The glorious Karnataka.
Physiographically, Karnataka state forms part of four well defined regions.
- 1Northern Karnataka Plateau: The Northern Karnataka Plateau comprises of the districts of Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Gulbarga and Yadgir. It is largely composed of the Deccan Trap. It represents a monotonous treeless, extensive plateau landscape with a general elevation of 300-600 metres from the mean sea level.
- Central Karnataka Plateau: The Central Karnataka Plateau covers the districts of Bellary, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Raichur, Koppal and Shimoga. The region represents the transitional surface between the Northern Karnataka Plateau of the Deccan Trap and the gneissic Southern Karnataka Plateau with relatively higher surface.
- Southern Karnataka Plateau: The Southern Karnataka Plateau covers the districts of Bengaluru Urban and Rural, Hassan, Kodagu, Kolar, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajanagar and Tumkur. This region largely covers the area of the Kaveri river basin
- Karnataka Coastal Region: The Karnataka Coastal Region, which extends between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea in the west, covers Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts.
The state has three main types of climates. For meteorological purposes, the state has been divided into three sub-divisions namely (a) Coastal Karnataka (Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada districts), (b) North Interior Karnataka (Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Gulbarga, Raichur and Koppal districts) and (c) South Interior Karnataka (the remaining districts of Bengaluru Rural, Bengaluru Urban, Bellary, Chikkamagaluru, Chitradurga, Davanagere, Kodagu, Hassan, Kolar, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Mandya, Shimoga and Tumkur districts). The tropical monsoon climate covers the entire coastal belt and adjoining areas. The climate in this region is hot with high rainfall during the monsoon season i.e., June to September. The southern half of the state experiences hot, seasonally dry, tropical, savanna climate, while most of the northern half experiences hot, semi-arid, tropical steppe type of climate.
Taking into consideration the topography, bio-climate and soil, the vegetation of Karnataka could be grouped under the following four categories i.e.,
- Littoral vegetation
- West coast tropical vegetation
- Upland deciduous vegetation
- Southern tropical montane vegetation.
Dialects and Scripts: From ancient times, Karnataka, being a vast area, has developed unique regional variations in dialects, influenced by several factors, including the languages of the neighbouring states. In the present times, one can notice at least 3 well defined regional dialects popularly known as Mysore-Kannada, Dharwad-Kannada and MangaloreKannada, coinciding with the three cultural centres. Even within these regions, numerous dialectal subdivisions are flourishing.
- Havyaka Kannada
- Badaga Kannada
- Nadavara Kannada
- Harikantras Kannada
- Halakki Kannada
- Koraga Kannada
- Iruliga Kannada
- Sholiga Kannada
Migration data according to 2001 census
- Andhra Pradesh – 5,82,799
- Tamil Nadu – 5,47,156
- Maharashtra – 3,87,567
- Kerala – 2,83,764
- Rajasthan – 79,730
- Uttar Pradesh – 38,679
- West Bengal – 31,060
- Bihar – 29,898
- Gujarat – 25,375
- Orissa – 16,840
- Punjab – 4,664
- Jammu and Kashmir – 4,664
- Other states – 1,02,925
- Outside the country – 44,305
Similarly, migration from Karnataka to other parts of India included:
- Maharashtra – 12,67,421
- Andhra Pradesh – 2,88,862
- Goa – 1,32,882
- Tamil Nadu – 1,19,993
- Kerala – 55,685
- Gujarat – 28,098
- Delhi – 16,309
- Uttar Pradesh – 12,262
- Madhya Pradesh – 10,432
- Bihar – 9,077
- Rajasthan – 8,294
- West Bengal – 5,327
- Punjab – 4,042
- Haryana – 3,293
- Uttaranchal – 2,697
- Chhattisgarh – 2,635
- Jharkhand – 2,274
- Pondicherry – 2,023
- Chandigarh – 1,830
- Orissa – 1,822
- Jammu and Kashmir – 1,452
- Assam – 1,438
- Other parts of the country – 40,671
source: Glimpses of Karnataka, 2012