Chennai is India's fourth largest city and capital of Tamil Nadu state but despite its size it is an example of how pleasant other Indian cities might be if they were not so overcrowded. Chennaisis are not only zealous guardians of Tamil culture, which they regard as inherently superior to the hybridised cultures further north, but they also appear to know the meaning of relaxation and efficiency with regard to public services a remarkable combination to be found only in isolated pockets elsewhere in India! Here it's possible to use public buses without undue discomfort and the urban commuter trains without a second thought. There are, it is true, slums and beggars as there are in other Indian cities, but they are far less obtrusive and smaller in number. The city also has the advantage of a long beach front on the Bay of Bengal which ensures a good supply of refreshing sea air and provides a popular place to relax in the evening.

Chennai was the site of the first important settlement of the East India Company founded in 1639 on land given by the Raja of Chandragiri, the last representative of the Vijayanagar rulers of Hampi. A small fort was built in the settlement in 1644 and a town which subsequently became known as Georgetown, in the area of Fort St George, arose north of it. The settlement became independent of Batnam in Java in 1683 and was granted its first municipal charter in 1688 by James IL It thus has the oldest Municipal Corporation in India, a fact which Tamil Nadu state governors are only too keen to point out at every available opportunity.

During the rivalry between the British and French for supremacy in India during the 18th and early 19th centuries its fortunes waxed and waned, being briefly occupied by the French on one occasion, and the base from which Qive set out on his military expeditions during the Wars of the Carnatic. During the 19th century it was the seat of the Chennai Presidency, one of the four divisions of British Imperial India.

Though it has long been important for textile manufacture, a great deal of industrial expansion has taken place in recent years and its concerns now include motor assembly plants, railway coach and truck works, engineering plants, cigarette factories, film studios and educational institutes.