Tamil Nadu
Chennai was long known as Madras, a name of disputed origin, possibly from a local fisherman named Madarasan, or from a Portuguese settler family. The British East India Company founded Fort St. George here in 1639, one of its earliest permanent footholds in India, around which the colonial city grew. Long before that, the region was ruled by Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagara kings, whose temples, including the ancient Kapaleeshwarar and Parthasarathy temples, still stand within a few kilometres of the old colonial fort.