Chennai formerly known as Madras, is the capital of the state of Tamil Nadu and is India's fourth largest metropolitan city. Chennai is the third largest commercial and industrial centre in India. Chennai is known for its cultural heritage and temple architecture. It is also a hub for south Indian classical music and dance performances. Chennai is considered the automobile capital of India, with a major percentage of the automobile industry having a base here and a major portion of the nation's vehicles being produced here.


     Chennai was initially a small fishing village. It has been ruled by South Indian kingdoms, notably the Pallava, the Chola, the Pandya, and Vijaynagar empires. The town of Mylapore, now part of the metropolis, was once a major port of the Pallava kingdom.

     When the Portuguese arrived in 1522, they built a port and named it Sao Tome, after the Christian apostle St. Thomas, who is believed to have preached there between the years 52 and 70. The region then passed into the hands of the Dutch, who established themselves near Pulicat just north of the city in 1612.

     On 22 August 1639, Francis Day of the British East India Company obtained a small strip of land in the Coromandel Coast from the Vijayanagara King, Peda Venkata Raya in Chandragiri. The region was under by the Damerla Venkatapathy, Nayak of Vandavasi.The permission was to build a factory and warehouse for their trading activities. A year later, Fort St George was built, which subsequently became the nucleus around which the colonial city grew.

     In 1746, Fort St George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritius, who plundered the town and its outlying villages. The British regained control of the town in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and subsequently fortified the base to withstand further attacks from the French and Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore.

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