of Tulu Nadu. Over the following many centuries, more ethnic groups migrated to the area. Konkanis from Goa arrived by sea, as Mangalore was a major port that served not only the Portuguese but also the Arabs for maritime trades. Jains were already a prominent group and even today are uniquely preserved in Tulu Nadu. Though small in number, the Jains left behind indelible reminders of their glory with temples (bastis) in (Moodabidri) and monolithic statues of Bahubali in Karkala, Venoor and Dharmasthala. In the 16th century, there was a large influx of Catholics to Tulu Nadu from Goa. Under Portuguese rule, the region was called the Misao do Sul (Mission of the South). In the 18th century, it was conquered by Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore. After the British defeated Haidar's successor Tipu Sultan in 1799, the region was attached to the Madras Presidency before being reverted to the state of Mysore after independence. Mysore has since been renamed Karnataka. At the end of the 18th century, Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan controlled the region. Mangalore played a prominent role in Tipu's battles with the British. The British gained full control in 1801, after Tipu's death in 1799. The British ruled the region with Madras (now Chennai) as its headquarters. Tipu conquered the region and the British conquered it from him. Under the British, the region was organised into the districts of North Canara and South Canara respectively. When the states were reorganised on linguistic basis in 1956, Tulu Nadu (South Canara) which was earlier a part of Madras Presidency and North Canara which was a part of Bombay Presidency became part of the newly formed Mysore state, which was later renamed as Karnataka. Kasargod became part of the newly formed state of Kerala. The Tuluvas began demanding official language status for Tulu and a separate state named Tulu Nadu for themselves. Organisations like the Tulu Rajya Horata Samiti have taken up the cause of the Tuluvas and meetings and demonstrations were held at towns like Mangalore and Udupi to voice their demand. Demographics South Kanara had a total population of 1,748,991 in 1951, of whom 76.58% were Hindus, 14.31% Muslim and 8.85% Christian. The most widely spoken language was Tulu which was the mother tongue of 40 percent of the population, followed by Malayalam which formed the mother tongue of 24 percent each of the population. Around