Ahmedabad (Gujarat)

Ahmedabad About this sound pronunciation is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad. It is the seventh largest city and seventh largest metropolitan area of India, with a city population of approximately 4.0 million and metropolitan population of 5.4 million. In 2010, Forbes magazine rated Ahmedabad as the fastest-growing city in India, and third in the world after two Chinese cities- Chengdu and Chongqing. Ahmedabad is located on the banks of the River Sabarmati, 32 km from the state capital Gandhinagar. The city is the administrative centre of Ahmedabad district and was the capital of Gujarat from 1960 to 1970; the capital was shifted to Gandhinagar thereafter. In colloquial Gujarati, the city is commonly called Amdavad.

Ahmedabad was founded on February 26, 1411 by Sultan Ahmed Shah to serve as the capital of the Gujarat Sultanate, and was named after him. Under British rule, a military cantonment was established and the city infrastructure was modernized and expanded. Though incorporated into the Bombay Presidency during British rule, Ahmedabad remained the most important city in the Gujarat region. The city established itself as the home of a booming textile industry, which earned it the nickname the "Manchester of the East." The city was at the forefront of the Indian independence movement in the first half of the 20th century. It was the centre of many campaigns of civil disobedience to promote workers' rights, civil rights, and political independence.