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{{Short description|Coastal region in South East India}}
{{About|a region of India|the region in New Zealand|Coromandel Peninsula|the town in Brazil|Coromandel, Minas Gerais|other uses|Coromandel (disambiguation){{!}}Coromandel}}
{{Coord|13.3667|N|80.3333|E|source:wikidata|display=title}}{{Use Indian English|date=December 2016}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2016}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2013}}
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|Krishna]] river [[River mouth|mouth]] to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the [[Point Calimere]] [[Cape (geography)|cape]] to the south,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allen |first=Charles |title=Coromandel: A personal history of South India |date=2017 |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company|Little, Brown]] |isbn=978-1-4087-0539-1 |location=London}}</ref> and the [[Eastern Ghats]] to the west. Some may define its northern boundaries up to [[Ganjam]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seshan |first=Radhika |title=Trade and politics on the Coromandel Coast: seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries |date=2012 |publisher=Primus Books |isbn=978-93-80607-25-2 |edition=1. publ |location=Delhi |pages=7-8 |chapter=‘The Time has Come’}}</ref> This region can be extending over an area of about 22,800 square kilometres.<ref name=britannica>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Coromandel-Coast|title=Coromandel Coast &#124; Tamil Nadu, Bay of Bengal, & Map &#124; Britannica|website=www.britannica.com}}</ref> 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.
[[File:India Coromandel Coast locator map.svg|thumb|Coromandel Coast within contemporaneous India delimitations.]]
[[File:Coromandel Coast 1753.jpg|thumb|A 1753 French Map of the Coromandel coast which mapped the boundaries limited to [[Northern Circars|Circar coast]] from [[Kaveri|Kavery Delta]] region.]]
The land of the [[Chola dynasty]] was called Cholamandalam in [[Tamil language|Tamil]], literally translated as "[[Mandala (political model)|the realm]] of the Cholas", from which Coromandel is derived.

In historical Muslim sources from the 12th century onward, the Coromandel Coast was notably called as [[Ma'bar Coast|Maʿbar Coast]].<ref name="Brill">{{cite book |last1=Shokoohy |first1=Mehrdad |last2=Shokoohy |first2=Natalie H. |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |date=2020 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004435933 |edition=third |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/mabar-COM_35936 |access-date=9 March 2021 |chapter=Maʿbar}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The land of the [[Chola dynasty]] was called ''Cholamandalam'' (சோழ மண்டலம்) in [[Tamil language|Tamil]], translated as ''The realm of the Cholas'', from which the Portuguese derived the name ''Coromandel''.<ref name="TheLandoftheTamuliansandItsMissions">''The Land of the Tamulians and Its Missions'', by Eduard Raimund Baierlein, James Dunning Baker</ref><ref name="South Indian Coins - Page 61">South Indian Coins – Page 61 by T. Desikachari – Coins, Indic – 1984</ref><ref name="Indian History - Page 112">Indian History – Page 112</ref><ref name="Annals of Oriental Research - Page 1">''Annals of Oriental Research'' – Page 1 by University of Madras – 1960</ref><ref name="The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea">''The Periplus of the Erythræan Sea'' by [[Wilfred Harvey Schoff]]</ref> The name could also be derived from ''Karai mandalam'', meaning ''The realm of the shores''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Edgar Thurston|title=The Madras Presidency with Mysore, Coorg and the Associated States|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O4VLY1KcltcC&pg=PA11|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-60068-3|page=11}}</ref>

Another theory is that the first Dutch ship to India stopped at Karimanal, an island village to the north of [[Pulicat]]. The sailors aboard the ship mispronounced the village's name as 'Corimondal' and the name stuck thereafter.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Brief Narrative of The Danish Mission on the Coast of Coromandel par Baron Alanson Stow (1801-1869): Good Hardcover (1837) 1st Edition {{!}} The Book Collector, Inc. ABAA, ILAB |url=https://www.abebooks.fr/edition-originale/Brief-Narrative-Danish-Mission-Coast-Coromandel/75725692/bd |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=www.abebooks.fr |language=fr}}</ref>

