This trips up advanced speakers, because the rule is real but rarely taught.

Countries: usually no article

India, France, Japan, Brazil, Kenya.

Except when the name contains a common noun

If the country name includes words like states, kingdom, republic, emirates, it takes the:

  • the United States
  • the United Kingdom
  • the Czech Republic
  • the United Arab Emirates
  • the Philippines, the Netherlands, the Maldives — plural names

Water takes the

  • the Ganges, the Nile, the Thames
  • the Pacific Ocean, the Arabian Sea
  • the Persian Gulf

But individual lakes do not: Lake Victoria, Lake Como.

Mountains: ranges yes, peaks no

  • the Himalayas, the Alps, the Western Ghats (ranges, plural)
  • Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga (single peaks)

Cities and states: no article

Mumbai, Kerala, Tokyo, California.

Buildings and institutions

  • the Taj Mahal, the Red Fort, the British Museum
  • But: Heathrow Airport, Victoria Station, Delhi University

Rough pattern: "the X of Y" structures take the, while "Name + building type" does not.

The underlying logic

Plurals and descriptive names take the. Simple singular proper names do not. It is not perfectly consistent — English never is — but it covers most cases you will meet.

"I'm going to the Kerala" is a common slip. States and cities take no article, however famous they are.