While the early history of Cuddalore remains unclear, the city first rose to prominence during the Pallavas' and Medieval Cholas' reign.

During the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, and the subsequent tsunamis generated, Cuddalore was one of the affected towns, with 572 casualties.

For two centuries, Cuddalore was subject to several foreign powers including the Netherlands, Portugal, France, and the British.

In the early 17th century, the Dutch obtained permission from the ruler of Cuddalore to build a fort there, but political pressure from their Portuguese rivals forced them to abandon it.

The French established a settlement 16 kilometres (10 mi) up the coast at Pondicherry in 1674, followed in 1690 by Fort St. David's British colony at Cuddalore.

During the 18th century, various wars between the European powers spilt over to their colonial empires, and their allies, including those in the Indian subcontinent.

In 1758, during the Seven Years' War, the French took the fort, and there was an inconclusive naval action, the Battle of Cuddalore, off the coast.

Tsunami waves that followed the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake near Sumatra hit India's eastern coast on 26 December 2004 at 8:32 a.m. (IST), resulting in 572 casualties.

Several fishing hamlets disappeared, while Silver Beach and the historically significant Cuddalore Port was devastated.

The land is completely flat with large black and alluvial soil inland and coarse sand near the seashore.

[4] The Cuddalore Formation of the Cauvery Basin received siliciclastic detritus from inland areas of the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT).

In the present work, detailed mineralogical and geochemical studies on the siliciclastic Cuddalore Formation have been carried out to understand the provenance and paleoclimatic conditions during the Miocene.

The paleocurrent direction, textural immaturity and framework detrital modes of sandstones suggest rapid uplift of basement and sediment source from nearby Madras Block of SGT.

Various diagnostic immobile trace element ratios such as Th/Sc, Co/Th, La/Sc, La/Co suggest a tonalite–trondhjemite–granodiorite–charnockite provenance, and somewhat more felsic composition of source area compared to the present upper continental crust (UCC).

The weather is pleasant from December to February in Cuddalore, with a climate full of warm days and cool nights.

Cuddalore Port Junction has four platforms and one stabling line used more for handling freight trains.

[19] There is an airport finished its construction and waiting for the opening in Neyveli, which is nearly 30 km (19 mi) from Cuddalore.

[21] The SIPCOT chemical industry estate in Cuddalore was investigated in November 2002 by a team from the Indian People's Tribunal headed by J. Kanakaraj.

The report published in July 2003 noted that "Villages like Kudikadu, Thaikal, Eachangadu and Sonnanchavadi lie in a virtual 'gas chamber' surrounded on three sides by chemical factories and bounded on the fourth by the river".

[23] On 22 March 2008, a report for the "Tamil Nadu Pollution Board" prepared by the Nagpur-based "National Environmental Engineering Research Institute" found that residents of the SIPCOT area of Cuddalore were at least 2000 times more likely than their counterparts to contract cancer in their lifetimes due to exposure to high levels of toxic gases from chemical industries in the region.

The ships anchor in midstream at about 1.5 kilometres (1 mi) from the shore, where cargo is loaded and discharged through lighters.

There is a bar at the mouth of the combined river, which maintains a depth of 1.5–1.8 metres (5–6 ft) at low water.

[38] The municipality's functions are devolved into six departments: general administration/personnel, Engineering, Revenue, Public Health, city planning and Information Technology (IT).

[37] The town's law and order is maintained by the Cuddalore sub division of the Tamil Nadu Police headed by a deputy superintendent (DSP).

Fort St David, situated on the River Gadilam near Devanampattinam and acquired in 1653 CE by Elihu Yale, a Christian slave-trader and cruel slave master, is one of the most visited tourist attraction in Cuddalore.

[citation needed] Only two decades later, in 1677, when Shivaji captured Gingee, the fort fell into the Marathas' hands.

In 1690, the British East India Company purchased the fort and the adjacent villages (within "ye randome shott of a piece of ordnance".)

The French captured the fort in 1758 but in 1760 relinquished it to Sir Eyre Coote of the British East India Company.

It is an octagonal structure; the sanctum sanctorum of this temple is concealed from the main hall by seven curtains which are parted only on the Thai Poosam day.

Vadalur is well connected by rail and road, and it provides transport to major cities like Trichy, Chennai, Tanjore, Puducherry, and Kumbakonam.