Karnataka

Karnataka is a <a href="/facts/States_and_union_territories_of_India/jqaAwkWI">state</a> in the southwestern region of <a href="/facts/India/1kKHcnxM">India</a>. It was <a href="/facts/Unification_of_Karnataka/hbkDn57e">formed</a> as <a href="/facts/Mysore_State/3AG3vpLB">Mysore State</a> on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the <a href="/facts/States_Reorganisation_Act%2c_1956/mCVUooab">States Reorganisation Act</a>, and renamed Karnataka in 1973. The state is bordered by the <a href="/facts/Lakshadweep_Sea/QjK6r5eW">Lakshadweep Sea</a> to the west, <a href="/facts/Goa/KKXvbLSS">Goa</a> to the northwest, <a href="/facts/Maharashtra/4hAVYlb4">Maharashtra</a> to the north, <a href="/facts/Telangana/oE5VoLuj">Telangana</a> to the northeast, <a href="/facts/Andhra_Pradesh/d51Lb0kX">Andhra Pradesh</a> to the east, <a href="/facts/Tamil_Nadu/ouqcjUKE">Tamil Nadu</a> to the southeast, and <a href="/facts/Kerala/DMP5u40q">Kerala</a> to the southwest. With 61,130,704 inhabitants at the 2011 census, Karnataka is the <a href="/facts/List_of_states_and_union_territories_of_India_by_population/Lfyp4sX6">eighth-largest state by population</a>, comprising 31 <a href="/facts/List_of_districts_in_India/PRfQLysy">districts</a>. With 15,257,000 residents, the state capital <a href="/facts/Bengaluru/LoufLHv4">Bengaluru</a> is the largest city of Karnataka.
The economy of Karnataka is among the most productive in the country with a <a href="/facts/Gross_state_domestic_product/9jG2L7PD">gross state domestic product</a> (GSDP) of ₹25.01 trillion (US$300 billion) and a per capita GSDP of ₹332,926 (US$3,900) for the financial year 2023–24. The state experience a GSDP growth of 10.2% for the same fiscal year. After <a href="/facts/Bangalore_Urban_district/HuotMQpR">Bengaluru Urban</a>, <a href="/facts/Dakshina_Kannada/AmC11Pe3">Dakshina Kannada</a>, <a href="/facts/Hubli%25E2%2580%2593Dharwad/yA4b8Fc0">Hubli–Dharwad</a>, and <a href="/facts/Belgaum_district/ADFQzlS5">Belagavi</a> districts contribute the highest revenue to the state respectively. The capital of the state, Bengaluru, is known as the <a href="/facts/Silicon_Valley_of_India/LoufLHv4">Silicon Valley of India</a>, for its immense contributions to the country's information technology sector. A total of 1,973 companies in the state were found to have been involved in the IT sector as of 2007.
Karnataka is the only southern state to have land borders with all of the other four southern Indian sister states. The state covers an area of 191,791 km2 (74,051 sq mi), or 5.83 per cent of the total geographical area of India. It is the <a href="/facts/List_of_states_and_union_territories_of_India_by_area/KW0KxGQr">sixth-largest Indian state by area</a>. <a href="/facts/Kannada/cooJ3trn">Kannada</a>, one of the <a href="/facts/Languages_of_India/6XDhJrTq">classical languages of India</a>, is the most widely spoken and official language of the state. Other minority languages spoken include <a href="/facts/Urdu/oLrhuXc6">Urdu</a>, <a href="/facts/Konkani_language/mjEpS7Ly">Konkani</a>, <a href="/facts/Marathi_language/uIJuwlFW">Marathi</a>, <a href="/facts/Tulu_language/oast8Tkb">Tulu</a>, <a href="/facts/Tamil_language/7I0lHL0d">Tamil</a>, <a href="/facts/Telugu_language/yV5dQWhw">Telugu</a>, <a href="/facts/Malayalam/YLuvDWd3">Malayalam</a>, <a href="/facts/Kodava_language/d3VGfvwE">Kodava</a> and <a href="/facts/Beary/I8KlGBgx">Beary</a>. Karnataka also contains some of the only <a href="/facts/Sanskrit_revival/a9q0VhVP">villages in India where Sanskrit is primarily spoken</a>.
Though <a href="/facts/Etymology_of_Karnataka/k4Ftxe2I">several etymologies</a> have been suggested for the name Karnataka, the generally accepted one is that Karnataka is derived from the Kannada words karu and nādu, meaning "elevated land". Karu Nadu may also be read as karu, meaning "black" and nadu, meaning "region", as a reference to the <a href="/facts/Vertisol/aRQTrfrs">black cotton soil</a> found in the <a href="/facts/Bayalu_Seeme/QVLGcoyI">Bayalu Seeme</a> region of the state. The <a href="/facts/British_Raj/hBe6wvPS">British</a> used the word <a href="/facts/Carnatic_region/uT7apsYK">Carnatic</a>, sometimes Karnatak, to describe both sides of peninsular India, south of <a href="/facts/Krishna_River/fEmCfqlX">the Krishna</a>. With an antiquity that dates to the <a href="/facts/Paleolithic/I48SMHo5">Paleolithic</a>, Karnataka has been home to some of the most powerful <a href="/facts/Political_history_of_medieval_Karnataka/aeYylC7w">empires of ancient and medieval India</a>. The philosophers and musical bards patronised by these empires launched socio-religious and literary movements which have endured to the present day. Karnataka has contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the <a href="/facts/Carnatic_music/0vqePmMf">Carnatic</a> and <a href="/facts/Hindustani_classical_music/b9lPQMGd">Hindustani</a> traditions.

Karnataka open-in-new

Karnataka