Madras, now called Chennai, the first city of Tamil Nadu, is comparatively a new city. The erstwhile villages of Mylapore, Triplicane, Ezhambur (Egmore), etc., all now a part of Chennai, have a recorded historical past centuries older than Chennai. Chennai, the present gateway to the South of India, is, however, only about 350 years old. Chennai is ever growing, changing and pulsating with new activities. The city of today, one of the great metropolitan cities of the world, and the fourth largest city in India, grew from the Fort that Francis Day and his superior Andrew Cogan of East India Company built on a narrow spit of no-man's land that Day's dubash Beri Thimanna negotiated with the local governor of the Vijayangar Empire. The approximately 5-square kilometer sand strip Day was granted has now grown into a city of about 170 sq.kms. with a population of about 6 million.

Chennai was the first British major settlement in India and it was here that many who went on to build the Empire first learnt their trade. As a consequence, the city is replete with much that is of significance in British Indian history. But the much older settlements have stories to tell too, and so the city is an amalgam of ancient and more modern history. Everywhere one goes in Chennai, one can find history written in every name.

The particularly charming features of Chennai are its allegiance to ancient traditions, no matter how modernised it has become and its willingness to spread out further rather than develop into a multistorey concrete jungle. The result is a widespread city still open to the skies; a green, airy city with several vestiges of its rural past; a city that adheres to the leisurely tempo of the life of a world of yesterday; a city whose values of the other day still survive amidst the humdrum bustle of today; a city that still retains the charm, culture, hospitality and courtesies of the ages.

In this gracious, spacious city there is much to see. A suggested tour round the city is best completed by following this route: Fort St. George, Pantheon Complex, Valluvar Kottam, St. Thomas Mount, Guindy National Park, the Shrines of Mylapore and Triplicane, Government Estate, the Marina and Anna Salai, Newer attractions are: theme parks such as Kishkinta, MGM Dizzy World and Little Folks, Vandalur Zoo, VGP Golden Beach Resort, Crocodile Bank and Muttukadu Boat House.