Agra

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Agra
आगरा
Agra (India)
Red pog.svg
State : IndiaIndia India
State : Uttar Pradesh
District : Agra
Location : 27 ° 11 ′  N , 78 ° 0 ′  E Coordinates: 27 ° 11 ′  N , 78 ° 0 ′  E
Height : 168 m
Area : 120.57 km²
Residents : 1,585,704 (2011)
Population density : 13,152 inhabitants / km²
Website : Agra District
Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal

Agra ( Hindi आगरा Āgrā ) is a city with a population of around 1.7 million in the west of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India . She was intermittently 1526-1648 the capital of the Mughal Empire and has a plurality of UNESCO - World Heritage counting sites on. Agra has been the seat of a Catholic archdiocese since 1886 .

Geography and climate

location

Agra is about 220 km (driving distance) southeast of the Indian capital Delhi in the fertile alluvial land of the river Yamuna at an altitude of about 168  m above sea level. d. There are no natural stone and rock deposits in the vicinity of the city; Thus all buildings of earlier times consist in their core of bricks and were clad with red sandstone or with marble from Rajasthan .

climate

The daytime temperatures can reach 40 ° C in the months of May, June and July, the night temperatures are still almost 30 ° C; in the monsoon season (mid-July to early October) it cools down by around 10 ° C. In winter the daytime temperatures are around 20 to 25 ° C, at night the thermometer can drop to around 3 ° C when there is little cloudiness.

The climate crisis has led to a drastic shortage of drinking water in large parts of India . The effects are particularly noticeable in Agra. The city is one of those 21 major Indian cities whose groundwater reserves will be completely depleted in 2020 according to calculations by the government agency NITI Aayog.


Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Agra
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 22.3 25.5 31.9 37.9 41.7 40.7 35.3 33.2 34.0 34.0 29.2 23.9 O 32.5
Min. Temperature (° C) 7.7 10.3 15.5 21.5 26.5 28.9 26.8 25.7 24.3 19.1 12.5 8.2 O 19th
Precipitation ( mm ) 13.2 17.6 9.3 6.3 11.3 55.7 203.3 243.2 129.7 24.8 4.3 6.1 Σ 724.8
Rainy days ( d ) 1.6 1.5 1.6 1.1 2.0 4.7 13.6 13.7 6.5 1.5 0.6 0.8 Σ 49.2
Humidity ( % ) 64 55 45 35 34 46 72 77 67 54 56 64 O 55.8
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
22.3
7.7
25.5
10.3
31.9
15.5
37.9
21.5
41.7
26.5
40.7
28.9
35.3
26.8
33.2
25.7
34.0
24.3
34.0
19.1
29.2
12.5
23.9
8.2
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g
13.2
17.6
9.3
6.3
11.3
55.7
203.3
243.2
129.7
24.8
4.3
6.1
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: World Meteorological Organization (precipitation 1901–2000), NOAA (1971–1990)

population

Official population statistics have only been kept and published since 1991.

year 1991 2001 2011
Residents 891.790 1,275,134 1,585,704

The majority of the population are Hindus (approx. 80.5%) and Muslims (approx. 15.5%); Religious minorities are Jains (approx. 1%) as well as Sikhs , Buddhists , Christians (approx. 0.5% each) and others (approx. 1.5%). Many residents immigrated from the rural regions in the second half of the 20th century. They speak Hindi and sometimes a little English. As is common in northern India, the male population is significantly higher than the female population.

