BACKGROUND & HISTORY

Capital of the Republic Of India.

It was also 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, Qutb ud din Aibak built the Quwwat- ul-Islam mosque next to the Qutb Minar, still a landmark of Delhi. Around 1311, Allaudin Khilji's 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 commerical 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 entrepot 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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