Dakshina Kannada in the context of "Fourth Anglo-Mysore War"

Malayalam (മലയാളം, Malayāḷam, [mɐlɐjaːɭɐm] ) is a Dravidian language, primarily spoken by the Malayali people, native to the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district). It is one of 22 scheduled languages, as well as one of 11 classical languages, of India. Malayalam has official language status in Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé).

Malayalam is spoken by significant numbers of people in India and is the majority language in the state of Kerala. Malayalam is also spoken by linguistic minorities in the neighbouring states; with a significant number of speakers in the Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts of Karnataka, and Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu. It is also spoken by the Malayali Diaspora worldwide, especially in the Persian Gulf countries, due to the large populations of Malayali expatriates there. They are a significant population in each city in India including Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad etc.

Karnataka is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, and renamed Karnataka in 1973. The state is bordered by the Lakshadweep Sea to the west, Goa to the northwest, Maharashtra to the north, Telangana to the northeast, Andhra Pradesh to the east, Tamil Nadu to the southeast, and Kerala to the southwest. With 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the eighth-largest state by population, comprising 31 districts. With 15,257,000 residents, the state capital Bengaluru is the largest city of Karnataka.

The economy of Karnataka is among the most productive in the country with a gross state domestic product (GSDP) of ₹25.01 trillion (US$300 billion) and a per capita GSDP of ₹332,926 (US$3,900) for the financial year 2023–24. The state experienced a GSDP growth of 10.2% for the same fiscal year. After Bengaluru Urban, Dakshina Kannada, Hubli–Dharwad, and Belagavi districts contribute the highest revenue to the state respectively. The capital of the state, Bengaluru, is known as the Silicon Valley of India, for its immense contributions to the country's information technology sector. A total of 1,973 companies in the state were found to have been involved in the IT sector as of 2007.

The Tulu language (Tuḷu Bāse, Tigalari script: 𑎡𑎻𑎳𑎻 𑎨𑎸𑎱𑏂, Kannada script: ತುಳು ಬಾಸೆ, Malayalam script: ത‍ുള‍ു ബാസെ; pronunciation in Tulu: [t̪uɭu baːsɛ]) is a Dravidian language whose speakers are concentrated in Dakshina Kannada and in the southern part of Udupi of Karnataka in south-western India and also in the northern parts of the Kasaragod district of Kerala. The native speakers of Tulu are referred to as Tuluva or Tulu people and the geographical area is unofficially called Tulu Nadu.

The Indian census of 2011 reported a total of 1,846,427 native Tulu speakers in India while the 2001 census had reported a total of 1,722,768 native speakers. There is some difficulty in counting Tulu speakers who have migrated from their native region as they are often counted as Kannada speakers in Indian census reports.

Kanara, also known as Canara and Karāvali, is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises three civil districts, namely: Uttara Kannada, Udupi, and Dakshina Kannada. Kasaragod was included prior to the States Reorganisation Act.

Tulu Nadu, or Tulunad, is a region and a proposed state on the southwestern coast of India. The region is predominantly inhabited by the Tulu people, also known as Tuluva, who speak Tulu, a Dravidian language. The former district encompassed the territories of the contemporary Dakshina Kannada (Kudla) and Udupi (Odipu) of Karnataka State, and Kasaragod district (Kasrod) of Kerala state. These areas collectively form the cultural region of the Tuluver.

Historically, Tulu Nadu lies between the Gangavalli River (Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka) and Chandragiri/Payaswini River (Kasaragod district of Kerala). Despite its distinct cultural identity, the region is not recognized as an official administrative entity.

South Canara (South Kannada) was a district of the Madras Presidency of British Raj, located at 13°00′N 75°24′E / 13.00°N 75.40°E / 13.00; 75.40. It comprised the towns of Kasaragod and Udupi and adjacent villages, with the administration at Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas of Madras Presidency, with Tulu, Malayalam, Kannada, Konkani, Marathi, Hindustani, and Beary languages being spoken while English, Tamil and Hindustani remained the official languages. It was succeeded by the Tulu-speaking areas of Dakshina Kannada district, the Malayalam-speaking area of Kasaragod district and the Amindivi islands sub-division of the Laccadives, in the year 1956.

North Malabar refers to the geographic area of southwest India covering the state of Kerala's present day Kasaragod and Kannur districts, Mananthavady taluk of the Wayanad district, the taluks of Vatakara and Koyilandy in the Kozhikode district, and the entire Mahe district of the Puducherry UT. The Korapuzha River or Elathur River in north Kozhikode serves as the border separating North and South Malabar. Manjeswaram marks the northern border between North Malabar and Dakshina Kannada.

The North Malabar region is bounded by Dakshina Kannada (Mangalore) to north, the hilly regions of Kodagu and Mysore Plateau to east, South Malabar (Korapuzha) to south, and Arabian Sea to west. The greater part of North Malabar (except Mahé) remained as one of the two administrative divisions of the Malabar District (an administrative district of British India under the Madras Presidency) until 1947 and later became part of India's Madras State until 1956. Mahé remained under French jurisdiction until 13 June 1954. On 1 November 1956, the state of Kerala was formed by the States Reorganisation Act, which merged the Malabar District with Travancore-Cochin apart from the four southern taluks, which were merged with Tamil Nadu, and the Kasaragod taluk of South Kanara District. During British rule, North Malabar's chief importance laid in producing Thalassery pepper and coconuts.

Hubli (or Hubballi) and Dharwad are twin cities in the Indian state of Karnataka. Hubli-Dharwad form the second-largest municipality and urban agglomeration of Karnataka in terms of population, after the capital Bangalore. While Dharwad is the administrative headquarters, the city of Hubli, situated about 20 km (12 mi) south-east of Dharwad, is the commercial centre and business hub of North Karnataka. The cities have a single municipal corporation called Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC).

Hubli-Dharwad has the world's longest railway platform and Dharwad is known as an educational hub of Karnataka, along with other Karnataka cities such as Udupi and Dakshina Kannada.