As it is located at the junction of three states, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, significant Malayali and Kannadiga populations reside in the district.

This area was long occupied by the indigenous tribal peoples of the Toda, Kota, Kurumba, Irula and Badagas.

The Todas and Kota, who are similar in culture, language and genetic ancestry, were settled across the fringes of the Nilgiri plateau, as sentries to the Central district.

Unlike elsewhere in the country, no historical evidence is found of a state on the Nilgiris or that it was part of any ancient kingdom or empire.

Beginning in 1819, the British colonial administration developed the hills rapidly and peaceably, for use as coffee and tea plantations, and summer residences.

[8] During the British raj, Ooty (the popular name for Ootacamund) served as the summer capital of the Madras Presidency from 1870 onwards.

According to a 1996 bibliography of publications of this district,[10] it is probably the most heavily studied rural area anywhere in India, with close to 7,000 items in that list.

After 1847 German and Swiss missionaries opened schools for boys and girls in some Badaga villages, teaching them literacy.

Local place names are derived mainly from the dominant Badaga language, for example, Doddabetta, Coonoor, Kotagiri, Gudaluru, Kunda, etc.

Supposedly unnamed Badaga elders have regularly recounted these baseless facts as oral history and cannot be relied upon.

[14] John Sullivan, then the collector of Coimbatore, just south of the Nilgiris, sent two surveyors (W. Keys and C. McMahon) to make a comprehensive study of the hills.

Kindersley and Mohammed Rifash Obaidullah for the Madras Civil Service, who reported back that they had discovered "the existence of a tableland possessing a European climate.

In 1870 the practice began of key government personnel moving to the hills to conduct business during summer months in this more temperate climate.

In the later 19th century, when the British Straits Settlement shipped Chinese convicts to be jailed in India, some of these men were settled on the Nilgiri plateau near Naduvattam.

One Chinese gardener was critical to the district's future, for he worked with Margaret B. L. Cockburn in Aruvenu, near Kotagiri, to develop Allport's, the first Nilgiri tea plantation, which started operations in 1863.

The elevation of the Nilgiris results in a much cooler and wetter climate than the surrounding plains, so the area is popular as a comfortable retreat and is good for tea cultivation.

The best-known of these are the Toda and Kota, whose related cultures are based on pastoral management of the buffalo, with its dairy products being the basis of their diets.

They have developed highly refined red, black and white embroidered shawls, and silver jewellery, which are GI-registered and much sought after.

Many of the Muslims and Christians have migrated to the Nilgiris from adjoining Wayanad, Malappuram and Palakkad districts in Kerala state.

Its economy is based on commodity crops of tea, coffee, and spices, followed in importance by potato, cabbage, carrot, and fruit.

These forests extend south along the Western Ghats range to the southern tip of India, and are dominated by a diverse assemblage of trees, many of them deciduous during the winter and spring dry season.

These forests are home to the largest herd of Asian elephants in India, who range from the Nilgiris across towards the Eastern Ghats.

The South Western Ghats montane rain forests ecoregion covers the portion of the range above 1000 metres' elevation.

Above 1500 metres' elevation, the evergreen forests begin to give way to stunted forests, locally called sholas, which are interspersed with open grassland[38] The high grasslands are home to the endangered Nilgiri tahr, which resembles a stocky goat with curved horns.

Mudumalai National Park lies in the northern part of the range where Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu meet, and covers an area of 321 km2.

Mukurthi National Park lies in the southwest of the range, in Kerala, and covers an area of 78.5 km2, which includes intact shola-grassland mosaic, a habitat for the Nilgiri tahr.

Outside these parks much of the native forest has been cleared for grazing cattle, or has been encroached upon or replaced by plantations of tea, eucalyptus, cinchona and acacia.

In January 2010, the Nilgiri Declaration[39] set out a wide range environmental and sustainable development goals to be reached by 2015.

The Nilgiris is the headquarters of various government and semi-private organizations engaged in research into horticulture, forestry, botanical sciences and physics.

The Nilgiri Mountain Train, locally known as the Toy Train, attracts tourists as the journey has extensive views of the hills and forests.Pazhassi's Cave, Wentworth Estate, Cherambadi, Mudumalai National Park is commonly visited by wildlife enthusiasts, campers and backpackers.