Apart from being a bedrock of Hindu orthodoxy, Tanjore was a centre of Chola cultural heritage and one of the richest and most prosperous districts in Madras Presidency.

Tanjore district was constituted in 1799 when the Thanjavur Maratha ruler Serfoji II ceded most of his kingdom to the British East India Company in return for his restitution on the throne.

Tanjore district, which is situated on the Cauvery Delta, is one of the richest rice-growing regions in South India.

The district was made of four well-marked physical tracts - the fertile plains to the north between the Kollidam and the Kaveri known as the "Old Delta" which was naturally irrigated by the rivers through a system of anaicuts and comprising the whole of the taluks of Shiyali, Mayavaram and Kumbakonam, the northern part of Mannargudi and Nannilam and the eastern part of Tanjore taluk; the plains to the south of the Kaveri river covering the southern part of Nannilam and Mannargudi taluks known as the "New Delta" for the reason that these tracts were only recently brought under irrigation by numerous manmade canals from the Kaveri and Kollidam and its tributaries and which were less fertile than the Old Delta; the arid Vallam plateau which covered the western part of Tanjore and Pattukkottai taluks and the Vedaranyam salt pans the largest of its kind in the Madras Presidency that extended for about thirty miles in length and four or five miles in width from Point Calimere to Adiramapatnam covering the southern portion of Thiruthiraipoondi taluk and eastern half of Pattukkottai taluk.

The British East India Company began to play a major part in the affairs of the region from 1749 onwards.

In the 1760s and 1770s, the Thanjavur Maratha ruler, the Nawab of Carnatic and other major powers of the region were brought under the British sphere of influence.

In 1799, the British East India Company assisted the deposed Thanjavur Maratha king Serfoji II in regaining his throne.

Tanjore city was eventually annexed by the British as per the Doctrine of Lapse in 1855 on the death of his son Shivaji without a surviving male heir.

Among Hindus, Paraiyars (310,391), Vanniyars (235,406), Vellalars (212,168), Kallars (188,463), Pallars (159,855), Muthurajas (137,216), and Brahmins (118,882) were the most numerous.

The district was known for its Hindu orthodoxy and several historic Chola temples dedicated to Agamic gods and most of the Padal Petra Sthalams, shrines sung about in the devotional hymns of the Saivite Nayanmars were located here.

The district was sub-divided into six divisions, some of them administered by British civil servants and the rest by Indian Deputy-Collectors.

Tanjore city was known for silk-weaving, lace, embroidery, jewellery, pithwork and manufacture of metal work and musical instruments.

The list of district collectors of Tanjore from its formation in December 1799 till the abolition of Madras Province and its conversion to a state on 26 January 1950 is given below: