Thoothukudi or Tuticorin [key], city (1991 pop. 280,091), Tamil Nadu state, SE India. An important seaport and fishing center, it has a Fishing Technological Institute and is also famous for its pearl oysters. The nearby V. O. Chidambaranar Port, formerly Tuticorin Port, opened 1974, is one of India's ten major ports. Thoothukudi was founded c.1540 by the Portuguese, captured by the Dutch in 1658, and ceded to the British in 1825.
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