Mangaluru

Mangaluru, formerly called Mangalore, is a major industrial port city in the Indian state of Karnataka, located on the west coast of India between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats. It is the only city in the state with all four modes of transport—air, road, rail and sea—and is known for being one of the locations of the Indian strategic petroleum reserves. The urban agglomeration had a population of 619,664 according to the national census. The city’s landscape features rolling hills, coconut palms, rivers, and hard laterite soil. It has a tropical monsoon climate influenced by the southwest monsoon and an average elevation above mean sea level. Its international airport is situated around a distance from the city centre. Mangaluru is included in the Smart Cities Mission list as one of 100 smart cities to be developed in India. The Dakshina Kannada district, with its administrative headquarters here, has the highest per capita income and gross state domestic product in Karnataka after Bengaluru. The city functions as a commercial, industrial, business, educational, healthcare, and startup hub. Civic administration is managed by the Mangaluru City Corporation, which oversees 60 wards. Historically, the city developed as a port in the Laccadive Sea during ancient times. After independence, a new port was constructed in 1968, which has since become a major Indian port handling 75 percent of the country’s coffee and cashew exports, and is the nation’s seventh largest container port. Mangaluru was ruled by several major powers, including the Mauryan empire, Kadambas, Alupas, Vijayanagara Empire, and Keladi Nayaks. It was a source of contention between the British and the Kingdom of Mysore rulers Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, and was annexed by the British in 1799. It remained part of the Madras Presidency until India’s independence in 1947 and was unified with Mysore State (now Karnataka) in 1956.