Madras

Madras
/meuh dras", -drahs"/, n.
1. a seaport in and the capital of Tamil Nadu state, in SE India, on the Bay of Bengal. 3,169,930.
2. former name of Tamil Nadu.

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▪ India
      capital of Tamil Nadu state, India, on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal.

      Madras is the shortened name of the fishing village Madraspatnam, where the British East India Company built a fort and trading post in 1639–40. At that time, the weaving of cotton fabrics was a local industry, and the English invited the weavers and native merchants to settle near the fort. By 1652 the factory of Fort St. George (Saint George, Fort) was recognized as a presidency (an administrative unit governed by a president), and between 1668 and 1749 the company expanded its control. About 1801, by which time the last of the local rulers had been shorn of his powers, the English had become masters of southern India, and Madras had become their administrative and commercial capital.

      Madras developed without a plan from its 17th-century core, formed by the fort and the Indian quarters. To the north and northwest are the industrial areas; the main residential areas are to the west and south, and the old villages are in the centre. The most distinctive buildings in the city are the seven large temples in the Dravidian style, situated in the sections of George Town, Mylapore, and Triplicane. Of the buildings of the British period, the Chepauk Palace and the University Senate House (both in the Deccan Muslim style) and the Victoria Technical Institute and the High Court buildings (both in the Indo-Saracenic style) are generally considered to be the most attractive. A number of modern high-rises have also been built.

      Industries include vehicle factories, an electrical-engineering firm, rubber and fertilizer factories, and a refinery. The main commodities exported from Madras are leather, iron ore, and cotton textiles. Wheat, machinery, iron and steel, and raw cotton are imported.

      There are numerous educational institutions in Madras. Professional education can be obtained in the state medical colleges, the colleges of engineering and technology, the College of Carnatic Music, the College of Arts and Crafts, and the teacher-training colleges. The city is also the site of the University of Madras (Madras, University of) (1857), which has several advanced centres of research. The Indian Institute of Technology, the Central Leather Research Institute, and the Regional Laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research are other noteworthy scientific institutions.

      Cultural institutions include the Madras Music Academy, devoted to the encouragement of Carnatic music (the music of the historic region between the southern Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal and the Deccan Plateau). The Kalakshetra is a centre of dance and music, and the Rasika Ranjini Sabha, in Mylapore, encourages the theatrical arts. The suburban town of Kodambakkam, with its numerous film studios, is described as the Hollywood of southern India. Three theatres—the Children's Theatre, the Annamalai Manram, and the Museum Theatre—are popular. The Madras Government Museum has exhibitions on the history and physical aspects of Tamil Nadu. There is a small collection of East India Company antiquities in the Fort Museum and a collection of paintings in the National Art Gallery. The government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the name of the city to Chennai in 1996. Pop. (2001) 4,343,645; urban agglom., 6,560,242.

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Universalium. 2010.

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