It comprises the present-day districts of Madurai, Theni, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, parts of Pudukkottai and Dindigul.

[1][2] The region was the principal historic seat of the Pandya dynasty who ruled it intermittently and with differing capacities at least from the 4th century BCE to 1759 CE.

"North of Kumari Sea, South of Vellar, East of Dindigul and Karaikadu, West of Sethu, lies the land of Pandiyan, ruled by the Great Maran!"

The archaeological sites of Adichanallur and Korkai are one of the oldest Iron Age settlements in Tamil Nadu with radiocarbon dating assigning the locations to the 9th century BCE.

Under the Sangam Pandyan rule, the region served as one of richest locations in India with its extensive involvement in maritime trades with Southeast Asia and the Western world.

[9] Literacy was also widespread in this region during this time owing to the found presence of the most number of Tamil Brahmi rock inscriptions and pot sherd markings.

The Pandyan Kingdom was restored in the 6th century CE by the King Kadungon who managed to push off the Kalabhra presence from Tamilakam along with the Pallavas.

Despite a huge Buddhist and Jain presence, the region was one of the epicenters of the Bhakti movement which brought into limelight the cults of Gods Shiva and Perumal with beautiful devotional Tamil compositions.

By the 10th century, various Chola kings and princes have claimed to have subdued and annexed the Pandya Nadu in their stone inscriptions, ending the First Pandyan Empire.

Marco Polo, a famed European traveler visited the Pandya Empire during this period and celebrated the region as being one of the wealthiest and noblest in the whole world.

[4] The frequent brotherly civil wars between the sons of the Emperor Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandyan made the region prone to external attacks and invasions.

[4][3] As a result of multiple Delhi invasions into the Southern India, a new political power was emerging in the Kannada and Telugu countries, called the Vijayanagara Empire.

The empire successfully managed to repel the Turkic presence in Southern India after they destroyed the Madurai Sultanate under the leadership of Prince Kumara Kampana.

The region now comprises the districts of Madurai, Theni, Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Thoothukudi, Kanniyakumari, Pudukkottai (South of Vellar) and parts of Dindigul.