Ancient and early medieval periods built on a mound matching ancient literary descriptions) which situates a city on a knoll on the banks of the river Yamuna. According to art historian Catherine B. Asher, the topographical description of the
Mahabharata matches the area of
Purana Qila, a 14th-century CE fort of the
Delhi sultanate, but the analogy does not go much further. Whereas the
Mahabharata speaks of a beautifully decorated city with surrounding fortifications, the excavations have yielded "uneven findings of
painted grey pottery characteristic of the eleventh century BCE; no signs of a built environment, much less fortifications, have been revealed." The earliest architectural relics date back to the
Maurya period (c. 300 BCE); in 1966, an inscription of the Mauryan Emperor
Ashoka (273–235 BCE) was discovered near Srinivaspuri. Remains of several major cities can be found in Delhi. The first of these was in the southern part of present-day Delhi.
Tomara Rajput King
Anang Pal built the
Lal Kot and several temples in 1052 CE. The
Chauhan Rajputs under
Vigraharaja IV conquered Lal Kot in the mid-12th century and renamed it
Qila Rai Pithora.
Late medieval period Prithviraj Chauhan was defeated in 1192 by
Muhammad Ghori in the
second battle of Tarain.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak, was given the responsibility of governing the conquered territories of India after Ghori returned to his capital,
Ghor. When Ghori died without an heir in 1206 CE, Qutb-ud-din assumed control of Ghori's Indian possessions and laid the foundation of the
Delhi Sultanate and the
Mamluk dynasty. He began construction of the
Qutb Minar and
Quwwat-al-Islam (Might of Islam) mosque, the earliest extant mosque in India. It was his successor,
Iltutmish (1211–1236), who consolidated the conquest of northern India. Delhi was a major centre of
Sufism during this period. The
Mamluk Sultanate (Delhi) was overthrown in 1290 by
Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji (1290–1320). Under the second Khalji ruler,
Ala-ud-din Khalji, the Delhi sultanate extended its control south of the
Narmada River in the
Deccan. The Delhi sultanate reached its greatest extent during the reign of
Muhammad bin Tughluq (1325–1351). In an attempt to bring the whole of the Deccan under control, he moved his capital to
Daulatabad, Maharashtra in central India. However, by moving away from Delhi he lost control of the north and was forced to return to Delhi to restore order. The southern provinces then broke away. In the years following the reign of
Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388), the
Delhi Sultanate rapidly began to lose its hold over its northern provinces. Delhi was captured and sacked by
Timur in 1398, who massacred 100,000 captive civilians. Delhi's decline continued under the
Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451), until the sultanate was reduced to Delhi and its hinterland. Under the Afghan
Lodi dynasty (1451–1526), the sultanate recovered control of Punjab and the
Gangetic plain to once again achieve domination over Northern India. However, the recovery was short-lived and the sultanate was destroyed in 1526 by
Babur, founder of the
Mughal dynasty.
Early modern period , a
UNESCO World Heritage Site, was the main residence of the
Mughal emperors for nearly 200 years. |alt=Red Fort with the Indian Flag at the centre In 1526,
Babur, a descendant of
Genghis Khan and
Timur from the
Fergana Valley in modern-day
Uzbekistan, invaded India and defeated the last Lodhi sultan in the
First Battle of Panipat and founded the
Mughal Empire that ruled from Delhi and
Agra.
Shah Jahan built the seventh city of Delhi that bears his name
Shahjahanabad, which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1638 and is today known as the
Old City or
Old Delhi. After the death of
Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire's influence declined rapidly as the Hindu
Maratha Empire from
Deccan Plateau rose to prominence. In 1737, Maratha forces led by
Baji Rao I sacked Delhi following their victory against the Mughals in the First Battle of Delhi. In 1739, the Mughal Empire lost the huge
Battle of Karnal in less than three hours against the numerically outnumbered but militarily superior Persian army led by
Nader Shah of
Persia. After his
invasion, he
completely sacked and looted Delhi, carrying away immense wealth including the
Peacock Throne, the
Daria-i-Noor, and
Koh-i-Noor. The Mughals, severely further weakened, could never overcome this crushing defeat and humiliation which also left the way open for more invaders to come, including eventually the
British.
Nader eventually agreed to leave the city and India after forcing the Mughal emperor
Muhammad Shah I to beg him for mercy and granting him the keys of the city and the royal treasury. A treaty signed in 1752 made Marathas the protectors of the Mughal throne in Delhi. The city was sacked again in 1757 by the forces of
Ahmad Shah Durrani, although it was not annexed by the
Afghan Empire and being its vassal state under the Mughal emperor. Then the Marathas battled and
won control of Delhi from the Afghans.
Colonial period stamps, inauguration, New Delhi, February 1931 In 1803, during the
Second Anglo-Maratha War, the forces of
British East India Company defeated the Maratha forces in the
Battle of Delhi. During the
Indian Rebellion of 1857, Delhi fell to the forces of East India Company after a bloody fight known as the
Siege of Delhi. The city came under the direct control of the
British Government in 1858. It was made a district province of the
Punjab. This formally transferred on 12 December 1911. The name "New Delhi" was given in 1927, and the new capital was inaugurated on 13 February 1931.
New Delhi was officially declared as the capital of the
Union of India after the country gained
independence on 15 August 1947.
Partition and post-independence in New Delhi, now a high-end shopping district, was established in 1951 to help refugees of the
Partition of India, especially those from the
North West Frontier Province (NWFP). It honours
Khan Abdul Jabbar Khan, chief minister of NWFP during the Partition. During the
partition of India, around five hundred thousand Hindu and Sikh refugees, mainly from
West Punjab migrated to Delhi, whereas around three hundred thousand Muslim residents of the city migrated to Pakistan. Delhi has expanded much since 1947; the small part of it that was constructed during the British period has come to be informally known as ''Lutyens' Delhi''. The
States Reorganisation Act, 1956 created the Union Territory of Delhi from its predecessor, the ''
Chief Commissioner's Province of Delhi''. The Constitution (Sixty-ninth Amendment) Act, 1991 declared the Union Territory of Delhi to be formally known as the National Capital Territory of Delhi. The Act gave Delhi its legislative assembly along Civil lines, though with limited powers. In 2001, the
Parliament of India building in New Delhi was
attacked by armed militants, killing six security personnel. India suspected Pakistan-based Jihadist militant groups were behind the attack, which caused a major
diplomatic crisis between the two countries. There were further terrorist attacks in Delhi in
2005 and
2008, resulting in a total of 92 deaths. In 2020,
Delhi witnessed worst communal violence in decades. The riots, caused mainly by Hindu mobs attacking Muslims, 53 people were killed, two-thirds were Muslims, and the rest
Hindus. == Geography ==