This Historical Atlas aims at presenting cartographically the entire range of the human history of south India from pre-historic times to 1600 CE. South India is recognized as a complex region with diverse physical, social and cultural components. For convenience's sake the area covered by the four present-day linguistically defined states of Andhra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala may be taken as the macro-region of south India. But in tracing the human development the boundaries cannot be treated as rigid and fixed once for all. Moreover due to the vastness of the study area, the historical characteristics of the region are bound to vary from area to area at sub-regional level. Considered at the macro-regional level, the history of south India is broadly divided into eight periods on the basis of some salient technological, social and cultural features. Though there would be much overlapping among the different contiguous periods both at the macro-regional level and sub-regional levels, this periodization is necessary to understand the cumulative historical changes.