Delhi History - An Ancient and Rich History

Delhi may be a metropolitan city on the rise but its history goes far back in time. From the early years of man through the coming of the Turks to the British Raj and finally, the dawn of independent India, this city has seen and withstood it all. It can be said that those eons of ravages and remake have given this place a rich, multilayered and many-faceted cultural heritage.

Archaeological evidence reveals that the Delhi history is a very old one and may possibly date back to the Stone Age. Stone tools discovered in the northern ridge area, the Aravalli tracts in Anangpur and the Jawaharlal University Campus are proofs of this claim. It is also believed to be the place where Indraprastha, the capital of the Pandavas of the Mahabharata epic, was located. Indraprastha has also been an important part of the Maurya Empire during the 3rd century BC. Ashokan edicts excavated in East of Kailash and Purana Quila are evidence that support this claim.

Delhi has also been the capital of the centuries-long rule of Turkic and Central Asian conquerors. It started with Qutub-ud-din Aibek’s establishment of the Slave Dynasty in 1206. The reign continued with the Khilji dynasty, the Tughlaq dynasty, the Sayyid dynasty and the Lodhi dynasty. Then came the Mughals, the last of the Central Asian rulers. It was Babur who defeated the last Lodhi Sultan in the 1526 in the famous First Battle of Panipat. Babur’s victory established the beginning of the Mughal dynasty which ruled for over three centuries. Delhi’s history is closely associated with thiis dynasty which produced the most famous medieval rulers of India- Akbar, Jehangir and Shah Jahan.

The last Mughal emperor was Aurangazeb. After his reign, the Mughals could not hold their own against the newcomers, the British, and Delhi was finally handed over to them in 1803. The British officially made Delhi the capital of India in 1911 and it has never looked back since then. Today, it is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and is becoming more and more modernized each day. But its ancient splendor and historical grandeur still remains.