North India · Uttar Pradesh
Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh
Sources: wikimedia
About Aligarh
- Inland
Where it is
Aligarh is a city in western Uttar Pradesh, in the middle of the Doab between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, about 130 km south-east of New Delhi.
History
Known in medieval times as Kol or Koil, the town took the name Aligarh from its fort in the mid-18th century. The British captured the fort from the Marathas in the Battle of Aligarh in 1803, and in 1875 the reformer Sir Syed Ahmad Khan founded the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College here, which became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920.
People
Hindi and Urdu are the main languages, with Braj Bhasha spoken in the villages around. The lock and brass industries employ many craftsmen in small workshops, and the university gives the city a long tradition of Urdu poetry and scholarship.
Known for
- Aligarh Muslim University
- Locks exported around the world
- Brass hardware and sculpture
- Aligarh Fort
- The annual Numaish exhibition fair
Did you know?
Aligarh is nicknamed the City of Locks: lock-making took root here in the late 19th century, and its padlocks are now sold across India and abroad.
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