1.11.1956

Cheras were the rulers of this region in the ancient and medieval days. Their descendants, Varmas were the modern day rulers, in smaller kingdoms. From them, it was under British rule, as Princely States of Travancore and Cochin and Malabar. After independence and under the states reorganization process, Malabar from Madras province was added to it, along with the princely states of Travancore and Cochin, to make it the State of Kerala on 1.11.1956.

Tamil and Sanskrit.

Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Ernakulam, Allappuzha, Trichur, Guruvayoor Sabarimala and district headquarters towns.

Periyar, Bharathapuzha, Chaliyar, Pamba, Achankovil, Kadalundipuzha.

1. ALAPPUZHA: Also known as Alleppey. Famous for back waters and lagoons. Thus the place is known as "Venice of the East". The famous "Nehru Trophy" Boat Race, locally known as " Vallam Kali" is annually held on the second Saturday of August attracting huge crowds from India and abroad. It is held from 1952 and inaugurated by Jawaharlal Nehru.Coir industry and Rice cultivation is the major occupation.
2. ERNAKULAM: Comprising of Cochin sea port, it is a commercial and Industrial hub. It is here at Cochin, the Portuguese entered India in 1503. Port, Naval Base, Coir Board, Spices Board, Marine Product Export Zone, National Institute of Oceanography, Central Institute of Fisheries are located here. Industrially fast developing.
3. IDUKKI: A hilly region with dense forest coverage. Idukki dam, Thekkady and Munnar the famous picnic spots and tourist centres.
5. KASARAGOD: A coastal district with dominant Muslim population. Forest coverage is more.
6. KOLLAM: Earlier called Quilon - Coastal district with back waters, lagoons, lakes and forests, attract huge tourists from abroad.
7. KOTTAYAM: Lies on the fringe of western ghats. Vembanad and Kumarakom are places of interest. Rubber cultivation and industry dominates. Syrian Christians, a Portuguese inheritance, is the dominant population.
8. KOZHIKODE: Also called "Calicut". Muslims dominant coastal district where in 1498, Vasco da Gama landed here for the first time. Indian Institute of Management, National Institute of Technology, Medical College and other institutions are available here.
9. MALAPPURAM: Muslims dominant district.
10.PALAKKAD: Formerly with Madras Pronvice. The district is famous for practice of Carnatic music and Bharatha Natyam. It has produced some eminent personalities in the administrative and musical fields. Forest coverage is abundant. Agriculture and some industrial activity is there. NSS - Nair Service Society runs a number of educational institutions in the district which are very famous. Few National Parks, Malampuzha Dam and few other places of interest are there.
11.PATHANAMTHITTA: Pandalam, the birth place of Lord Ayyappa lies here.The famous Sabarimala Temple is located in this district. Ornaments of Lord Ayyappa are kept in the palace of Pandalam Maharaja and taken in a procession during January festival.
12.TIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Capital City. Earlier known as Trivandrum, Travancore and Thiruvithankoor. The name is derived from the famous temple in the city, Padmanabhaswamy Temple, where the deity is reclining on the serpent called "Anantha".. The earliest rulers were Venads. In the modern era, the Varmas ruled this region. The most famous ruler was Swathi Thirunal and his descendants. The last princely ruler was Raja Ravi Varma.
13. THRISSUR: Cultural headquarters of Kerala. Shree Guruvayoorappan Krishna Temple, Pooram Festival during April-May is world famous.
14. WAYANAD: Spice cultivation is dominant.

Sabarimala Lord Ayyappa Temple. In fact, Kerala is abundant with Hindu temples.

1. Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre 2. Thumba Launching Station. 3. Liquid Propulsion Centre 4. Sree Chitra Tirunal Medical Science and Research Institute 5. Indian Institute of Information Technology 6. Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Bio-technology.

Coir, Rubber, Timber, Fisheries, Spices and Marine products.

Kathakali, Mohini Aattam, Bharata Natyam, Ottam Thullal etc.,

Onam, Vishu, Pooram festival at Thrissur, Makara Jyothi at Sabarimala.

Kalari Payattu.

Ayurvedic.

Chundan.

Yaksha Ganam, Sopna Sangeetham, Thayambara, Pancha Vaadhyam.

