South Arcot is a former district of 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...

, located in the state of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...

.

South Arcot was the southern portion of the Mughal

Mughal Empire

The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...

 province (subah) of Arcot. Arcot came under the control of a local Nawab after Mughals lost control southern India in the 18th century. The subah of Arcot was ceded to the British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 in 1801, and subsequently the district was split into North Arcot

North Arcot

The Indian District of North Arcot was split on 30-09-1989 into Tiruvannamalai-Sambuvarayar and North Arcot Ambedkar .- History :...

 and South Arcot. On September 30, 1993, South Arcot District was split into Cuddalore District

Cuddalore District

Cuddalore District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Cuddalore is the district headquarters. For the first time, urn burial grave goods were found in the village of Marungur in the district, carrying inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi from the 1st century...

 and Villupuram District.