The Kottayam District, which is the leading district in Literacy in Kerala as well as in India, has made much contribution in the cultural and literal renaissance of the State and Country. His Excellency Sri.K.R.Narayanan, the present president of India belongs to this District. The Headquarters of this district ie. Kottayam Municipality is the 1st Town / Municipality in India to be declared as 100% literate.

           The present Kottayam District consists of a portion of the former princely state of Travancore and includes princely states in the 12th Century A.D., named as Vadakkancore, Thekkancore, Poonjar and Meenachil eventhough certain territorial changes have occurred. The first administrative wing under the name of “Kottayam” has started in 1878 AD during the rule of Sri.T.Rama Rao, Diwan Peshkar who is also known as the founder of Modern Kottayam.

           Kottayam District is divided into 2 Revenue Divisions, 5 Taluks, 13 Revenue Farkas and 95 Revenue Villages. Area:- 2208 Sq.Kms (as per 2001 census). There are 11 Block Panchayaths, 4 Municipalities and 74 Grama Panchayaths in the District. (the 74th Grama Panchayath “Manarcad” was formed recently by dividing Vijayapuram Grama Panchayath. It may be noted that the Panchayath level details for the newly formed Panchayath is not given separately in the publication but the details under Vijayapuram Grama Panchayath includes both Manarcad and Vijayapuram).

           The district lies between North Latitude 9.480 and 9.9 0 and East Longitude 76.4 0 and 770. The boundaries of the District are Pathanamthitta District on the South, Alappuzha District on the West, Ernakulam and Idukki districts on the North and Idukki District on the East. Of the 5 Taluks Kottayam, Changanacherry, Vaikom, Meenachil and Kanjirappally western portions of the 1st three taluks comes under low land. Remaining portions of the above three Taluks and the major portions of Meenachil and Kanjirappally Taluks comes under the natural division “Mid land” which is very fertile.

           Paddy, Coconut, Pepper, Tapioca, rubber etc. are the main crops grown here. The eastern portions of Meenachil and Kanjirappally Taluks come under “High Land”.
Rivers:- Meenachil, Manimala and Muvattupuzha flows through this district.
Backwaters:- The Vembanad Back waters which is largest in the State forms the Western boundary of the district and provides inland water transport facility between centres of Kottayam, Alappuzha and Ernakulam Districts. It is also a splendid source for Limeshell and a large variety of fish. The famous tourist centre “Kumarakom” lies on the bank of Vembanad and attracts tourists from all over the world.
Soil:- Alluvial, peaty and laterite soils exist in the District. The western portions of Kottayam and Changanacherry Taluks covers with the Alluvial soils. In almost half portion of Vaikom Taluk, peaty or Kari soil is seen. The laterite soil which lies eastern part of the District. Alluvial and peaty soils cover the remaining portions of Kottayam, Changanacherry, Vaikom Taluks and the whole of Meenachil and Kanjirappally Taluks. Paddy, coconut and vegetables are the main crops cultivated in the Alluvial / Peaty soiled areas and coconut, arecanut, pepper, tapioca, rubber and a large variety of fruits and vegetable are cultivated in the remaining areas.
Climate :- The climate in this District is moderate and pleasant.
Temperature :- The Higher temperature recorded in this District is 38.5 0 C recorded on 6th April 1998 and the lowest being 16 0 C recorded in 13th December 2000. The highest temperature recorded in the year 2000 is 35.4 0 C (16th May 2000) and the lowest 160 C (13th December 2000).
Rainfall :- The yearly total rainfall recorded in this district was 2331.5 mm during the year 2000 and 1876.2 mm during the year 2001 upto 23.7.2001.
Population, Literacy etc. as per census 2001:-
Total population as per 2001 census is 1952901, Male-964433 Female-988468. Sex ratio is 1025 females for 1000 males. Kottayam District as per the 2001 census has ranked as 1st in Literacy with a percentage of 95.9 compared to 90.92% for Kerala State and 65.38% for India. It is ranked as 10th in population as well as in area among the districts in Kerala. This District has marked lowest decadal population growth rates of 6.76% compared to 9.42% for Kerala.
Assembly / Legislature constituencies:-
There are 10 Assembly constituencies in Kottayam District. Parliament constituencies included in the district are (1) Kottayam and (2) Muvattupuzha (Part).
The Headquarters of the Rubber Board, Rubber Research Institute of India, Medical College Kottayam, Plantation Corporation of India and Oil Palm India are situated in this district. There are 7 large scale Industries, 11 medium scale Industries and 8015 small scale industries functioning in this district out of which four large scale industries are in the public sector.

Important Places :- Some of the important places in the district are Vaikom, Changanacherry, Poonjar and Kottayam which are historically important. Panachikadu, Erumely, Vaikom, Kumaranalloor, Kottayam and Ettumanoor famous for the temples situated in these places and Bharananganam, Manarcadu are famous for the churches situated in these places. Velloor is important for the Hindustan News Print Project and Kumarakom for a world famous Tourist centre.

In almost 50% of the area in the district, Rubber is cultivated and a lot of Rubber based small scale industries are working in this district at present.

Cultural & literal importance of Kottayam:-
Publications :- Most of the reputed dailies in Kerala like Malayala Manorama, Mathrubhumi, Mangalam and most of weeklies and other publications are published from Kottayam. The famous writers and poets like Ramapurath Warrier, Kottarathil Shankunny, Kandathil Varghese Mappila, Kattakkayam, Vaikom Mohammed Basheer, Karoor Neelakanda Pillai, Muttathu Varkey, Ponkunnam Varkey, Pala Narayanan Nair, Vaikom Chandrasekharan Nair, Lalithambika Antharganam, Ambalapuzha Ramavarma, Thrikkodithanam Gopinathan Nair, Veloor Krishnankutty, Smt.Arundhathy Roy, Vanakkutty etc. are the natives of this district. The famous cine artists Mammootty, Janardhanan, Manoj.K.Jayan, Jayaraj, John Abraham and cine / drama Artist N.N.Pillai are also natives of this district. This district is also the native place of famous Kathakali Artists, Kudamaloor Karunakaran Nair, Kuroor Vasudevan Nampoothiri, Kurichy Kunjan Panicker, Mathoor Govindankutty, Pallom Madhavan etc.

           Kottayam has much important in cultural and literal fields from the ancient times. In 1821, Sir.Benchamin Bailey has started the 1st printing press in Kerala at Kottayam. The author of the first “Yathra Vivaranam” which was published in 1948 and named as “Varthamana Pusthakam” was written by Paremakkal Thomas Kathanar who belonging to this District. The first Malayalam English Dictionary and Malayalam Dictionary were published from Kottayam in the year 1846 and 1865 respectively. The first Malayalam Bible was also published from Kottayam.

           The Sahithya Pravarthaka Sahakarana Sangam which has been originated in Kottayam is the first co-operative Enterprise of writers, Novelists and Poets. The first college started in Kerala is the C.M.S.College at Kottayam. The first school in Kerala Bakers Memorial was started in Kottayam.
It can be seen that Kottayam has much importance in cultural, literal, political fields in ancient times as well as in present times.