Marquetry

economy

Craftsmen and traders have settled in the city since ancient times; meanwhile, small industries and service companies of all kinds (banks, insurance companies, hotels, etc.) have also been added. The craftsmen of Agra are famous for producing the finest inlaid work using the Pietra-Dura technique. The Taj Mahal makes Agra one of the most visited cities in India by tourists; the climatically best time to visit for Europeans are the winter months from October to February.

history

The history of Agra goes back to antiquity, where it is mentioned in the Mahabharata under the name Agrevaṇa ( Sanskrit अग्रेवण). In 1080 the city was captured by army units of the Muslim Ghaznavids from Afghanistan . The present city was laid out at the beginning of the 16th century by Sikandar Lodi , who also moved the capital of the Sultanate of Delhi here. In the course of the conquest of the sultanate by Babur , Agra fell to the Mughals in 1526 . Babur stayed frequently in Agra and laid out the Ram Bagh , one of the first Mughal gardens. The heyday of Agra began with the accession of Akbar (r. 1556-1605), who expanded the city, and lasted until the reign of Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707). With the fall of the Mughal Empire, Agra also lost its importance. Under the British, Agra was one of the capitals of the North-Western Provinces since 1836 - alongside Lucknow and Allahabad - and from 1902 the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh .

Attractions

Friday Mosque ( Jama Masjid )
Akbar Mausoleum , Sikandra
  • The Red Fort, begun from 1565 to 1571, with the palace of Shah Jahan added later and the Pearl Mosque (Moti Masjid) as well as the Friday Mosque ( Jama Masjid ) are on the edge of the old town.
  • Far more famous is the Taj Mahal, which Shah Jahan had built from 1631 to 1648 in Agra as a mausoleum for his wife Mumtaz Mahal and himself. There is also a facility for playing the traditional game of pachisi with living figures.
  • Less well known is that on the eastern side of Yamuna located Itimad-ud-Daula's Tomb , which Nur Jahan in 1628 for her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg , the under his honorary title of Itimad-ud-Daula (, support of the state ') known Prime Minister Jahangir had built . It was the first Mughal building to be completely clad in marble, thus establishing a change in style in the architecture of the time.
  • A rarely visited mausoleum is the Chini ka Rauza , built in 1635 and formerly completely covered with colored stone incrustations , the tomb of the Persian First Minister of Shah Jahan - Allāma Afzal Khāl Mullā Shukrullāh .
  • A curiosity is the mausoleum ( Red Taj ) built around 1805 for the English officer John Hessing, who was in the service of the rebellious Marathas , in the Christian Padresanto cemetery in Agra .
  • In Agra there are three important Catholic churches - the Church of Akbar , which was built in 1598, but was rebuilt in 1636 after complete destruction by Shah Jahan using the old stones , the later cathedral ( Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception ) and St. Mary's Church, completed in 1923 (now renamed the Church of Our Lady of Good Health ).

outside

  • About 8 km to the north, in the Dayalbagh district , is the temple mausoleum for Shiv Dayal Singh , the founder of the Radhasoami Satsangi religion , which began in the early 20th century but is still under construction .
  • About 10 km to the north-west, near Sikandra, is the Akbar mausoleum , surrounded by a large garden in which deer, monkeys and peacocks also live. Not far away is the tomb of the Hindu princess Mariam uz-Zamani , one of his wives ( Mariam's Tomb ).
  • Only 40 km west of Agra is the old capital of Akbar the Great, Fatehpur Sikri , which was probably given up after a few years due to lack of water. Today the world heritage city with a large mosque and palaces is a popular excursion destination from Agra.

Personalities

See also

literature

  • Syad Muhammad Latif: Agra. Historical and Descriptive. Calcutta 1896
  • Robert Strasser: The North of India. Indoculture, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-921948-12-6 , pp. 197ff.
  • Vis-à-Vis Delhi, Agra & Jaipur. Dorling Kindersley, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-7342-0103-5

Web links

Commons : Agra  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Agra - Census 2011
  2. Agra - map with altitude information
  3. Agra - climate tables
  4. Jessie Yeung, Swati Gupta, Michael Guy: India has just five years to solve its water crisis, experts fear. Otherwise hundreds of millions of lives will be in danger. In: CNN. July 4, 2019, accessed on July 10, 2019 .
  5. ^ World Weather Information Service-Agra . World Meteorological Organization. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  6. Agra Climate Normals 1971-1990 . National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration . Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  7. ^ Agra - City Population 1991-2011
  8. ^ Agra - Census 2011