Shimoga

Shimoga lies on the Tunga River in inland Karnataka, near the hill country of the Western Ghats. The wider region came under Vijayanagara rule in the fifteenth century. The Nayakas of Keladi, based in the district, initially governed as Vijayanagara's dependants and became independent after the empire's decline in the later sixteenth century. Their power extended across parts of the Malnad hills and Karnataka coast. In 1763 Hyder Ali defeated the Keladi rulers and incorporated their territory into Mysore. Shimoga's river setting placed it within a region connected by routes between the forested uplands, coast and Deccan interior; the history of the Keladi state is regional context rather than a record of events at every settlement.