The coastal land which then contained the fishing village Madrasapattinam, was purchased by the British East India Company from the Nayak ruler Chennapa Nayaka in the 17th century.

The city was made the winter capital of the Madras Presidency, a colonial province of the British Raj in the Indian subcontinent.

[17] Madras might have been derived from Madraspattinam, a fishing village north of Fort St. George but it is uncertain whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans.

During the 1st century CE, Tamil poet named Thiruvalluvar lived in the town of Mylapore, a neighbourhood of present-day Chennai.

[23] Pallavas of Kanchi became independent rulers of the region from 3rd to 9th century CE and the areas of Mahabalipuram and Pallavaram were built during the reign of Mahendravarman I.

[24] In 879, Pallavas were defeated by the Later Cholas led by Aditya I and Jatavarman Sundara Pandyan later brought the region under the Pandya rule in 1264.

[25][23] The Portuguese arrived in 1522 and built a port named São Tomé after the Christian apostle, St. Thomas, who is believed to have preached in the area between 52 and 70 CE.

[26] A year later, the company built Fort St. George, the first major English settlement in India, which became the nucleus of the growing colonial city and urban Chennai.

[26] The British regained control in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and strengthened the town's fortress wall to withstand further attacks from the French and Hyder Ali, the king of Mysore.

[45] The 2015 Chennai Floods submerged major portions of the city, killing 269 people and resulting in damages of ₹86.4 billion (US$998 million).

[49] Clay underlies most of the city with sandy areas found along the river banks and coasts where rainwater runoff percolates quickly through the soil.

The crust has old granite rocks dating back nearly a billion years indicating volcanic activities in the past with expected temperatures of 200–300 °C (392–572 °F) at 4–5 km (2.5–3.1 mi) depth.

[81][82] The southern stretch of Chennai's coast from Tiruvanmiyur to Neelangarai are favoured by the endangered olive ridley sea turtles to lay eggs every winter.

[93] The major water bodies including the Adyar, Cooum and Kosathaliyar rivers, and the Buckingham canal are heavily polluted with effluents and waste from domestic and commercial sources.

[122] Madras High Court is the highest judicial authority in the state, whose jurisdiction extends across Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

[134][135] Being the capital of the Madras Province that covered a large area of the Deccan region, Chennai remained the centre of politics during the British colonial era.

[143] The Anti-Hindi agitations led to the rise of Dravidian parties with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) forming the first government under C. N. Annadurai in 1967.

[157] Tamils form majority of the population with minorities including Telugus,[160] Marwaris,[161] Gujaratis,[162] Parsis,[163] Sindhis,[164] Odias,[165] Goans,[166] Kannadigas,[167] Anglo-Indians,[168] Bengalis,[169] Punjabis,[170] and Malayalees.

[181] With the Mugals influence in mediaeval times and the British later, the city saw a rise in a blend of Hindu, Islamic and Gothic revival styles, resulting in the distinct Indo-Saracenic architecture.

The Santhome Church, which was originally built by the Portuguese in 1523 and is believed to house the remains of the apostle St. Thomas, was rebuilt in 1893, in neo-Gothic style.

[203] Chennai is the base for Tamil cinema, nicknamed Kollywood, alluding to the neighbourhood of Kodambakkam where several film studios are located.

[204] The history of cinema in South India started in 1897 when a European exhibitor first screened a selection of silent short films at the Victoria Public Hall in the city.

[212][213] Chennai has an active street food culture and various cuisine options for dining including North Indian, Chinese and continental.

[218] With the presence of two major ports, an international airport, and a converging road and rail networks, Chennai is often referred to as the "Gateway to South India".

[230] The presence of SEZs and government policies have contributed to the growth of the sector which has attracted foreign investments and job seekers from other parts of the country.

[310] The aviation history of Chennai began in 1910, when Giacomo D'Angelis built the first powered flight in Asia and tested it in Island Grounds.

[311] In 1915, Tata Air Mail started an airmail service between Karachi and Madras marking the beginning of civil aviation in India.

[366] With temples, beaches and centres of historical and cultural significance including the UNESCO Heritage Site of Mahabalipuram, Chennai is one of the most-visited cities in India with 11 million domestic and 630,000 foreign tourists visiting in 2020.

[395][396] Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium is a multi-purpose venue which hosts football and athletics and also houses a multi–purpose indoor complex for volleyball, basketball, kabaddi and table tennis.

[411][412] Other sports persons from Chennai include table tennis player Sharath Kamal and two–time world carrom champion, Maria Irudayam.