Chennai is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is the biggest cultural, economic and educational centre in South India. Chennai is known as the "Detroit of South Asia" for its automobile industry It is the fourth-largest city and fourth-most populous metropolitan are in the country and 36th-largest urban area in the world. Chennai is one of the most visited cities in India by foreign tourists, and 38th most visited city in the world. The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India.Chennai attracts about 45 percent of health tourists from abroad arriving in the country and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed "India's health capital".
The city is host to the third-largest expatriate population in India after Mumbai and Delhi, with 35,000 in 2009 and 82,790 in 2011 Tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015.Chennai is ranked as a beta-level city in the Global Cities Index and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. Chennai has also been named in the "hottest" cities to live in for 2015 by the BBC among global cities, with a mixture of both modern and traditional values.National Geographic ranked Chennai as the world's 2nd best food city, and Chennai was the only Indian city to feature in the list.Chennai was also named the 9th-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet.
The Chennai Metropolitan Area as recently as January 2015 has been ranked the fourth-largest economy in India, and the third-highest GDP per capita. As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai has been selected as one of the 20 Indian cities to be developed as asmart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission
History
Stone age implements have been found near Pallavaram in Chennai. According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Pallavaram was a megalithic cultural establishment, and pre-historic communities resided in the settlement.
The region around Chennai has served as an important administrative, military, and economic centre for many centuries. During 1st century CE, a poet and weaver named Thiruvalluvar lived in the town of Mylapore (a neighbourhood of present Chennai) From the 1st–12th century the region of present Tamil Nadu and parts of South India was ruled by the Cholas.
The Pallavas of Kanchi built the areas of Mahabalipuram and Pallavaram during the reign ofMahendravarman I. They also defeated several kingdoms including the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyaswho ruled over the area before their arrival. Sculpted caves and paintings have been identified from that period. Ancient coins dating to around 500 BC have also been unearthed from the city and its surrounding areas. A portion of these findings belonged to the Vijayanagara Empire, which ruled the region during the medieval period.
The Portuguese first arrived in 1522 and built a port called São Tomé after the Christian apostle, St. Thomas, who is believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 CE. In 1612, the Dutch established themselves near Pulicat, north of Chennai
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