Street in old quarter of Karaikkal.
Karaikal (/kʌdɛkʌl/, French: Karikal /kaʁikal/) is a town of the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry, with a population of 222,589 and an area of 30 km2.
Karaikal became a French Colony in 1674 and held control, with occasional interruption from the British and Dutch, until 1954 (de jure in 1956), when it was incorporated into the Republic of India,