Place:Meerut, Meerut, Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, India

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Meerut (IAST: Meraṭha) is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is an ancient city, with settlements dating back to the Indus Valley civilisation having been found in and around the area. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital Lucknow.^[1]

As of 2011, Meerut is the 33rd most populous urban agglomeration and the 26th most populous city in India. It ranked 292nd in 2006 and is projected to rank 242nd in 2020 in the list of largest cities and urban areas in the world. The municipal area (as of 2016) is .^[2][3] The city is one of the largest producers of sports goods, and the largest producer of musical instruments in India. The city is also an education hub in western Uttar Pradesh, and is also known as the "Sports City Of India". The city is famous for being the starting point of the 1857 rebellion against Company rule in India.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Ancient era

In Ramayana, It was known as 'Maydant Ka Kheda', the capital of May danav. It was hometown of Mandodari, wife of Ravana.

After the archaeological excavations at Vidura-ka-tila, a collection of several mounds named after Vidura, in 1950–52, a site north-east of Meerut, it was concluded to be remains of the ancient city of Hastinapur, the capital of Kauravas and Pandavas of Mahabharata, which was washed away by Ganges floods.^[4][5]

Meerut also contained a Harappan settlement known as Alamgirpur. It was also the easternmost settlement of the Indus Valley civilisation. Meerut had been a centre of Buddhism in the period of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r. 273 BC to 232 BC.), and remains of Buddhist structures were found near the Jama Masjid in the present day city.^[6] The Ashoka Pillar, at Delhi ridge, next to the ‘Bara Hindu Rao Hospital’, near Delhi University, was carried to Delhi from Meerut, by Firuz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351–1388); it was later damaged in a 1713 explosion, and restored in 1867.

Muslim conquests

In the eleventh century AD, the region to the south-west of the city was ruled by Har Dat, the Dor Raja of Bulandshahr who built a fort, which was long known for its strength and finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari. He was later defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018, surrendering along with his forces to Mahmud. The prominent local landmark known as the Jama Masjid, dates from this period and is said to have been built by Mahmud's vizir. Shortly after its capture the city was regained by the local Hindu Raja and part of his fortifications, built for the city's defence, survived until recent times. Muhammad of Ghor's mamluk general Qutb-ud-din Aybak who went on to establish the Delhi Sultanate in 1206, attacked and captured Meerut in 1193.

Timur in 1399 attacked and sacked Meerut. It was held by Ilyas Afghan and his son Maula Muhammad Thaneswari who was assisted by non-Muslims led by Safi. Timur tried to negotiate a surrender, to which the inhabitants of the fort replied by stating that Tarmashirin had tried to capture it in the past but failed. Incensed, he set forth with 10,000 cavalry. The forces scaled the walls and Safi was killed in the battle. The inhabitants were killed and their wives and children enslaved. The fortifications and houses were razed to the ground with prisoners ordered to be flayed alive.

The city then came under the rule of the Mughal Empire and saw a period of relative tranquility.^[7] During the rule of Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great (r. 1556–1605), there was a mint for copper coins here. Also occurring during the reign of Akbar, Meerut was listed in the Ain-i-Akbari as a pargana under Delhi sarkar, producing a revenue of 4,391,996 dams for the imperial treasury and supplying a force of 300 infantry and 100 cavalry. Major part of the Meerut was in the control of Sayyid Jagirdars of Abdullapur Meerut from 16th to late 18th century, Sayyed Mir Abdulla Naqvi Al Bukhari built Kot Fort in Abdullapur in 16th century, this place was his main residence. The descendants of Syed Sadarudin Shah Kabir Naqvi Al Kannauji Bukhari still present in this town, Sadarudin was a chief advisor of Sikandar Lodi and the father of great saint Shah Jewna. Famous Pakistani writer Syed Qudrat Naqvi Al Bukhari was born in Meerut.

Nawab Mansab Ali Khan was one of the most influential personality of this city, he built famous Karbala and Masjid known as Mansabiya in 1882.

The city saw Sikh and Maratha invasions in the 18th century, with interruptions by Jats and Rohillas. Walter Reinhardt, an English soldier, established himself at Sardhana and some parts of the district came under his rule. Upon his death, they came into the hands of Begum Samru. During this time, the southern part of the district had remained under Mughal rule.

Colonial era

In 1803, with the fall of Delhi, Daulat Rao Scindia of the Marathas ceded the territory to the British East India Company (EIC). The cantonment of Meerut was set up in 1806 with particular key interests including its closeness to Delhi and its area inside the rich Ganges – Yamuna doab. With time Meerut advanced into one of the biggest and most vital military stations of India. The city was made headquarters of the eponymous district in 1818.

Meerut is famously associated with the 1857 rebellion against Company rule in India. The famous slogan "Dilli Chalo" ("Let's march to Delhi!") was first spoken in the city, and the Meerut cantonment was the place where the rebellion started.

The revolt, which catapulted Meerut into international prominence, started in March 1857 at Barrackpore, Bengal. Indian sepoy Mangal Pandey shot at two of his commanding officers, missed, made an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide and was executed. By April, the fire of Pandey's Uprising scorched north India and reached Meerut, the second-largest East India Company garrison. Here, Europeans and native sepoys were evenly balanced, with a little more than 2,000 on each side. The European cantonment was separated from the Indian one. Close by were Sadar Bazar and Lal Kurti Bazar, the latter named after the red uniforms worn by the Presidency armies. On 24 April 1857, Meerut's commander, Colonel Carmichael Smyth, paraded 90 Indian sepoys of the Bengal Cavalry, most of whom had come from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He ordered them to fire the new Enfield cartridges- 85 refused. The cartridges were covered with paper that had to be torn off; Muslim soldiers believed the paper was greased with pig fat and Hindus, with cow fat.

All 85 soldiers were stripped of their uniforms, court-martialed; they were all sentenced to a decade in prison. The prisoners, who were upper-class members of a cavalry regiment, were shocked at the harsh sentences handed down to them. On 10 May 1857, Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar opened the gates of the prison. These soldiers, along with the other imprisoned soldiers, escaped prison and declared themselves free, mutinied, attacked and killed several Company officials in the city in order to bring it under their control. This marked the beginning of a widespread revolt across northern India as these soldiers marched towards Delhi. 10 May is still celebrated as a local holiday in Meerut.

Meerut was also the venue of the Meerut Conspiracy Case in March 1929, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested by the colonial authorities for organising a railway strike action. The case quickly became the subject of attention in England, inspiring a 1932 play titled Meerut Prisoners by left-wing Manchester street theatre group the Red Megaphones, which highlighted the detrimental effects of capitalism and industrialisation. Electricity was first introduced to Meerut in 1931.^[8] In the 1940s, during the height of the Indian independence movement, cinema-goers in Meerut had an unofficial policy of refusing to stand up when God Save the Queen played before the film was shown. The last session of the Indian National Congress (INC) prior to the independence of India in 1947 was held at Victoria Park in Meerut on 26 November 1946. It was in this session that the Constitution-making committee was constituted.

Post-independence era

The city and district also suffered from communal (Hindu-Sikh) riots in 1984 and (Hindu-Muslim) riots in 1982 and in 1987, during which the Hashimpura massacre took place, in May 1987, when personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) shot dead 42 Muslims, the trial of the case is still pending. In 2006, a fire at a consumer electronics "Brand India" fair in Victoria Park Stadium killed at least 100 people, with authorities already confirming 45 fatalities, although a specific figure on a toll was difficult to put and was predicted to be much higher.

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