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Delhi
BACKGROUND
& HISTORY
Capital
of the Republic Of India.
It
was the capital of earlier sovereign states too. Strategically
Delhi was important because it controls the divide between the
two river systems of Punjab and Uttar pradesh. Hence the site
was inhabited since ancient times.
Indraprastha,
the city founded by the Pandavas in the times of epic Mahabharata
(1950 BC or 3200BC variously ) was located somewhere near the
present day old fort of Delhi. The significance of the city increased
after the 11th century, and ruins of "delhi" of various
times are well preserved in the area for instance, the Tomar Rajputs'
Lal Kot, the core of the first of the Delhi's seven cities. In
1206, Qut-ud-din ud din Aibak built the Quwwat- ul-Islam mosque
next to the Qutb Minar, still a landmark of Delhi. Around 1311,
Allaudin Khilji built his Delhi --Siri and a large reservoir of
water.
The
Purana Qila, the sixth city of Delhi began during Mughal Humayun's
times with some assistance from Sher Shah Suri. The surviving
walled city, the present day Red Fort, Jama Masjid and the oriental
bazaar called Chandni Chowk date from Shah Jahan's reign.
It
is said the commercial significance of Delhi for the vast agricultural
hinterland can be gauged by the survival of Chandni Chowk during
the ages. Even today, although it is basically a city of government
employees --bureaucrats--the commercial aspect is very marked.
The city serves as the entry point right from Punjab to middle
Uttar Pradesh.
The
Brit city, New Delhi was built in 1911. Planned by Lutyens and
Baker basically as an imperial showpiece. ("see? we are the
successors of the mughals"). The city is well planned with
wide tree lined avenues and lot of space. Made initially to cater
to a population of 70,000, the total urban population of Delhi
now exceeds 8 million. The city has exploded in all directions
beyond the carefully planned city.
The
urbanised agglomeration called " Delhi " extends to
neighbouring states, even though Delhi proper is a union territory.
So in reality places like Gurgaon, Faridabad, etc. which are technically
part of other states, in reality are very much Delhi. This has
peculiar consequences for instance in transport.
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