Kollam is one of the oldest districts of Kerala. Kollam has a lot of traditional monuments which makes it one of the most favorite tourist destination of the people around the world who come to visit Kerala. Kollam was formerly known as “Tarsish” and later it was known as “Desinganadu” , during the rule of the travancoer kingdom, Kollam was the main center for trade, the formation of Malayalam Era is mainly though Kollam, and it is officially known as Kollavarsham. Kollam served as an ancient seaport on the coast of malabar back in the ancient ages. Kollam is considered as the traditional trading region in kerala, it acted as the main trading region during the time of the Phoenicians and the Romans. Kollam got it's name 'Tarsish' during the time when there were import of spices, pearl, silk and diamond from Ceylon. These goods came to the ports of Kollam and these where exported to Egypt.

Many travelers like Cosmas Indicopleustes and Jesujabus had made mention about the Kollam on their writings. At the early ages Kollam also had trade relationships with china, and the place was given the name 'Mahali' by them. The first Europeans who came for trade in Kollam are the Portuguese, pepper was the important commodity of trade. Kollam is rich in pepper. Today Kollam is the world market for the export of spices, cashew and coir products.

The single revenue division at Kollam is located in Kollam town. Karunagappally Pathanpuram, Kottarakkara, Kunnathur and Kollam are the five taluks in the district. The district is divided into 13 development blocks, they are:

• Anchal
• Anchalummood
• Chadayamangalam
• Chavara
• Chettumala
• Ithikkara
• Karunagappally
• Kottarakkara
• Mukhathala
• Ochira
• Pathanampuram
• Sathamcotta
• Vetikkavala

Kollam gives much importance to education. There are both private and public run schools and colleges in Kollam, most of the schools in Kollam follow as English as their language, most of the public sector schools has both English and Malayalam as their language. Some of the main colleges in Kollam include:

• Thangal Kunju Musaliar College

• Fatima Matha National College

• St. Gregorious College Kottarakkara

• Baselios Mathews II College of Engineering

• Devaswom Board College Sasthamkotta

• Sree Narayana College for Women

• Sree Narayana College

• NSS college Kottiyam

• Govt. College chavara

• Travancore Engineering College(TEC)

• Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering (TKMCE)

• The V Institute of Wireless & Telegraphy

• TKM Institute of Technology and Management

• Younus College of Engineering & Technology(YCET)

• College of Engineering Perumon

• S.V.College Karunagappally

• College of Engineering Karunagappally,