Nilgiri District
(2001 pop. 765,000). Nilgiri district is an administrative district of 2,549 square kilometers, the most northwesterly district in Tamil Nadu State, India. The area lies at the juncture of the Eastern and the Western Ghats, about 425 kilometers west of Madras City (or Chennai). Two-thirds of the district is a high mountain plateau; one-third is the much lower Wainad Plateau. The highest point in the district is Doddabetta Peak, 2,637 meters in elevation.
The district headquarters is the well-known resort of Ootacamund. Nilgiri district is home to well over a dozen tribal groups, most found only in this area and most having their own distinctive Dravidian language. These groups include the Todas, Kotas, Badagas, Panias, four tribes of Irulas, and seven tribes of Kurumbas. The cultures and economies of these indigenous groups are very distinct and form the basis for complex symbiotic exchange relationships. The district is chiefly important for its exports of tea, but coffee, rubber, cardamom, potatoes, and cabbages are also prominent exports, as is hydroelectric power generated through numerous man-made dams.
Further Reading
Hockings, Paul, ed. (1989) Blue Mountains: The Ethnography and Biogeography of a South Indian Region. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
——. (1997). Blue Mountains Revisited: Cultural Studies on the Nilgiri Hills. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
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