History
[edit]
Main articles: History of Delhi and Old Delhi
Historical affiliations
Kuru Kingdom c. 1200 BCE – c. 345 BCE
Nanda Empire c. 345 BCE – c. 322 BCE
Mauryan Empire c. 322 BCE – 185 BCE
Shunga Empire 185 BCE – 73 BCE
Sakas 1st century CE
Kushan Empire 30 CE – 375 CE
Gupta Empire c. 240 CE – c. 550 CE
Pushyabhuti dynasty c. 500 – c. 647 CE
Varman dynasty c. 725 – c. 770 CE
Pratihara dynasty c. 730 – 1036 CE
Chahamanas of Shakambhari c. 1036 – 1192 CE
Ghurid dynasty 1192 – 1206 CE
Delhi Sultanate 1206 – 1398 CE
Timurid Empire 1398 CE
Delhi Sultanate 1398 – 1526 CE
Mughal Empire 1526 – 1540 CE
Sur Empire 1540 – 1555 CE
Mughal Empire 1555 – 1737 CE
Maratha Empire influence 1737 CE
Afsharids 1738 – 1739 CE
Maratha Empire 1737 – 1803 CE
Durrani Empire 1757 CE
British East India Company 1803 – 1858 CE
 India British India 1858 CE – 1947 CE
India 1947 CE – Present
Ancient and early medieval periods[edit]
The walls of the 16th-century Purana Qila built on a mound matching ancient literary descriptions Traditionally seven cities have been associated with the region of Delhi. The earliest, Indraprastha, is part of a literary description in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata (composed c. 400 BCE to 300 CE but describing an earlier time) which situates a city on a knoll on the banks of the river Yamuna. According to art historian Catherine B. Asher, the topographical description of the Mahabharata matches the area of Purana Qila, a 14th-century CE fort of the Delhi sultanate, but the analogy does not go much further. Whereas the Mahabharata speaks of a beautifully decorated city with surrounding fortifications, the excavations have yielded "uneven findings of painted grey pottery characteristic of the eleventh century BCE; no signs of a built environment, much less fortifications, have been revealed."
The earliest architectural relics date back to the Maurya period (c. 300 BCE); in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (273–235 BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of several major cities can be found in Delhi. The first of these was in the southern part of present-day Delhi. Tomara Rajput King Anang Pal built the Lal Kot and several temples in 1052 CE. The Chauhan Rajputs under Vigraharaja IV conquered Lal Kot in the mid-12th century and renamed it Qila Rai Pithora.
Late medieval period[edit]
See also: Delhi Sultanate
The Qutub Minar, Delhi
Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated in 1192 by Muhammad Ghori in the second battle of Tarain. Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India after Ghori returned to his capital, Ghor. When Ghori died without an heir in 1206 CE, Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions and laid the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mamluk dynasty. He began construction of the Qutb Minar and Quwwat-al-Islam (Might of Islam) mosque, the earliest extant mosque in India. It was his successor, Iltutmish (1211–1236), who consolidated the conquest of northern India. At 72.5 m (238 ft), the Qutb Minar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Delhi, was completed during the reign of Sultan Illtutmish in the 13th century. Although its style has some similarities with the Jarkurgan minaret, it is more closely related to the Ghaznavid and Ghurid minarets of Central Asia Razia, daughter of Iltutmish, became the Sultana of Delhi upon the former's death.
For the next three hundred years, Delhi was ruled by a succession of Turkic, Indian and an Afghan, Lodi dynasty. They built several forts and townships that are part of the seven cities of Delhi. Delhi was a major centre of Sufism during this period. The Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi) was overthrown in 1290 by Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji (1290–1320). Under the second Khalji ruler, Ala-ud-din Khalji, the Delhi sultanate extended its control south of the Narmada River in the Deccan. The Delhi sultanate reached its greatest extent during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325–1351). In an attempt to bring the whole of the Deccan under control, he moved his capital to Daulatabad, Maharashtra in central India. However, by moving away from Delhi he lost control of the north and was forced to return to Delhi to restore order. The southern provinces then broke away. In the years following the reign of Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), the Delhi Sultanate rapidly began to lose its hold over its northern provinces. Delhi was captured and sacked by Timur in 1398, who massacred 100,000 captive civilians. Delhi's decline continued under the Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), until the sultanate was reduced to Delhi and its hinterland. Under the Afghan Lodi dynasty (1451–1526), the sultanate recovered control of Punjab and the Gangetic plain to once again achieve domination over Northern India. However, the recovery was short-lived and the sultanate was destroyed in 1526 by Babur, founder of the Mughal dynasty.[citation needed]
Early modern period[edit]
See also: Mughal Empire
Red Fort, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the main residence of the Mughal emperors for nearly 200 years.
