Delhi Sultanate Era (14th–16th century) Moradabad's known history begins from the 14th century, when it was part of the territory to the east of Ramganga river known as Katehr. The region consisted all of Moradabad, Rampur, and while most of it was jungle at the time, it was a stronghold of the Katehria Rajputs, who used to live in tribes. Little is known about who the Katehrias were and how they came to this region. British administration believed that: • Either they were part of the various Rajput tribes that first colonized the area in 11th century, but were probably known by some other name because no mention of the Katehrias is found in the administrative or cultural texts from that period • Or they migrated from the western parts of Ganga into the jungles of Katehr because of the excesses and hostilities of Muslim rulers such as
Muhammad Ghori,
Qutb ud-Din Aibak, and
Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah. It produced a revenue of 1,340,812
dams for the imperial treasury and it provided a force of 500 infantry and 100 cavalry to the Mughal army, while the cultivated area was 101,619 bighas. Shah Jahan, however, was not very pleased with Rustam Khan's actions. He summoned Rustam to his darbar and asked him to explain why he exceeded his instructions, and also the name that he had given to the new town. Things complicated once again, however, on the reappearance of Ali Mohammed's sons Sadullah and Allah Yar Khan, who were kept hostages by Ahmed Shah Abdali. An arrangement was devised under which various divisions of the Rohilkhand state were jointly assigned to two brothers, with Moradabad going to
Nawab Saadullah Khan and Allah Yar Khan. Things worsened further when Company government introduced the First Settlement system under which land was to be leased to highest bidders for cultivation. from the 29th Native Infantry. In addition to that, due to some error the man killed a night before on the banks of Gangan along with 8 captured rebels also had also been brought to the Moradabad jail instead of being taken to Meerut, as intended by Mr. Wilson. sent his uncle Abdul Ali Khan to take possession of Moradabad. He himself also arrived two days later, but looking at the environment and mood among the rebels he wasn't able to oust Majju Ali Khan from his position. Ultimately, he appointed Majju as the nazim of city, with some other rebels being given minor posts in the government and went back to Rampur. But when his troops returned to Rampur two days later (on 8 June) to protect their state against the mutineers of Bareilly (i.e.
Bareilly Brigade), Majju Khan was once again able to assert himself. The man then slapped the farmer, leading to a district-wide riot and violence. Order could be restored only after the intervention of Katghar's (an area that probably derives its name from
Katehar) Dhaukal Singh, but 40 of Nawab-Rampur's men had died by then. Majju Khan was also captured and shot dead, Those who tried to take down the body from the tree were also shot dead and hanged from the same tree. Some prominent ones among them included: • Maulvi Kifayat Ali Kafi, a poet and
alim who rose to the rank of
sadr in the government of Nawab Majju Ali Khan. He used to preach against the Britishers and issued a fatwa of jihad against them. He was executed by hanging. • Nawab Shabbar Ali Khan, also a poet, and his associate Gulab, who were executed on the charges of attempting to murder an English officer. Shabbar Khan's property was also confiscated along with his
zamindari. • Munshi Imaamuddin from Sambhal, who had been employed in
Akbar Shah II's court and was a supporter of Prince Feroz Shah, was thrown alive into a lime furnace with his property being confiscated. Many of the Congress stalwarts, including Mahatma Gandhi,
Dr. Rajendra Prasad,
Sarojini Naidu,
Jawaharlal Nehru,
Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, and
Annie Besant had come to Moradabad to attend it between 9 and 11 October 1920. A huge crowd had gathered to listen to Mahatma Gandhi, and it's said that the event played a pivotal role in shaping the Civil Disobedience movement. Later when the Civil Disobedience movement kicked off in 1932 and Britishers tried to repress it through brutal means, people of Moradabad organized large protests in the city which marked as a sign of public anger against unlawful detention of freedom fighters.
Quit India movement and violence at Pan Dariba When the Quit India movement was announced by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942, it was marked by violence in several parts of the country, including Moradabad. The Britishers started arresting freedom fighters across the country to minimize the impact of the movement, and they arrested many of them on the eve of 9th, including Congress leader Daudayaal Khanna. When the news of Khanna's arrest spread in the city, the next day (on 10 August), people started gathering at Pan Dariba to take out a procession against the arrest of freedom fighters. The news of this gathering reached police officers, and they immediately reached Pan Dariba and started aerial firing. This enraged the protesters, who resorted to stone pelting. In turn, police started firing indiscriminately on the protesters, killing many of them and injuring more than 200. The martyrs also included an 11-year-old Jagdish Prasad Sharma, who was trying to hoist a flag on an electric pole.
Post-Independence Era (1947–present) India got its independence on 15 August 1947, and since Moradabad was not a part of any princely states at that time, it immediately became part of the Independent India. Since then, the city and the district remained largely peaceful, except for the
riots in 1980, which are considered the first major riots of Independent India. The structure of the district remained largely the same even after independence, with Amroha, Sambhal, Thakurdwara, Bilari, and Kanth tehsils coming under its jurisdiction. On 15 April 1997
Amroha was carved out of Moradabad into a separate district, while on 28 September 2011,
Sambhal was also carved out into another separate district. ==Administrative divisions==