Coimbatore district

**Coimbatore district** is one of the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu. Its headquarter Coimbatore city is the second biggest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore district is one of the most industrialized district of Tamil Nadu in textiles, education, healthcare, information technology, manufacturing etc. As of 2011, Coimbatore district had a population of 34,58,045 and the literacy rate is 84%.

## History
Coimbatore district was a part of the historical region of Kongu Nadu. It was ruled by the Cheras in the ancient period. Coimbatore is an important region between the Roman trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu. In the 10th century, the medieval Cholas conquered the region. In the 15th century it was controlled by the Vijayanagara Empire. The Madurai Nayaks introduced the Palayakkars system after capturing Kongu Nadu region. It was divided into 24 palayams. Later this region came under the Kingdom of Mysore. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, the region was annexed with Madras prescidency.

Coimbatore played an important role in the Second Polygar War when the region was under Dheeran Chinnamalai. Coimbatore city was named the capital of newly formed Coimbatore district. It is said that the district comprised of modern-day Tiruppur, Erode, Karur, Nilgiris in Tamil Nadu, Palakkad in Kerala and Chamarajanagar in Karnataka.

## Geography
Coimbatore district is in the Western part of Tamil Nadu state. The district is fed with many rivers. The rivers of Bhavani, Noyyal, Amaravathi, Kousika and Aliyar are the major rivers flowing through this district. The drinking water is sourced by the Siruvani Dam. Waterfalls in the district include Monkey Falls, Thirumoorthy Falls, Vaideki Falls, Sengupathi Falls and Chinnakallar Falls.

The Coimbatore district is near the Nilgiri Mountains, Anaimalai ranges and the Munnar ranges. Forests consist of 20% of the district's area. The main trees of these forests are the Teak, Sandalwood, Rosewood and Bamboo, which are used for commercial purposes. Wild Elephants, Tigers, Spot-billed Pelicans, Wild boar, leopards, Bison, Nilgiri tahr, Sloth bear animals are common in these regions.

## Demographics
The Coimbatore district had a population of 34,58,045 with literacy rate of 84% and sex ratio of 1000 females per 1000 males. The population also consists of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Tamil is the principle language spoken in this region. The Tamil spoken here is known as Kongu Tamil, a variant of Tamil and English. Being near the border of the state, a small proportion of people speak Malayalam, Telugu and also Kannada. The majority religion is Hindu.

## Tourist places
Valparai is a town in the Coimbatore district. It is in the mountain region and is an excellent tourist place. This town is also famous for tea plantations. Several waterfalls such as the Monkey Falls are in this district. Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary is in a valley between the Anaimalai Hills and Nelliampathi Hills. The Perur Pateeswarar temple, Vana Badhrakali Amman temple, Masani Amman Temple, Marudamalai Murugan Temple are famous temples present here. The mountains of the Western Ghats also run through this district.

## References