Indian peninsula in the context of "Deccan"

Tamil Nadu is the southernmost state of India. The tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population, Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, who speak the Tamil language—the state's official language and the first to be recognised as a classical language in India. The capital and largest city is Chennai.

Located on the south-eastern coast of the Indian peninsula, Tamil Nadu is straddled by the Western Ghats and Deccan Plateau in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Eastern Coastal Plains lining the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait to the south-east, the Laccadive Sea at the southern cape of the peninsula, with the river Kaveri bisecting the state. Politically, Tamil Nadu is bound by the Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, and encloses a part of the union territory of Puducherry. It shares an international maritime border with the Northern Province of Sri Lanka at Pamban Island.

The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri, is a mountain range that stretches 1,600 km (990 mi) along the western coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of 160,000 km (62,000 sq mi), it traverses the Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu. The range forms an almost continuous chain of mountains along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, from the Tapti River to Swamithoppe in Kanyakumari district at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula. The Western Ghats meet with the Eastern Ghats at Nilgiris before continuing south.

Geologic evidence indicates that the mountains were formed during the break-up of the supercontinent of Gondwana. The mountains arose along the west coast of India somewhere in the late Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods when India separated from the African continent. The mountains can be roughly divided into three parts: the northern section with an elevation ranging from 900–1,500 m (3,000–4,900 ft), the middle section starting south of Goa with a lower elevation of less than 900 m (3,000 ft), and the southern section where the altitude rises again. The Western Ghats have several peaks that rise above 2,000 m (6,600 ft), with Anamudi (2,695 m (8,842 ft)) being the highest peak. The average elevation is around 1,200 m (3,900 ft).

The Eastern Ghats is a mountain range that stretches 1,750 km (1,090 mi) along the eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Covering an area of 75,000 km (29,000 sq mi), it traverses the states of Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. The range forms a discontinuous chain of mountains along the eastern edge of the Deccan Plateau, stretching from north of the Mahanadi River in Odisha to Vaigai River in Tamil Nadu at the southern end of the peninsula. The Eastern Ghats meet the Western Ghats at the Nilgiris. The average elevation is around 600 m (2,000 ft) and Arma Konda is the highest peak in the mountains at 1,680 m (5,510 ft).

Geological evidence indicates that the mountains were formed during the archeozoic era and became part of the Indian subcontinent post the break-up of the supercontinent of Rodinia and the formation of Gondwana. The mountains were formed through further metamorphism during the mid-Proterozoic era. The northern section of the range has an elevation ranging from 900–1,400 m (3,000–4,600 ft) and lies mostly in Odisha. The middle section stretches up to the Penna River and consists of two parallel ranges with an average elevation of 520 m (1,710 ft). At the southern end, the range is made up of several smaller hills.

The Eastern Coastal Plains is a stretch of landmass lying between the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau and the Bay of Bengal in India. The plains stretch from the Mahanadi delta to Kaniyakumari at the southern tip of the Indian peninsula with the Eastern Ghats forming its rough western boundary. It is wider and leveled than the Western Coastal Plains and traverses the states of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu.

The plains are broadly divided into three subdivisions–Utkal Plains in the north, Andhra plains in the center, and Tamil Nadu plains in the south. The plains are fertile as it forms part of the deltas of major peninsular rivers such as Godavari, Krishna, Mahanadi, and Kaveri.

13°22′00″N 80°20′00″E / 13.3667°N 80.3333°E / 13.3667; 80.3333

The Coromandel Coast is a coastal region along the southeastern front of the Indian peninsula. Its delimitations are numerous, but generally admitted to be bounded by the Krishna river mouth to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Point Calimere cape to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west. Some may define its northern boundaries up to Ganjam. This region can be extending over an area of about 22,800 square kilometres. The coast has an average elevation of 80 metres and is backed by the Eastern Ghats, a chain of low lying and flat-topped hills.

Nagercoil, natively spelt as Nāgarkovil (Tamil: [n̪aːhɐɾkoːʋil], "Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a Municipal Corporation city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an undulating terrain between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea.

Nagercoil is a centre for a range of economic activities in the small but densely populated Kanyakumari District. Economic activities in and around the city include tourism, wind energy, IT services, marine fish production and exports, rubber and cloves plantations, agro-crops, floral production, manufacture of fishnets, rubber products among other activities.