India's first corporal punishment free state.

Kettuvallom.

Alappuzha (Alleppey).

God's own country.

Pattom Thanu Pillai - 1948.

1. Prime Minister during Travancore Princely State period - 1948. 2. CM of Kerala. 3. Governor of Punjab during 1962-1964.

1. Adi Sankara: known as Sankaracharya was born here at Kalady.
2. Arundati Roy: Born in Kerala - Writer and winner of Booker Prize for her book " God of Small Things".
3. Swami Chinmayananda: Founder "Chinmaya Mission".
4. Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar, K.J.Yesudas, Chitra, Sree Kumar, Unni Menon, Unni Krishnan, Palghat Mani Iyer, Swathi Thirunal (King) --are all very famous musicians.
5. MT Vasudevan Nair, Chengampuzha Krishnan Pillai, Cherusseri Namboodiri, Kumaran Asan, KK Nambiar, M. Mukundan, Kamala Das, T.R. Ezhuthachan - are all famous writers and poets.
6. A.K. Gopalan, EMS Namboothiripad, K.Karunakaran, A.K.Antony, Prakash Karat, E.K.Nayanar, Oommen Chandy are all famous politicians.
7. K.M. Panicker - Historian and first ambassador to China.
8. K.N.Raj - Economist and founder - Delhi School of Economics.
9. K.R. Narayanan - Former President.
10. Lakshmi N. Menon - First woman Foreign Minister of India.
11. Mannathu Padmanabhan - Founder of Nair Service Society - Palakkad.
12. M G K Menon - famous space scientist.
13. M G Ramachandran - famous tamil cinema actor, Chief Minister of Tamilnadu - Bharat Ratna Awardee - Born to Keralaite parents.
14. Raja Ravi Varma - King and world famous artist/painter.
15. Dr. Lakshmi Sehgal - Head of woman's wing of Indian National Army.
16. Shree Narayana Guru - Social Reformer and Scholar.
17. Shashi Tharoor - Novelist, Under Secretary General - UN, Politician of Indian National Congress.
18. Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai - Novelist of "Chemmeen" fame.
19. Varghese Kurien - Architect of the "White Revolution" - the cooperative Movement of Milk Producers at Anand, Gujarat - Magasasay Awardee.
20. V.K. Krishnan Menon - Former Defence Minister - Has a record of 8 hrs. long speech at the UN on the Kashmir issue.
21. Devan Nair - Former Head of State of Singapore.
22. Dr. John Mathai - First Keralite Union Minister in the first ministry after independence, served twice as Finance Minister under Nehruji.
23. Dr.P.C.Alexander - IAS - former Governor, Ambassador.
24. Dr. Thomas - India's first cardio-thoracic surgeon.
25.. E. Sreedharan - Technocrat - CMD of Konkan Railway Corporation and Delhi Metro Rail projects.
26. Genl. S. Padmanabhan - Former Army Chief.
27. G. Madhavan Nair - Former Chairman ISRO.
28. V.R.Krishna Iyer - Former Chief Justice.
29. T.N. Seshan - IAS and former Chief Election Commissioner.
30. Shankar - famous cartoonist.
31. Adoor Gopalakrishnan - Famous film director.
32. John Abraham - Famous model and film actor.
33. Anju Bobby George - Famous long jumper - only Indian to win a Bronze medal in world athletics meet.
34. IM Vijayan - Famous Indian Footballer.
35. Jimmy George - Legendary Volley Ball player.
36. G. Aravindan - Noted film director.
37. Rasool Kutty - Cinematographer - Oscar Award winner.
38. Night Shyamalan - Noted Hollywood director.
39. Mammootty, Mohan Lal, Prem Nazir - Famous Cine Actors.
41. Shiny Wilson, M.D. Valsamma - Indian athletes.
42. P.T.Usha - Also called "Sprint Queen" and "Payyoli Express" - missed a bronze medal by 1/100th of a second in 400 mtrs in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Currently she runs the Usha School of Athletics, at Koyilandy, in Kerala.
43. S. Shreeshanth - Famous Indian Cricketer - He took the catch offered by Misbah ul Haq of Pakistan that won us the T20 world championship in 2007.

Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Tiruvananthapuram.