An Italian explorer, [[Ludovico di Varthema]], perhaps first gave the name Coromandel in 1510, which was then used on maps by the Portuguese, but it was the Dutch who took up serious trading there.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/how-a-coast-got-its-name/article21386207.ece |title=How A Coast Got Its Name |last=Allen |first=Charles |date=13 December 2017 |newspaper=The Hindu |department=Books|access-date=24 December 2020 }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Sarasa chintz.jpg|thumb|upright|Sarasa [[chintz]] from the Coromandel Coast, 17th or 18th century, made for the Japanese market. Private collection, [[Nara Prefecture]]. ]]
By late 1530 the Coromandel Coast was home to three Portuguese settlements at [[Nagapattinam|Negapatão]], [[Mylapore|São Tomé de Meliapore]], and [[Paliacatta|Paliacate]]. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Coromandel Coast was the scene of rivalries among European powers for control of the India trade. The British established themselves at [[Fort St George]] ([[Chennai|Madras]]) and [[Masulipatnam]], the [[Dutch Coromandel|Dutch]] at Pulicat, [[Sadras]], the [[Southern Netherlands|Belgians]] at [[Covelong]], the French at [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]], [[Karaikal]] and [[Nizampatnam]], the [[Denmark|Danish]] in ''[[Dansborg]]'' or [[Tranquebar]].{{Citation needed|date= January 2022}}

The Coromandel Coast supplied [[Indian Muslim]] [[eunuch]]s to the Thai palace and court of [[History of Thailand|Siam]] (modern Thailand).<ref>Peletz (2009), p. 73 {{Google books|BFXpi5ZKKF8C|Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times|page=73}}</ref><ref>Peletz (2009), p. 73 {{Google books|-YnQJXxspJUC|Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times|page=73}}</ref> The Thai at times asked eunuchs from China to visit the court in Thailand and advise them on court ritual since they held them in high regard.<ref>Peletz (2009), p. 75 {{Google books|BFXpi5ZKKF8C|Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times|page=75}}</ref><ref>Peletz (2009), p. 75 {{Google books|-YnQJXxspJUC|Gender Pluralism: Southeast Asia Since Early Modern Times|page=75}}</ref>

Eventually the British won out, although France retained the tiny enclaves of [[Pondicherry district|Pondichéry]] and [[Karaikal district|Karaikal]] until 1954. [[China|Chinese]] [[Lacquerware|lacquer goods]], including boxes, screens, and chests, became known as "Coromandel" goods in the 18th century, because many Chinese exports were consolidated at the Coromandel ports.{{Citation needed|date= March 2020}}

Two of the famous books on the economic history of the Coromandel Coast are ''Merchants, companies, and commerce on the Coromandel Coast, 1650–1740'' (Arasaratnam, Oxford University Press, 1986) and ''The World of the Weaver in Northern Coromandel, {{circa|1750|1850}}'' (P. Swarnalatha, Orient Longman, 2005).

On 26 December 2004, one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake|Indian Ocean earthquake]], struck off the western coast of [[Sumatra]] (Indonesia). The [[earthquake]] and subsequent tsunami reportedly killed over 220,000 people around the rim of the [[Indian Ocean]]. The tsunami devastated the Coromandel Coast, killing many and sweeping away many coastal communities.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=27 December 2020 |title=Victims of 2004 tsunami remembered |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/tamil-nadu/2020/Dec/27/victims-of-2004-tsunami-remembered-2241687.html |access-date=18 September 2024 |website=The New Indian Express |language=en}}</ref>

== Vegetation ==
===Flora===
[[File:18th century illustration flora of the coast of Coromandel Coast India Plants Fruits Flowers (24).jpg|thumb|[[Lagerstroemia speciosa]], from [[William Roxburgh]]'s 1795 publication, Plants of the coast of Coromandel - Volume 1]]
The Coromandel Coast is home to the [[East Deccan dry evergreen forests]] [[ecoregion]], which runs in a narrow strip along the coast. Unlike most of the other [[Tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forests|tropical dry forest]] [[Biome]] regions of India, where the trees lose their leaves during the dry season, the East Deccan dry evergreen forests retain their leathery leaves year round.{{Citation needed|date= March 2020}}

