The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was a Tamil militant organization that was based in northeastern Sri Lanka. Its aim was to secure an independent state of Tamil Eelam in the north and east in response to the state policies of successive Sri Lankan governments that were widely considered to be discriminatory towards the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, as well as the oppressive actions—including anti-Tamil pogroms in 1956 and 1958—carried out by the majority Sinhalese.
Tamil Nadu is a state in southern India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian subcontinent and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiri Mountains, the Meghamalai Hills, and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait on the southeast, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. The state shares a maritime border with the nation of Sri Lanka.
Tamil is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and an official language of the two sovereign nations, Singapore and Sri Lanka. In India, it is also the official language of the Union Territory of Puducherry. Tamil is spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is also spoken by the Tamil diaspora found in many countries, including Malaysia, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia and Mauritius. Tamil is also natively spoken by Sri Lankan Moors.
The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar or simply Tamils, are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group who trace their ancestry to the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Union territory of Puducherry and to Sri Lanka. Tamils constitute 5.9% of the population in India, 15% in Sri Lanka, 10% in Mauritius, 7% in Malaysia and 5% in Singapore. Tamils, with a population of around 76 million and with a documented history stretching back over 2,000 years, are one of the largest and oldest extant ethnolinguistic groups in the world.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a political party in India, particularly in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is currently the ruling party in Tamil Nadu and is part of the Indian political front the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). DMK is a Dravidian party, adhering to the social-democratic and social justice principles of C. N. Annadurai and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. It was founded in 1949 by Annadurai as a breakaway faction from the Dravidar Kazhagam headed by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy.
Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran, popularly known as M. G. R., was an Indian politician and film actor who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for over nine years between 1977 and 1987. He was also a philanthropist and a humanitarian icon. In 1988, M.G.R. was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, posthumously.
The Tamil script is an abugida script that is used by Tamils and Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere to write the Tamil language. Certain minority languages such as Saurashtra, Badaga, Irula and Paniya are also written in the Tamil script.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as "Kalaignar" (Artist) and "Mutthamizh Arignar" for his contributions to Tamil literature. He had the longest tenure as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu with 6,863 days in office. He was also a long-standing leader of the Dravidian movement and ten-time president of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam political party. Before entering politics, he worked in the Tamil film industry as a screenwriter. He also made contributions to Tamil literature, having written stories, plays, novels, and a multiple-volume memoir.
Joseph Vijay Chandrasekhar is an Indian actor, dancer, playback singer and philanthropist who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and also appeared in other Indian languages films. Referred to by fans and media as "Thalapathy" (commander), Vijay is the highest paid actor in Tamil cinema. Vijay has acted in 64 films as a lead actor and won numerous awards, including one International Achievement Recognition Award from United Kingdom, eight Vijay Awards by Star India, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards by Government of Tamil Nadu, and a SIIMA Award. He is also been considered as one of the most bankable stars in the Indian film industry. He has been included several times in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list, based on the earnings of Indian celebrities. Vijay has significant fan following globally across Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Australia, France, Germany, UAE, UK and US.
Sri Lankan Tamils, also known as Eelam Tamils, Ceylon Tamils, or simply Tamils, are members of the Tamil ethnic group native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
The Tamil-language film industry has produced and released over 5000 films since the release of its first sound film, Kalidas, in 1931. This is a master list of listings of films released from 1931 in the industry by decade of release.
Vaali was an Indian poet and lyricist whose works were in Tamil, had a five-decade long association with the Tamil film industry, wrote over 15,000 songs. He acted in a number of films, including Sathya, Hey Ram, Paarthale Paravasam and Poikkal Kudhirai. He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour.
Tamil cinema is the Indian filmmaking industry of Tamil-language films based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Central Chennai, leading to the industry's nickname K-Town or Kollywood, the word being a portmanteau of Kodambakkam and Hollywood.
The Government of Tamil Nadu is the governing authority for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India.
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembly is the Speaker. The term of the Assembly is five years unless dissolved earlier.
The fifteenth legislative assembly election was held on 16 May 2016 for the 232 seats of the Legislative Assembly in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. AIADMK under J. Jayalalithaa won the elections and became the first ruling party to be re-elected in Tamil Nadu since 1984, though with a reduced majority. DMK won half of the seats it contested but its allies performed poorly; notably, the Indian National Congress won 16% of the seats they contested and the alliance lost due to its poor performance. The votes were counted on 19 May 2016. In the previous election in 2011, AIADMK, under the leadership of Jayalalithaa, won a simple majority and formed the government, while DMDK chief Vijayakanth served as the Leader of Opposition until January 2016. This was the last election that J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi contested, as they both died in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
The sixteenth legislative assembly election of Tamil Nadu was held on 6 April 2021, to elect representatives from the 234 constituencies in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won the election, defeating the incumbent All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). The DMK's president, M. K. Stalin, became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, marking the twelfth individual to be elected to the position. He replaced Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the AIADMK.
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu was reported on 7 March 2020.