I learned this today. New Delhi became the capital of India in 1911 because the previous capital Kolkata had become too politically unstable, and it was too far from the center of India to be an effective capital.
India has an extremely long history and people first lived there 55,000 years ago. Over the millennia, it evolved into a group of tribes that were loosely connected through trade. By the 10th century AD, the Muslim Central Asian nomadic clans managed to take over large tracks of India for the first time. By 1206 they had unified a large portion of India. They were called the Delhi Sultanate and they used Delhi as the capital city of a mostly unified India. Delhi was chosen because it is at the gateway of the Ganges-Yamuna River, which is the route most invaders from Afghanistan and Punjab used.
They were able to defend India against the Mongols, who were seeking to expand their empire, and they didn’t impose their religion on the people that they ruled over. This created a safe environment, both religiously and physically, which encouraged many educated people to flee the Mongols and live in India. This is one of the reasons why India was a world leader in science, mathematics, and astrology at the time.
The Delhi Sultanate fell in 1526 and was replaced by the Mughal Empire. The Mughal Empire brought in a more administrative government and centralized rule in Delhi. They focused on agriculture and started a market economy. They ruled peacefully and their empire lasted until 1857. The unified government and peace allowed India to grow economically and become a large trading country.
The British East India Company arrived in India in 1608 and began to ship spices back to England. They quickly realized how lucrative trade with India would be and started to expand. The East India Company controlled the seas and had a far more advanced military than that which existed in the Mughal Empire at the time, so they met little resistance. They were also able to enrich a lot of the elite classes, so they were often welcomed.
During the 18th century, the East India Company fought with the Mughal Empire and gradually took over larger and larger sections of India. They based their operations in the state of Bengal and set up their capital in Calcutta (now Kolkata). Calcutta was protected by the Hooghly River to the west, a creek to the north, and salt lakes to the east. The East India Company were allowed to settle in Bengal for a payment of 3,000 rupees a year to the Mughal Emperor.
By the 1820s, the East India Company had taken over most of India and they were no longer exporting manufactured goods to England. Instead, they exported raw materials to feed the Industrial Revolution.
In 1857, there was a rebellion in India against the East India Company and British control. It lasted a year, and 800,000 Indians were killed. The British government was worried that they would lose such a source of wealth as India, so they nationalized the East India Company and sent in British troops to quash the rebellion. From this point on, India was effectively a colony of Britain.
The capital of the British colony was still Calcutta, but the British government began to consider moving it. Calcutta was far from the center of India and administrating the country was difficult from there. Also, Calcutta was, and still is, a very nationalist city and there were several assassinations of British officials.
Old Delhi had been the capitals of the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Empire. It had been a good location for a capital and the British reasoned that it still would be. Delhi was proposed in 1900 and accepted, but the government officials in India didn’t think it would be suitable as a center of government without some work. On 12 December 1911, George V, King of Britain, laid the foundation stone and construction work began.
Construction had to be stopped during World War 1 and the great depression and wasn’t finished until 1931. It was inaugurated as the new capital on February 10th, 1931.
When India gained independence from Britain in 1947, New Delhi was the capital city of India and continued to be so. There was no consideration of moving it.
Today, New Delhi is one of the fastest growing cities in the world. It has a population of 30 million people today and that is predicted to have grown to 36 million by 2035. The city was chosen 111 years ago, and it became the capital 93 years ago. As it approaches its 100th birthday, it has a lot of trouble with slums, traffic, heavy air pollution, soil pollution, and water pollution. It will be interesting to see how the city heads into its second century.
So, New Delhi became the capital city of India in 1931, but it was the capital for hundreds of years before. When India was a British colony, the capital was in Calcutta, but it was moved because Calcutta was too far away to govern and a very nationalistic area. And this is what I learned today.
Photo by Hakan Nural: https://www.pexels.com/photo/drone-shot-of-buildings-in-a-city-5380870/
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Delhi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Rebellion_of_1857
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delhi_Sultanate
https://www.mapsofindia.com/on-this-day/13-february-1931-new-delhi-became-the-capital-of-india