Chennai, also known as Madras, is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. As per the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most-populous city in India and forms the fourth-most-populous urban agglomeration. The city is coterminous with Chennai district, which together with the adjoining suburbs constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area, one of the largest metropolitan areas of India. It is administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation, which was incorporated in 1688, and is the second oldest municipal corporation in the world after the City of London Corporation. Being the capital of the state, it houses major government institutions including the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, and the Madras High Court.
Archeological evidence points to human settlements in the region during the Stone Age. Historically, from the 1st century CE, the region was part of the Chola, Pallava, Pandya, and Vijayanagara kingdoms during various eras. In 1639 CE, the British East India Company obtained a grant for a strip of coastal land which then contained the fishing village of Madrasapattinam.
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