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Thiruvananthapuram also known as Trivandrum, is the capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 km2, making it the largest and the most populous city in Kerala. The larger Thiruvananthapuram metropolitan area had over 1.7 million inhabitants within an area of 543 km2. Thiruvananthapuram is a port city that is connected by maritime trade, it is located just 10 nautical miles (19 km; 12 mi)away from the International shipping Route. The heavily trafficked East-West shipping channel, which includes the Suez–Far East Route, the Far East–Middle East Route, the Asia–Africa Route, the Indian Ocean Route, and the Strait of Malacca Route passes near Trivandrum, making it a strategic maritime location. The Maritime city is home to India’s first deep-water trans-shipment port, the Vizhinjam International Seaport Thiruvananthapuram, and the proposed Trivandrum Shipyard Poovar, which enhance maritime activities in the region.The city is also known for Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, known as the richest temple in the world. Thiruvananthapuram is where India's space program began, with the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and the headquarters of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre located here. Thiruvananthapuram is also known for its cultural heritage, being associated with the musical contributions of Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma and the artistic legacy of painter Raja Ravi Varma. Thiruvananthapuram has contributed to the development of Malayalam literature through individuals like Ulloor S. Parameswara Iyer,Kumaran Asan, C. V. Raman Pillai and Narayana Guru. Notable beaches in Thiruvananthapuram include Kovalam, Varkala, Shankumugham Beach and Poovar. The encompassing urban agglomeration population is around 1.68 million. Located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland, Thiruvananthapuram is a major information technology hub in Kerala and contributes 55% of the state's software exports as of 2016. Referred to by Mahatma Gandhi as the "Evergreen city of India", the city is characterised by its undulating terrain of low coastal hills. The present regions that constitute Thiruvananthapuram were ruled by the Ays who were related to feudatories of the Chera dynasty. In the 12th century, it was conquered by the Kingdom of Venad. In the 18th century, the king Marthanda Varma expanded the territory, founded the princely state of Travancore and made Thiruvananthapuram its capital. Travancore became the most dominant state in Kerala by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Calicut in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. Following India's independence in 1947, Thiruvananthapuram became the capital of Travancore–Cochin state and remained so until the new Indian state of Kerala was formed in 1956. Thiruvananthapuram is a notable academic and research hub and home to the University of Kerala, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University, the regional headquarters of Indira Gandhi National Open University, and many other schools and colleges. Thiruvananthapuram is also home to research centres such as the National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Indian Space Research Organisation's Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, National Centre for Earth Science Studies and a campus of the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research. The city is home to media institutions like Toonz Animation India and Tata Elxsi Ltd, and also to Chitranjali Film Studio, one of the first film studios in Malayalam Cinema, and Kinfra Film and Video Park at Kazhakoottam, which is India's first Infotainment industrial park. Being India's largest city in the deep south, it is strategically prominent and hosts the Southern Air Command headquarters of the Indian Air Force, the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station and the upcoming Vizhinjam International Seaport. Thiruvananthapuram is a major tourist centre, known for the Padmanabhaswamy Temple, the beaches of Kovalam and Varkala, the backwaters of Poovar and Anchuthengu and its Western Ghats tracts of Ponmudi and the Agastya Mala.In 2012, Thiruvananthapuram was named the best Kerala city to live in, by a field survey conducted by The Times of India. In 2013, the city was ranked the fifteenth best city to live in India, in a survey conducted by India Today. Thiruvananthapuram was ranked the best Indian city for two consecutive years, 2015 and 2016, according to the Annual Survey of India's City-Systems (ASICS) conducted by the Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy. The city was also selected as the best governed city in India in a survey conducted by Janaagraha Centre for citizenship and democracy in 2017. -Wikipedia