Nestled in the shadow of the Western Ghats, Coimbatore once marked the important strategic entryway of the Palakkad Gap, a narrow, flat pass through the mountains into the western coast and Kerala. The dynasties of centuries passed all recognised this, and the city saw Chola, Vijyanagari, Mysorean, and Palaiyakkar rulers before the age of the British. With the end of rival dynasties seeking to control the region, however, one last arrival spurred new growth- the cotton industry fleeing from Bombay.

The aftermath of the city's first textile boom in early 1920 saw the beginning of an entrepreneurial streak develop, with mechanised agriculture, sugarcane processing, power plants, engineering institutes, and most importantly, textile processing machines grow dramatically throughout the next few years. With the transition to independence and central economic policy sending in money, manpower, and materials, Coimbatore is rapidly becoming the second great Tamil industrial city.