WEAVER'S WORLD / RAJKOT / HISTORY

WEAVER'S WORLD / RAJKOT / HISTORY

Rajkot is the fourth largest city in Gujarat. A fast growing city with a current population of more than 1.2 million, it is also considered one of the clean cities of India with wide roads, well spread layouts, fairly good infrastructure and despite being a historical city with remnants from the past, the modern quarter also suggests the pace of development to make it an ultra modern city. Rajkot is located on the banks of rivers Aji and Nyari, and is the administrative headquarters of Rajkot district. It is very well connected to all parts of India by road, rail and air. Flights operate from Rajkot Airport through Jet Airways and Air Deccan. The city is located within the Rajkot district in Gujarat. Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district of Rajkot. The district is surrounded by Bhavnagar and Surendranagar in the east, Junagadh and Amreli in the south, Kutch in the north and Jamnagar in the west.

The history of Rajkot goes back to the 17th century. Established by the then ruler of Sardhar in 1608 A.D., it became a Princely state in 1805. The British is also said to have developed Rajkot a great deal, especially in Sadar, the old city area. This city was established by Vibhoji, one of the sons of the famous personality Ajoji.

During the Freedom struggle too, Rajkot saw a lot of political activity on account of Shri Mahatma Gandhi, one of India’s greatest sons, whose home was Rajkot. Capital of the then princely state of Saurashtra, it later got merged into Bombay state in 1956 and then finally after the partition of states into Gujarat and Maharashtra in 1960, Rajkot became part of Gujarat. It had also been affected badly in the devastating earthquake that rocked Bhuj on 26th January 2001.