[6] The city is 569 m above sea level and is surrounded by lush green paddy fields, arecanut and coconut groves.

Another version of the etymology is that the name is derived from the term Sihi-Mogge, meaning "sweet pot".

[8] The district formed the southern tip of the Emperor Ashoka's Mauryan Empire in the third century BC.

They were an important ruling dynasty in late medieval and early modern Karnataka.

After the fall of the empire in 1565, they gained independence and ruled significant parts of Malnad region of the Western Ghats in present-day Karnataka, most areas in the coastal regions of Karnataka, and parts of northern Kerala, Malabar and the central plains along the Tungabhadra river.

[9] During the Satyagraha movement, Mahatma Gandhi also visited the place to instigate the fight for national freedom.

On 1 November 2006, the government of Karnataka announced the renaming of Shimoga to "Shivamogga", along with nine other cities in the state.

[15] Most/all these hills are part of the Western Ghats, a region known for plentiful rainfall and lush greenery and declared during 2012 as a World Heritage site.

This means that the winter and the early part of summer are typically dry periods.

Urdu is the second-largest language, while Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Marathi and Konkani are also spoken.

The IT Park consists of a 100000 sq ft office building with 24/7 electrical capacity, diesel backup generators, and high speed T1 data connections for use by IT industries such as data centres, call centres, aerospace, robotics, etc.

[26] Shimoga is well connected by road to major cities like Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Hubli, Davangere, Ballari.

Shimoga is one of the important centers for the high school and the pre-university education in Karnataka.