Don't let your first impressions of Delhi stick like a sacred cow in a traffic jam: get behind the madcap façade and discover the inner peace of a city rich with culture, architecture and human diversity, deep with history and totally addictive to epicureans. Both Old and New Delhi exert a beguiling charm on visitors. Lose yourself unwinding the secrets of the city's Mughal past in the labyrinthine streets of Old Delhi before emerging into the wide open spaces of imperial New Delhi, with its ordered governmental vistas and generous leafy avenues.
Pre-20th-Century History
Popular Hindu mythology claims that Delhi was the site of the fabled city of Indraprastha, which featured in the Mahabharata over 3000 years ago, but historical evidence suggests that the area has been settled for around 2500 years. Since the 12th century, Delhi has seen the rise and fall of seven major powers. The Chauhans took control in the 12th century and made Delhi the most important Hindu centre in northern India. When Qutab-ud-din Aibak occupied the city in 1193, he ushered in six and a half centuries of Muslim rule. The Delhi Sultanate lasted from 1206 to 1526, despite its inconsistent rule, and was followed by the mighty Mughals from 1526 to 1857. The basis of what is today Old Delhi, including the Red Fort and the Jama Masjid, was built during the reign of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (1628-58). In 1803, the British captured Delhi and installed a British administrator. Delhi was not the capital of India at the time, but it was an important commercial centre and had a population of 150,000 by the start of the 20th century.
Modern History
When the British decided to make Delhi the capital in 1911, they built New Delhi in a grandiose imperial style, as if the sun would never set on the British Raj. Only 16 years after the city was inaugurated as the nation's capital, Delhi was torched during the trauma of Partition. In a matter of weeks it was transformed from a Muslim-dominated city of less than a million inhabitants to a largely Hindu city of almost two million.
Recent History
Today, very few city residents can lay claim to being 'real' Delhiites, and most of the population of New Delhi comprises Hindu-Punjabi families, many originally from Lahore (located in present-day Pakistan). Since Independence, Delhi has prospered as the capital of India. In the past decade its population has increased by 50%, largely due to rapid economic expansion and increased job opportunities. The downside of this boom is increased overcrowding, traffic congestion, child labour, housing shortages, power cuts and pollution.
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