The district is the second most urbanized district in Tamilnadu, next only to Chennai and ahead of Coimbatore. It also has the highest literacy and education levels in the state. Kanyakumari District is the second smallest of the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu state. The district takes its name from the tourist town of Kanyakumari, which is at the tip of the Indian Peninsula and faces the Indian Ocean
. The administrative capital of the district is Nagercoil, which is 20 km from Kanyakumari town. The district is also known as "The District of Ponds" or "The Lands End"
It was part of the princely state of Travancore until India's independence and later formed a part of Travancore Cochin Presidency before the state of Kerala was formed. The Four taluks, out of eight taluks from Thiruvananthapuram district was segregated and the new district called Kanyakumari was formed, and merged with Madras Presidency under recommendations from the States' Reorganisation Commission in 1956, before the presidency was renamed as Tamil Nadu state. The district has a varied topography with sea on three sides and lush green mountains of the Western Ghats bordering the northern side. Kanyakumari District is located at the southern tip of peninsular India and bordered by Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state to the west and Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu to the north and east. It is also sometimes referred to as "Land's End". The district lies between 77° 15' and 77° 36' of the eastern longitudes and 8° 03' and 8° 35' of the northern Latitudes. The south-eastern boundary (coastal) is the Gulf of Mannar (Bay of Bengal), while on the South and the South West, the boundaries are the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. Kanyakumari district takes its name from the town of Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India. ( In Samskrtham, Kanya means a virgin woman, Kumaari means a girl, In Tamzhi the Samskrtham word Kanya is changed to 'kanni' ). Kanyakumari District is also sometimes called Kumari District in short. Kanyakumari town is named after the goddess Kanyakumari Amman, a popular deity of the area. Legend has it that the goddess Parvati in one of her incarnations as Devi Kanniya did penance on one of the rocks of this 'land's end' to obtain the hand of Lord Shiva. The town of Kanyakumari is geographically a cape, and it was called Cape Comorin by the British. Since ancient times, Kanyakumari District has consisted of two geographical areas, known locally as Nanjilnadu and Idainadu. The etymologists interpret the word Nanjilnadu as the country ("nadu") where there were (and still has) several agriculture plantations and fields. Nanjilnadu is mentioned in old Tamil literature as a rich agrarian area, where the town of Kottar, (today, a locality in Nagercoil) as a major commercial centre. Ancient temples and inscriptions reveal a major Jain influence in ancient times. The district is home to many practitioners of various branches of ancient India's health tradition, including siddha, ayurvedha, and varma kalai. Chitral Jain carvings near Martandam
Nanjilnadu, which was formed by the present Agasteeswaram and Thovalai Taluks (administrative sub-divisions) of the district, was alternately under the rule of the Pandyas and the Cheras until the beginning of the thirteenth century. Idainadu, including Kalkulam and Vilavancode Taluks, was under the rule of Cheras. When the power of Cheras declined due to the rise of Hoysalas and western Chalukyas, the Venad (Travancore) chieftains (one of the only two part or full blood-descendants of the Cheras and the Pandyas - the other being the Mushikas) gradually established their hold on many areas of Nanjilnadu. The annexation commenced by Veera Kerala Varma was to a large extent continued by his successors and completed by 1100 A.D
Four centuries later, the Vijayanagar kings proceeded against Venad, and in 1609, Kanyakumari fell into the hands of Viswanatha Nayak of Madurai, while the remaining parts of Nanjilnadu was under Venad. Padmanabhapuram near Nagarcoil was the capital of Venad. Depiction at Padmanabhapuram Palace of De Lannoy's Surrender at the Battle of Colachel
In 1729, Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, the Venad king expanded his kingdom further, after putting down the insurgency of the Ettuveettil Pillamar. The expanded kingdom came to be known as Travancore (Thiruvithamkur). Marthanda Varma defeated the forces of the Dutch East India Company under Eustachius De Lannoy in 1741 at the Battle of Colachel. In the later part of the 18th century, Chanda Sahib, a rebel commandant related to the Nawab of Arcot attacked Nagercoil and other areas. Travancore had to contend with such attacks and monetary demands from the Carnatic Nawabs or from their rebellious governors until the English fully supported the state of Travancore. In spite of the troubles encountered in the southern border of Venad, Marthanda Varma expanded the kingdom northwards up to Aluva. As a result, the present day Kanyakumari District came to be known as Southern Travancore. In 1745, the capital was shifted from Padmanabhapuram (in present day Kanyakumari District) to Thiruvananthapuram. In the princely states of Travancore and Cochin there was a sizable Tamil population. Mostly concentrated in Nagercoil, Devikulam, Peerumedu and Chittur, they constituted a lingustic minority in a Malayalee-dominated area. A popular movement to merge Kanyakumari District with Tamilnadu (then Madras State) resulted in the District being merged with Tamilnadu, in accordance with the recommendations of the States' Reorganisation Commission. The new district included the four Taluks of Vilavancode, Kalkulam, Thovalai and Agasteeswaram from South Travancore, with a total area of 1684 square kilometers.
