Nagercoil - The Town and Its Surroundings

The Town and Its Surroundings

Nagercoil is located at 8°11′N 77°26′E / 8.18°N 77.43°E / 8.18; 77.43 at the southern tip of peninsular India. Because of its proximity to the Western Ghats, the topography of the town and its surroundings is generally hilly and very beautiful with its scenic atmosphere. The Western Ghats are the lifeline of the town, providing water sources for drinking, temperate climate, irrigation around the city, and an eco-system influenced by this mountain range.

Sandwiched between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats, the town has some breathtaking scenery, with the surrounding hills (the Western Ghats), lush green paddy fields, and sandy palm-fringed beaches on the western side. Farther north of Nagercoil, on the Western Ghats are plantations of rubber, cloves and cardamom. Many of these plantations were developed by British planters — planters' names like Simpson and Balamore are still household names in the town. The rubber plant was introduced by the English missionaries in the 18th century. Some of these plantations are still owned by the descendants of these British planters; however, a majority of the estates are now owned by the rich and Wealthy Christian Nadar's community of Tamil Nadu.

Being the southernmost municipal area of the country, and situated close to Kanyakumari, or Cape Comorin, the southernmost point of peninsular India, the town is an intersecting point of culture, tradition and trade of the western and eastern coasts. The town connects two major eastern and western lines of the Indian Railways, with one line leading through Kerala, called the Konkan route, and the other through the eastern part of India, through Tirunelveli of Tamil Nadu. Nagercoil is 70 km from Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), the capital of Kerala state, connected by National Highway 47, and 85 km from Tirunelveli.