Tamil Nadu was formerly called Madras State. Upon India's independence, Madras state was much larger than the present state; In 1953, the Telugu-speaking northeastern part of the state became the new state of Andhra Pradesh. In 1956, the state acquired its present borders when the western portion of Madras state, on the Arabian Sea, was divided between Mysore state (later Karnataka) and the new state of Kerala. In August 1968 Madras state was re-named Tamil Nadu. State politics continue to have a lot to do with protecting and celebrating the Tamil (and Dravidian) language and culture.Unlike most other parts of the country, Tamil Nadu gets its rainfall largely from the "North-East monsoon" in the months of October-December.

Farmers are very dependent on the fickle handful of cyclonic storms that are formed in this season in the Bay of Bengal.There is a long standing dispute with Karnataka over the matter of Cauvery river water. The river flows south from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu. The contention is over whether or not the upper riparian Karnataka has released its fair share of river water to the lower riparian Tamil Nadu.Chennai, which was known until 1996 as Madras, is the largest city and the state capital. Chennai is the home of Marina Beach, the second largest beach in the world. Coimbatore,Cuddalore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Salem and Tirunelveli are other large cities of Tamil Nadu. Silver Beach in Cuddalore is the largest beach next only to Marina and is of tourist importance.

Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literature, music and dance which are continuing to flourish today. It is one of the most industrialized states in India. Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu (as well as one of the official languages of India). Some of the prominent personalities from the state are Subramanya Bharathy, C.V. Raman, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, R K Narayan, Srinivasa Ramanujan, Abdul Kalam and Vilayanur Ramachandran. Other mythological and/or ancient personalities include Kannagi, Thiruvalluvar, Kambar and Manuneedhi Chozan. Alan Turing, the theoretical computer scientist, spent his early childhood in the then Madras presidency. Tamil Nadu is also home to India's second largest film industry after Bollywood, producing a huge number of Tamil films each year.