Districts of Tamil Nadu

The state of, in southeastern is divided into 31 districts.



History of Tamil Nadu Districts
After Indian independence in, the former British province of became , renamed Tamil Nadu in. The three princely states of, , and were merged into , , and Tiruchirapalli districts, respectively. In the eleven northern districts of Madras State became the new state of, and Bellary District was divided between Andhra Pradesh and  (present-day ). Tamil Nadu acquired its present boundaries on, when  and  districts were ceded to Mysore and  states, respectively, and  of erstwhile  state was ceded to Madras State.

In 1956, Madras State was made up of 13 districts:, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari, Madras, Madurai, The Nilgiris, , Ramanthapuram, Salem, , Thanjavur, Tiruchirappallli, and Tirunelveli.


 * : Dharmapuri District split from Salem.
 * : Pudukkottai formed from parts of Tiruchirappalli and Thanjavur.
 * : Periyar District (present-day Erode) split from Coimbatore.
 * : Kamarajar (present-day Virudhunagar) and Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar (present-day Sivaganga) districts split from Ramanathapuram.
 * 1985: Dindigul District split from Madurai.
 * : Tirunelveli District split into Chidambaranar (present-day Thoothukudi) and Nellai-Kattabomman (later Tirunelveli-Kattabomman, present-day Tirunelveli) districts.
 * : North Arcot district split into Tiruvannamalai-Sambuvarayar (present-day Tiruvannamalai) and North Arcot Ambedkar (present-day Vellore) districts.
 * : South Arcot District split into Cuddalore and Villupuram districts.
 * : Karur and Perambalur districts split from Tiruchirappalli District.
 * : Names of districts changed:
 * Kamarajar became Virudhunagar;
 * Madras became Chennai;
 * Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar became Sivaganga;
 * Periyar became Erode;
 * Tirunelveli-Kattabomman became Tirunelveli;
 * Tiruvannamalai-Sambuvarayar became Tiruvannamalai;
 * Chidambaranar became Tuticorin, later Thoothukudi;
 * North Arcot Ambedkar became Vellore.
 * Namakkal District split from Salem District;
 * Theni District split from Madurai District;
 * Nagapattinam and Thiruvarur districts split from Thanjavur District.
 * : Chengalpattu District split into Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur districts.
 * : District split from Perambalur District.
 * : Ariyalur District merged with Perambalur District.
 * : Krishnagiri District split from Dharmapuri District.
 * : District again split from Perambalur District.
 * : District again split from Perambalur District.