Gurdaspur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gurdaspur is a city in the state of Punjab, situated in the northwest part of India. It is located in the center of and is the administrative head of Gurdaspur District. It was the location of a fort (later turned into a Brahman monastery) which was famous for the siege it sustained in 1712 from the Mughals.
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[edit] History
It is historically important in connection with the rise of the Sikh Confederacy. The whole of the Punjab was then distributed among the Sikh chiefs who triumphed over the Imperial governors. In the course of a few years, however, the maharaja Ranjit Singh acquired all the territory which those chiefs had held. Pathankot and the neighboring villages in the plain, together with the whole hill portion of the district, formed part of the area ceded by the Sikhs to the British after the First Anglo-Sikh War in 1845. In 1862, after receiving one or two additions, the district was brought into its present shape. In 1901 the population was 940,334, showing a slight decrease, compared with an increase of 15% in the previous decade.
[edit] Geography
The district comprises an area of 1889 m². It is bounded on the north by Jammu and Kashmir. Chamba, on the E. by Kangra district and the Beas River, on the S.\V. by Amritsar district, and on the \V. by Sialkot, and occupies the submontane portion of the Ban Doab, or tract between the Beas and the Ravi River. The district includes the mountain sanatorium of Dalhousie, 7687 ft. above sea-level. This station, which has a large fluctuating population during the warmer months, crowns the most westerly shoulder of a magnificent snowy range, the Dhaoladhar, between which and the plain two minor ranges intervene. Below the hills stretches a picturesque and undulating plateau covered with abundant timber, made green by a copious rainfall, and watered by the streams of the Ban Doab, which, diverted by dams and embankments, now empty their waters into the Beas directly, in order that their channels may not interfere with the Ban Doab canal. The district contains several large jlzils or swampy lakes, and is famous for its snipe-shooting. Pathankot is another town from which one has to pass to enter Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
[edit] Economy
A branch of the North Western Railway runs through the district. The largest town and chief commercial centre is Batala. There are important woollen mills at Dhariwal, and besides their products the district exports cotton, sugar, grain and oil-seeds.
[edit] External links
- Encylopedia of Gurdaspur
- Gurdaspur Online
- Official Gurdaspur District Website
- Map of Gurdaspur District
[edit] References
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
