofWarangal until the 13th century AD when it fell to theDelhi Sultanate. Chingleput area was conquered by theVijayanagar Empire which ruled the region from 1393 till 1565 and from 1565 till 1640 as the kingdom ofChandragiri.
The area was annexed by theMughals in 1687 and was later conquered by theNawab of the Carnatic. In 1763, Chingleput was ceded to theBritish East India Company by Mohammad Ali, the then Nawab of the Carnatic. It was the site of theCarnatic Wars and was frequently taken byTipu Sultan during the last years of the 18th century. In 1801, the Nawab of the Carnatic, finally, relinquished complete sovereignty over the region to the British East India Company.[2]
After theindependence of India, the district became part in 1950 of the newly namedMadras State. As a result of the 1956States Reorganisation Act, the state's boundaries were re-organised following linguistic lines. Madras State was finally renamedTamil Nadu on 14 January 1969.[3]
Chingleput district was made of eight taluks:
The district was sub-divided into three sub-divisions each under the charge of a Deputy Collector:
As of 1901, the district had two municipalities Conjeevaram and Chingleput.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1871 | 938,184 | — |
| 1881 | 981,381 | +4.6% |
| 1891 | 1,202,928 | +22.6% |
| 1901 | 1,312,122 | +9.1% |
Sources:
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As of 1901, Chingleput had a total population of 1,312,222. 96 percent of the population were Hindus while the rest where Christians and Muslims. About three-fourths of the people spoke Tamil as their mother tongue the remainder spoke Telugu. Due to its proximity to Madras city, there were also large numbers of Europeans in the district.
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