Eras

At the start of the nineteenth century the East India Company completed its hold over the Tamil country. The Polygar wars ended, the Carnatic and Thanjavur passed under Company control, and the Vellore Mutiny of 1806 shook the Madras Army.

After 1858 the British Crown governed the Madras Presidency directly. Railways, ports, canals and dams changed the economy, while the Great Famine of 1876 to 1878 showed how fragile rural life remained.

From 1916 the Justice Party, the Self-Respect Movement and the Indian National Congress competed to shape the future of the Madras Presidency. Reservation in public jobs, temple entry, women's rights and the place of Tamil all became public questions.

In independent India the Madras State was governed by the Congress, first under leaders such as Rajaji and then under K. Kamaraj, whose years are remembered for schools, noon meals, dams and industry.

In 1967 the DMK under C. N. Annadurai formed the first non-Congress government, and in 1969 the state was renamed Tamil Nadu. After Annadurai's death M. Karunanidhi became Chief Minister.

M. G. Ramachandran led the AIADMK to power in 1977 and remained Chief Minister until his death in December 1987. His governments are remembered especially for the nutritious noon meal scheme.

From 1989 to 2016 power alternated between the DMK under M. Karunanidhi and the AIADMK under J. Jayalalithaa. Both governments launched large welfare programmes, from free electricity for farmers to subsidised food and health insurance.

After Jayalalithaa's death in December 2016 the state went through a period of political change, from the Marina jallikattu protests of 2017 and the Thoothukudi police firing of 2018 to the death of Karunanidhi the same year.