Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Deccan Plateau formed from a massive volcanic eruption at the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago. This event created the Deccan Traps, which are vast layers of igneous rock stretching over 1.3 million square kilometers.
The Deccan Plateau is home to approximately 73 distinct Dravidian languages including Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and Malayalam. Marathi dominates the northwestern part while Deccani Urdu is spoken by the Muslim community and English is widely used in urban centers.
The Satavahanas ruled from Amaravati, the Chalukyas from Badami, and the Rashtrakutas from Manyakheta during this period. The Pallavas, Cholas, and Pandyas dominated the southern fringes while the Vijayanagara Empire and Bahmani Kingdom controlled the lower and upper portions respectively in the late Middle Ages.
The Western Ghats block rain-bearing winds from the Arabian Sea creating a rain shadow region with very little rainfall on the plateau. This orographic precipitation leaves the interior in a state of semi-arid drought with temperatures often rising above 40 degrees Celsius during the dry summer months of April and May.
The first main line in the South running from Royapuram in Madras to Arcot became operational on the 1st of July 1856. The Madras Railway was established in 1845 and the Great Indian Peninsular Railway in 1849 before this main line opened.
The reorganisation of Indian states on linguistic lines in the 1950s created the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. Telangana was carved out of Andhra Pradesh in 2014 to complete the current administrative structure.