The Coromandel Coast is also home to extensive [[mangrove]] forests along the low-lying coast and [[river delta]]s, and several important [[wetland]]s, notably [[Kaliveli Lake]] and [[Pulicat Lake]], that provide habitat to thousands of migrating and resident birds.{{Citation needed|date= March 2020}}

==Applications of the name==
Four ships of the [[Royal Navy]] have borne the name {{HMS|Coromandel}} after the Indian coast. The [[Coromandel Peninsula]] in New Zealand was named after [[HMS Malabar (1804)|one of these ships]], and the town of [[Coromandel, New Zealand]] was named after the peninsula. [[Coromandel Valley, South Australia]], and its neighbouring suburb, Coromandel East, gained their names from the ship ''[[Coromandel (1834 ship)|Coromandel]]'', which arrived in Holdfast Bay from London in 1837 with 156 English settlers. After the ship reached the shore, some of its sailors deserted, intending to remain behind in South Australia, and took refuge in the hills in the Coromandel Valley region.{{citation needed|date=August 2022}}

In [[Slovenian language|Slovene]], the [[idiom]] ''Indija Koromandija'' (India Coromandel) means a land of plenty,<ref>{{cite web |work=Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika [Dictionary of Slovenian Literary Language] |url=http://bos.zrc-sazu.si/cgi/a03.exe?name=sskj_testa&expression=indija+koromandija&hs=1 |title=Indija Koromandija |quote=According to popular belief, a land where everything is enough, where it is very good: their grandmother told them about India Coromandel / expressing  all of her India Coromandel collapsed imaginary, expected happiness |language=sl |access-date=December 24, 2020 }}</ref> a promised land, a utopia where "Houses are bleached with cheese and covered with cake".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://razvezanijezik.org/?page=indija+koromandija |title=Razvezani jezik - Indija koromandija |language=sl |work=Free dictionary of living Slovene |access-date=December 24, 2020 |quote= A folk song sings: India Koromandija! /They cook the porridge in a spoon, /the house are bleached with cheese,/ cover them with cake,/ and curd them with cottage cheese. It also houses the first Slovene anti-utopia, created by Anton Mahnič in  In 1884 he published in Slovene, a political newspaper for the Slovene nation.}}</ref>

[[Edward Lear]] situates his nonsense poem ''The Yonghy Bonghy Bo'' by citing Coromandel on the first line: ''On the Coast of Coromandel''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nonsenselit.org/Lear/ll/ybb.html|title=Edward Lear, The Yonghy--Bonghy--Bò|website=www.nonsenselit.org}}</ref>
[[File:Coromandel Express (34406091390).jpg|thumb|255x255px|The [[Coromandel Express]] at the Godavari arch bridge towards Rajahmundry.]]
The [[Coromandel Express]] is a train of the Indian Railways. The daily train runs down the east coast of India between [[Shalimar railway station]], West Bengal, and [[Chennai Central railway station]], Tamil Nadu.

==See also==
* [[Coastline of Tamil Nadu]]
* [[Malabar Coast]]
* [[Presidency of Coromandel and Bengal Settlements]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{cite web |url=http://www.worldstatesmen.org/India.htm |work=World Statesman |title=India |quote=Search for Dutch India and French India for information on Coromandel coast |access-date=December 24, 2020 }}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/138164/Coromandel-Coast Encyclopædia Britannica: Coromandel Coast (region, India)]

{{GeoSouthAsia}}
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[[Category:Coromandel Coast| ]]
[[Category:Coasts of India]]
[[Category:South India]]
[[Category:Regions of India]]
[[Category:Regions of Andhra Pradesh]]
[[Category:Regions of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Landforms of Puducherry]]
[[Category:Landforms of Tamil Nadu]]
[[Category:Eastern Ghats]]
[[Category:Natural regions of India]]
[[Category:Colonial India]]
[[Category:Danish India]]
[[Category:Dutch India]]
[[Category:French India]]
[[Category:Former Dutch colonies]]
[[Category:Former French colonies]]