CHITTOOR, a town and district of the Madras Presidency, British India. The district which has an area of 5,9o1 sq.m. and a population (1931) of 1,447,103, was formed in recent years from the northern part of North Arcot. It is in great part hilly, being traversed by spurs of the Eastern Ghats radiating east and south. The surface in the hill-country is rocky, save for patches of stunted jungle, but the narrow valleys between the hills are fertile, and the hills themselves are highly mineralized, showing copper and iron especially. The chief crops are rice, millet and oil-seeds. Chittoor (pop. 1931, 22,018) is the chief town, with a station on the Madras and South Mahratta railway, Ioo m. by road from Madras. It contains a native college, mission training school, a hospital and a sanatorium. There is a trade in granite, a distillery and a tannery, but Chittoor is not an important centre. Hyder Ali died here in I782.