Bengaluru

 Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore its official name until 1 November 2014, is the capital and largest city of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. As per the 2011 census, the city had a population of 8.4 million, making it the third most populous city in India and the most populous in South India. The Bengaluru metropolitan area had a population of around 8.5 million, making it the fifth most populous urban agglomeration in the country. It is located near the center of the Deccan Plateau, at a height of 900 m 3,000 ft above sea level. The city is known as India's Garden City, due to its parks and greenery.

Archaeological artifacts indicate that the human settlement in the region happened as early as 4000 BCE. The first mention of the name Bengalooru is from an old Kannada stone inscription from 890 CE found at the Nageshwara Temple. From 350 CE, it was ruled by the Western Ganga dynasty, and in the early eleventh century, the city became part of the Chola empire. In the late Middle Ages, the region was part of the Hoysala Kingdom and then the Vijayanagara Empire. In 1537 CE, Kempe Gowda I, a feudal ruler under the Vijayanagara Empire, established a mud fort which is considered the foundation of the modern city of Bengaluru and its oldest areas, or petes, which still exist. After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Kempe Gowda declared independence, and the city was expanded by his successors. In 1638 CE, an Adil Shahi army defeated Kempe Gowda III, and the city became a jagir feudal estate of Shahaji Bhonsle. The Mughals later captured Bengaluru and sold it to Maharaja Chikka Devaraja Wodeyar of the Kingdom of Mysore. After the death of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II in 1759 CE, Hyder Ali seized control of the kingdom of Mysore and with it, the administration of Bengaluru, which passed subsequently to his son, Tipu Sultan.

The city was captured by the British East India Company during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, and became part of the Princely State of Mysore. The administrative control of the city was returned to Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, then Maharaja of Mysore, and the old city developed under the dominions of the Mysore kingdom. In 1809 CE, the British shifted their military garrison to the city and established the cantonment, outside the old city. In the late 19th century CE, the city was essentially composed of two distinct urban settlements, the old pete and the new cantonment. Following India's independence in 1947, Bengaluru became the capital of Mysore State, and remained the capital when the state was enlarged and unified in 1956 and subsequently renamed as Karnataka in 1973. The two urban settlements which had developed as independent entities, merged under a single urban administration in 1949.

Bengaluru is one of the fastest-growing metropolises in India. As of 2023, the metropolitan area had an estimated GDP of $359.9 billion, and is one of the most productive metro areas of India. The city is a major center for information technology IT, and is consistently ranked amongst the world's fastest growing technology hubs. It is widely regarded as the Silicon Valley of India, as the largest hub and exporter of IT services in the country. Manufacturing is a major contributor to the economy and the city is also home to several state-owned manufacturing companies. Bengaluru also hosts several institutes of national importance in higher education.

Etymology

The earliest known reference to the name Bengalūru was on a ninth-century hero stone or vīra gallu found in Begur. The Old Kannada inscription belonging to the Western Ganga dynasty mentions the place in a battle in 890 CE . However, Kempe Gowda I used the name of a village near Kodigehalli, to name the city as Bengaluru during its foundation in 1537 CE. Bangalore is an anglicised version of the city's Kannada name. The city was also referred to as Kalyānapura or Kalyānapuri Auspicious City and Dēvarāyapattana during the later Vijayanagara period in 16th century CE.

An apocryphal story states that the twelfth-century Hoysala king Veera Ballala II, while on a hunting expedition, lost his way in the forest. Tired and hungry, he came across a poor old woman who served him boiled beans. The grateful king named the place Benda-Kaal-uru literally, town of boiled beans, which eventually evolved into Bengalūru. Suryanath Kamath has hypothesised that the name was derived from benga, the Kannada term for Pterocarpus marsupium also known as the Indian Kino Tree, a species of dry and moist deciduous trees that grows abundantly in the region. Other theories include that the city was called as Venkaturu because of the Venkataramana temples built by Kempe Gowda, and Benacha kalluru because of the abundance of quartz stones benacha kal in Kannada in the region.

On 11 December 2005, the Government of Karnataka accepted a proposal by U. R. Ananthamurthy to officially rename the city from Bangalore to Bengaluru. On 27 September 2006, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike passed a resolution to implement the name change, and the government of Karnataka officially implemented the name change from 1 November 2014 after the Union government approved the request