Gujarat

Gujarat was one of the main centres of the Indus Valley Civilization about 50 Indus Valley settlement ruins have been discovered in Gujarat. The ancient cities from the Indus Valley such as Lothal, Dholavira, and Gola Dhoro have been prominent finds at these sites. At Lothal India’s first port was established. The ancient city of Dholavira is one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in India, Gola Dhoro was recently discovered.

There is a historical evidence of trade and commerce ties with Egypt, Bahrain and Sumer in the Persian Gulf during the time period of 1000 to 750 BC. There was a succession of Hindu and Buddhist states in this area such as the Satavahana dynasty, Mauryan Dynasty, Rashtrakuta Empire, Gupta Empire, Western Satraps, Chalukya dynasty, Pala Empire and Gurjara-Pratihara Empire, as well as local dynasties such as the Maitrakas and then the Chaulukyas.

In the late 8th century the Kannauj Triangle period emerged. The south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty northwest Indian Gurjara-Pratihara Dynasty, and the east Indian Pala Empire – dominated India from the 8th to 10th centuries. During this period the northern part of Gujarat was ruled by the north Indian Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty and the southern part of Gujarat was ruled by the south Indian Rashtrakuta dynasty.

During 8th or 10th century Zoroastrians from Greater Iran migrated to the western borders of South Asia (Gujarat and Sindh) to safeguard themselves from Muslim invaders who were in the process of conquering Iran. The descendants of those Zoroastrian refugees came to be known as the Parsi.

Vaghela dynasty was the last Hindu ruling dynasty of Gujarat, superior forces of Allauddin Khilji from Delhi in 1297 defeated the hindu ruler and hence Gujarat became part of the Muslim empire. Sultan Ahmed Shah ruled in Gujarat region from1411 to 1442 and established Ahmedabad as the capital of his empire. Khambhat eclipsed Bharuch as Gujarat’s most important trade port. In those times Gujarat’s relations with Egypt, which was then the premier Arab power in the Middle East remained friendly over the next century. The Sultanate of Gujarat remained independent until 1572 but was later conquered by Mughal emperor Akbar and thus became part of Mughal Empire.

In 14th centuary the great traveller Ibn Batuta wrote beautiful lines for Cambay ( present day Khambat of Gujarat

Cambay is one of the most beautiful cities as regards the artistic architecture of its houses and the construction of its mosques. The reason is that the majority of its inhabitants are foreign merchants, who continually build their beautiful houses and wonderful mosques – an achievement in which they endeavor to surpass each other.

– Ibn Batuta

In 1514, the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa described the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Rander known otherwise as City of Mosques in Surat province.

Ranel (Rander) is a good town of the Moors, built of very pretty houses and squares. It is a rich and agreeable place … the Moors of the town trade with Malacca, Bengal, Tawasery (Tannasserim), Pegu, Martaban, and Sumatra in all sort of spices, drugs, silks, musk, benzoin and porcelain. They possess very large and fine ships and those who wish Chinese articles will find them there very completely. The Moors of this place are white and well dressed and very rich they have pretty wives, and in the furniture of these houses have china vases of many kinds, kept in glass cupboards well arranged. Their women are not secluded like other Moors, but go about the city in the day time, attending to their business with their faces uncovered as in other parts.

  – An excerpt from travelogues of Duarte Barbosa

In mid of 17th century the Marathas and Peshwas had established their rule over Gujarat including Saurashtra, and collected taxes and tributes through their representatives. The ensuing internecine war among the Marathas was fully exploited by the British, who interfered in the affairs of both Gaekwads and the Peshwas.

The English, Portuguese, Dutch and French all established bases along the western coast of this region in 1600. The first European power to arrive in Gujarat was Portugal and they acquired several enclaves along the Gujarat coastline including Daman & Diu as well as Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The enclaves were governed by Portuguese in India under a single union territory for over 450 years, only to be later incorporated into the Republic of India on 19 December 1961 by military conquest.

After independence in 1947 and the partition of India, the new Indian government grouped the former princely states of Gujarat into three larger units; Saurashtra, which included the former princely states on the Kathiawad peninsula, Kutch, and Bombay state. The state was given its statehood on 1st May’ 1960. The first capital of Gujarat was Ahmedabad; the capital was moved to Gandhinagar in 1970.