In 1526, Babur, a descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur from the Fergana Valley in modern-day Uzbekistan, invaded India and defeated the last Lodhi sultan in the First Battle of Panipat and founded the Mughal Empire that ruled from Delhi and Agra. The Mughal dynasty ruled Delhi for more than three centuries, with a sixteen-year hiatus during the reigns of Sher Shah Suri and Hemu from 1540 to 1556. Shah Jahan built the seventh city of Delhi that bears his name Shahjahanabad, which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1638 and is today known as the Old City or Old Delhi.
After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire's influence declined rapidly as the Hindu Maratha Empire from Deccan Plateau rose to prominence. In 1737, Maratha forces led by Baji Rao I sacked Delhi following their victory against the Mughals in the First Battle of Delhi. In 1739, the Mughal Empire lost the huge Battle of Karnal in less than three hours against the numerically outnumbered but militarily superior Persian army led by Nader Shah of Persia. After his invasion, he completely sacked and looted Delhi, carrying away immense wealth including the Peacock Throne, the Daria-i-Noor, and Koh-i-Noor. The Mughals, severely further weakened, could never overcome this crushing defeat and humiliation which also left the way open for more invaders to come, including eventually the British. Nader eventually agreed to leave the city and India after forcing the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah I to beg him for mercy and granting him the keys of the city and the royal treasury. A treaty signed in 1752 made Marathas the protectors of the Mughal throne in Delhi. The city was sacked again in 1757 by the forces of Ahmad Shah Durrani, although it was not annexed by the Afghan Empire and being its vassal state under the Mughal emperor. Then the Marathas battled and won control of Delhi from the Afghans.
Colonial period[edit]
See also: British Raj
British India stamps, inauguration, New Delhi, February 1931
In 1803, during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, the forces of British East India Company defeated the Maratha forces in the Battle of Delhi. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, Delhi fell to the forces of East India Company after a bloody fight known as the Siege of Delhi. The city came under the direct control of the British Government in 1858. It was made a district province of the Punjab. In 1911, it was announced that the capital of the British Indian Empire was to be transferred from Calcutta to Delhi. This formally transferred on 12 December 1911.
The name "New Delhi" was given in 1927, and the new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931. New Delhi was officially declared as the capital of the Union of India after the country gained independence on 15 August 1947.
Partition and post-independence[edit]
Khan Market in New Delhi, now a high-end shopping district, was established in 1951 to help refugees of the Partition of India, especially those from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). It honours Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, chief minister of NWFP during the Partition.
During the partition of India, around five hundred thousand Hindu and Sikh refugees, mainly from West Punjab migrated to Delhi, whereas around three hundred thousand Muslim residents of the city migrated to Pakistan. Delhi has expanded much since 1947; the small part of it that was constructed during the British period has come to be informally known as Lutyens' Delhi.
The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 created the Union Territory of Delhi from its predecessor, the Chief Commissioner's Province of Delhi. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Act gave Delhi its legislative assembly along Civil lines, though with limited powers.
Delhi was the primary site in the nationwide anti-Sikh pogroms of 1984, which resulted in the death of around 2,800 people in the city according to government figures, though independent estimates of the number of people killed tend to be higher. The riots were set off by the assassination of Indira Gandhi—the Prime Minister of India at the time—by her Sikh bodyguards.
In 2001, the Parliament of India building in New Delhi was attacked by armed militants, killing six security personnel. India suspected Pakistan-based Jihadist militant groups were behind the attack, which caused a major diplomatic crisis between the two countries. There were further terrorist attacks in Delhi in 2005 and 2008, resulting in a total of 92 deaths. In 2020, Delhi witnessed worst communal violence in decades. The riots, caused mainly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims, 53 people were killed, two-thirds were Muslims, and the rest Hindus.
