History of Bangalore

Bangalore the IT capital of India, has interesting history of its evolution to it's presents form. The history of Bangalore goes back to 1024 when it was captured by Cholas who were earlier ruling the western Gangas. Cholas was overthrown by Hoysala Empire in 1116. Kempe Gowda, who was serving under the Vijayanagara kingdom is said to have built the city of Bangalore. It was he who built a brick-mud fort and a Nandi temple in Bangalore in 1537. Then four famous towers were built by a successor of Kempe Gowda. These four towers formed the boundary of the city. A myth that the city would draw disaster, if it was extended beyond these four towers, was very much prevalent at that time. During the kingdom of Vijayanagara Bangalore was also known as Kalayanapura and Devarayanagara.

With the fall of Vijayanagara Empire, several rulers ruled the city within quick succession of time. Ranadulla Khan defeated Kempe Gowda the third with help of Shahaji Bhosale. Bangalore was then given to Shahaji as Jagir. Kasim Khan of Mughal then captured Bangalore from the Venkoji the son of Shahaji. He sold the city to Chikkadevaraja Wodevar of Mysore for 3, 00,000 rupees. Krishnaraja Wodeyar the second died in 1759 and Hyder Ali who was chief of the Mysore army declared himself the ruler of Bangalore. It was later passed on to Hyder Ali’s son Tipu Sultan popularly known as the Tiger of Mysore.

In 1804 Bangalore was captured by the British. After the death of Tipu Sultan in the 1799, the British handed Bangalore back over to Maharaja of Mysore. The British was still holding the cantonment under their control. British took Bangalore again in their control in 1834 citing the misrule of Krishnaraja Wodeyar the third. British then continued to rule the city until the independence of India. It was under the British rule that Bangalore grew in to modern city. After the independence Bangalore became the capital of Karnataka state and since then has seen development on large scale. The year 2000 saw the coming of IT industries in the city and Bangalore gradually developed in to a major IT hub of India. It became the IT capital of India and came to be known by different names like India’s Silicon Valley, The Pub City of India, the Fashion Capital of India, etc.