Posted by ROSHAN B.S on Aug. 29, 2014, 8:01 p.m.
South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area (635780 km² or 245476.030 mi²). South India is frequently referred to as the Hindu heartland of India by prominent travel guides.[2][3][4]
South India lies in the peninsular Deccan Plateau and is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the west, the Indian Ocean in the south and the Bay of Bengal in the east. The geography of the region is diverse, encompassing two mountain ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, and a plateau heartland. The Godavari, Krishna, Tungabhadra, Kaveri, and Vaigairivers are important non-perennial sources of water. Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabadare the largest and most industrialised cities in the region. Chennai is termed as Gateway of South India, being one of the largest metropolitan cities in India.
A majority of Indians from the southern region speak one of the languages: Kannada,Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. During its history, a number of dynastic kingdoms ruled over parts of South India whose invasions across southern and southeastern Asia impacted the history and cultures of modern sovereign states such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. The region was colonized by Britain and gradually incorporated into the British Empire