Kanhangad Town is situated on the banks of the Arayi River and is 15m above mean sea level, and is important business centre. It is a confluence of several languages and culture where eight languages are spoken. Though Malayalam is the principal and recognized administrative language, Tulu, Kannada and Konkani are also widely spoken by people in the town. Besides these languages, Marathi and Urdu are spoken by a minor group of people. Bekal fort, one of the major tourist destinations in the state, is located just 12km north of Kanhangad.

History

The town can boast of a long history.  Kanhangad was one of the villages in Payyannurkazhakam under the Perumal kings.  During the Sangham era, this area was known as Poozhinadu and later as Paduvanadu under the Mooshika dynasty withhead quarters at Ezhimala.  During 12th century this area was under Kolathiris with Bekalam as the seat of administration.  With the invansion of Kumbala and Tulunadu by Vijayanagara Kings, Kanhangad a prominent centre at that time, started attracting increased attention.  After the decline of Vijayanagara Empire, Ikkeri kings of Bidanur attained prominence in the region and conquered these areas. They built and strengthened forts here.  Bekal, Chandragiri, Kosdurg etc. are standing testimonies of their attempts in this regard.  In 1763, Hyder Ali annexed these areas to Mysore.  With the Death of TippuSulthan in 1799, the area came under East India Company and anew Taluk was created with Bekal as headquarters for administrative purpose and new Taluk was created with bekal as headquarters for administrative purpose and was made part of Bombay Presidency.  Later in 1863 with formation of South Canara district (which formed      a part of Madras Presidency) the area came under Madras Presidency.  In 1956, HosdurgTaluk was formed with Kanhangad as the headquarters.  Kanhangad was minor Panchayath since 1936 and became a major Panchayath in 1948.  The jurisdiction was extended in 1963.Kanhangad municipality came in to existence as per the Government Order No. 128/84/LASWD dared 15th May, 1984

Population : 73342

Male : 35204

Female  : 38138

No. of Households :12,604

Density of population 1468.95/sq km

SC Population : 2146

ST Population  : 572

Male Female Ratio :1036

Literacy Rate :95.60

No. of BPL families   :2500