Karnataka

Relief, drainage, and soils

Physiographically, Karnataka is divided into four distinct regions—the coastal plain, the hill ranges (the Western Ghats), the Karnataka Plateau to the east, and the black-soil tract to the northwest. The coastal plain represents a northward continuation of the Malabar Coast, with sand dunes giving place inland to small alluvial plains and lagoons. The coast itself is difficult to access, except by sea.

To the east of the coastal plain, the Western Ghats rise sharply to reach an average elevation of 2,500 to 3,000 feet (750 to 900 metres). The upland terrain of the Ghats is known as Malnad. The region is a watershed, and from its crest numerous swift streams flow to the plains, including the Sharavati River, which is the source of the tremendous Jog (Gersoppa) Falls (830 feet [253 metres] high).

Other rivers—including the Kaveri (Cauvery) to the south and the Tungabhadra, a tributary of the great Krishna River, to the north—flow over the undulating, eastward-sloping plains of the Karnataka Plateau. These plains are known as the Maidan. The plateau region has an average elevation of about 1,500 feet (450 metres).

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The northwestern part of the state is characterized more by its soil than by its relief. In this region, underlying volcanic rock produces a soil known as regur, the humus-rich, cotton-growing black soil of India. By contrast, the soils of the adjacent Karnataka Plateau are generally porous and infertile, except in the river basins, where they are loamy and somewhat fertile. Soils in the coastal plain include iron-rich clays in the inland areas and sandy alluvial deposits toward the coast itself.

Climate

The climate of Karnataka is subtropical, with winter (January and February), summer (March through May), southwest monsoon (June through September), and post-monsoon (October through December) seasons. Maximum daily temperatures in winter reach the upper 80s F (low 30s C), whereas in the summer months temperatures rise into the low 100s F (about 40 °C). Annual precipitation ranges from roughly 20 inches (500 mm) in the drier portions of the Maidan to nearly 160 inches (4,000 mm) in the wettest parts of the coastal plain. Most of the state’s annual precipitation falls between June and September; much of the remainder is brought by a less-significant northeast monsoon that blows during the post-monsoon season. The winter months are particularly dry.

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Plant and animal life

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While coconut palms line the lagoons of the coastal plain region of Karnataka, monsoon forests cover the Malnad area of the Western Ghats, and scrub forests and scrublands stretch across the drier plains of the Maidan. The monsoon forests are especially rich in wildlife, which includes tigers, elephants, gaurs (wild cattle), and deer. Wild boars, bears, and leopards inhabit the Maidan. Peacocks are among the state’s common birds. Karnataka has many wildlife sanctuaries, including the large Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in the northwest, which abuts the Mahaveer sanctuary in Goa. The state also has several national parks, among the most notable of which are at Bandipur, in the south, near the border with Tamil Nadu, and at Nagarhole, in the southwest, near the border with Kerala.

Population composition

As speakers of Dravidian languages, most of Karnataka’s people are considered to be the descendants of the so-called Dravidian population of India that was driven southward between about 2000 and 1500 bce by the descent into the Asian subcontinent of speakers of Indo-Aryan languages. Although the Dravidians of South India remain distinct from the Indo-Aryans of North India, centuries of interaction between the two groups has resulted in many shared linguistic and cultural characteristics. Today in Karnataka, the northern region exhibits a somewhat greater degree of such mixture than does its southern counterpart.

Kannada, which is a Dravidian language, is spoken by a large majority of the population and is the official language of the state. Hindi is sometimes used in trade and business. Toward the borders of the state, other languages, such as Tamil and Telugu, both Dravidian, and Marathi and Konkani, both Indo-Aryan, are also spoken. Konkani is associated particularly with the city of Mangaluru (Mangalore), in southwestern Karnataka.

The predominant religion in the state is Hinduism. Jainism and Buddhism—once widespread—still have practitioners, however. Small portions of the population follow Islam and Christianity.

Settlement patterns

About two-thirds of the population of Karnataka was rural in the early 21st century, but, with increasing industrialization, the pace of urbanization continued to accelerate. The principal cities are the capital Bengaluru and Mysuru (Mysore), both in the southern part of the state. Other major urban centres include Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Belgavi (Belgaum), Kalaburagi (Gulbarga), Davangere, Ballari (Bellary), Shivamogga (Shimoga), Vijayapura (Bijapur), and Raichur.