1902 Encyclopedia > Hyderabad (City), Sind, India

Hyderabad (City), Sind, India




HYDERABAD, the chief town of the above district [Hyderabad District, Sind, India], in 25° 23' 5" N. lat. and 68° 24' 51" E. long., had in 1872 a population of 35,272, of whom 13,065 were Mahometans, 16,889 Hindus, 367 Christians, and 4951 "others." The municipal area is about 15 square miles. Upon the site of the present fort is supposed to have stood the ancient town of Neraukot, which in the 8th century submitted to Muhammad Kasim Sakifi. Its situation near the apex of the delta of the Indus had commended itself to in-vaders and conquerors of still earlier date. It is identified with Patala, a town which has been connected with a prehistoric Scythian migration into India (c. 625 B.C. 1). Alexander the Great founded or refounded a city called Patala in or near the same place, 325 B.C., and left in it a military settlement. The best archaeological authorities regard the modern Hyderabad as the representative of this Patala of the Greeks. In 1768 the present city was founded by Ghulam Shah Kalhora; and it remained the chief town of the province until 1843, when, after the battle of Meeanee, it was surrendered to the British, and the capital transferred to Kurrachee (Karfichi). The city is built on the most northerly hills of the Ganga range, a site of great natural strength. In the fort, which covers an area of 36 acres, are the arsenal of the province, trans-ferred hither from Kurrachee in 1861, and the residences of the ex-mirs of Sind. Hyderabad is the centre of all the provincial communications—road, telegraphic, postal. From the earliest times its manufactures—ornamented silks, silver and gold work, and lacquered ware—have been the chief of the province, and in recent times have gained prizes at the industrial exhibitions of Europe. The chief public institutions and buildings are the jail, Govern-ment schools, post-office, municipal markets, courthouses, civil and police hospital, charitable dispensary, library, travellers' bungalow, and lunatic asylum. The barracks— occupied by artillery and infantry, European and native—. are built in twelve blocks, with hospitals, bazaar, &c, to the north-west of the city. The only noteworthy antiquities are the tombs of the Kabhora and Talpur mirs.









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