Kerala

State
A Kerala houseboat near Alappuzha
Coat of arms
Nickname(s): God's Own Country
Kerala
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kerala /krl/, regionally referred to as Keralam( ), is a state in the south-west
region of India on the Malabar coast. It was formed on 1 November 1956 as per the States
Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam-speaking regions. Spread over
38,863 km
2
(15,005 sq mi) it is bordered by Karnataka to the north and north east, Tamil
Nadu to the east and south, and the Lakshadweep Sea to the west. With 33,387,677
inhabitants as per the 2011 census, Kerala is the twelfth largest state by population and is
divided into 14 districts. Malayalam is the most widely spoken and official language of the state.
The state capital is Thiruvananthapuram, other major cities include Kochi,kannur, Kozhikode,
Kollam, and Thrissur.
The region was a prominent spice exporter from 3000 BCE to 3rd century. The Chera
Dynasty was the first powerful kingdom based in Kerala, though it frequently struggled against
attacks from the neighbouring Cholas and Pandyas. During the Chera period, Kerala remained
an international spice trading center. Later, in the 15th century, the lucrative spice trade
attracted Portuguese traders to Kerala, and eventually paved the way for the European
colonisation of the whole of India. After independence, Travancore and Cochin joined the
Republic of India and Travancore-Cochin was given the status of a state. Later, the state was
formed in 1956 by merging the Malabar district, Travancore-Cochin (excluding four southern
taluks), and the taluk of Kasargod, South Kanara.
Kerala is the state with the lowest positive population growth rate in India (3.44%) and has a
density of 860 people per km
2
. The state has the highest Human Development Index (HDI)
(0.790) in the country according to the Human Development Report 2011.
[3]
It also has the
highest literacy rate 95.5%, the highest life expectancy (Almost 77 years) and the highest sex
ratio (as defined by number of women per 1000 men: 1,084 women per 1000 men) among all
Indian states. Kerala has the lowest homicide rate among Indian states, for 2011 it was 1.1 per
100,000.
[4]
A survey in 2005 by Transparency International ranked it as the least corrupt state
in the country. Kerala has witnessed significant emigration of its people, especially to the Gulf
states during the Gulf Boom during the 1970s and early 1980s, and its economy depends
significantly on remittances from a large Malayali expatriate community. Hinduism is practised
Coordinat es: 8.5074N 76.973E