Chittarikaal is a village

Village

A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...

 in Kasaragod district

Kasaragod district

Kasaragod District is one of the districts of the Indian state of Kerala. Kasaragod District was organised as a separate district on 24 May 1984...

 in the state of Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

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History and Etymology

Chitarikaal was a small Hamlet connecting the mountain pathways linking the Thejaswini river jetty at Perumbatta to Cherupuzha and Pulingome, thus forming an important link from the coastal town of Nileshwaram to the further reaches of the Western Ghats. The area was surrounded by forests where the primary mode of agriculture was by shift farming known as "Ponamkrishi" and pepper cultivation. The place was used as a stopover while transporting the forest produce such as pepper to the coast. Hence the name "Chitaari" meaning a storehouse for agritultural produce and "Kaal" i.e.; Leg representing a place to rest the legs. The region was a part of the Dakhina Kannada District, headquartered at Mangalore under the Madras Presidency.

Post-independence and thereafter with the creation of linguistic states the region became a part of the Kannur district of Kerala and subsequently that of Kasaragod District. Post-independence there was a gradual migration of people from the southern districts of Kerala primarily because of the availability of cheap agricultural land. In the following years the pattern of agriculture shifted towards rubber and was pioneered by the migrants from the earstwhile thiruvithamkoor region. The overall development and economy of the region has witnessed a sea change over the years and now Chitarikaal boasts of reasonably modern facilities in terms of roads, electricity, educational institutions, medical facilities etc.

Demographics

India census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

, Chittarikaal had a population of 14278 with 7000 males and 7278 females.