IMPORTANT FACTS

Chennai, the first city of the South, and capital of Tamilnadu, has a chequered history dating back to 1639 when Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, agents of the East India Company acquired a Strip of Land granted on lease by the Vijayanagar Emperor. Fort St.George was built in Chennai for setting up a factory as a nucleus around which arose the British settlements. Gradually, but steadily the old tiny village like Triplicane, Egmore, Purasawakkam and Chetpet were clubbed with the new agglomeration of the fast growing Chennapatnam as it was know then.

Chennai, widely known as Madras till 1996, has a rich tradition and civilisation with a blend of the old, and the new, vibrating ceaselessly to keep pace with the rest of India, as the buoyant metropolis of the third most industrialised State.

People in Chennai are deep rooted in their cultural moorings and traditions, even though modernity has its own impact. Chennai is airy, spacious with verdant green patches and beaches. With a population of about six Million, Chennai is the fourth largest city in India. It has played a notable role in deciding the political destiny of India on many occasions. Chennai has regained its pride of place in the automobile industry as the 'Detroit of the South'. Days are not far away when Chennai may be a 'Silicon City' with high-technological knowledge in software. May be that real India, in her pristine cultural warp and beauty as detailed in history, still lives in chennai. A visit to Chennai to see the graceful people of glorious land will surely help the visitor to carry home this imprint of Indian Heritage