Belgaum (district)

Belgaum District ಬೆಳಗಾವಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ
State	Karnataka
Division :	Belgaum
Administrative headquarters :	Belgaum
Area :	13,415 km²
Residents :	4,778,439 (2011)
Population density :	356 inhabitants / km²
Website :	belgaum.nic.in

The Belgaum District ( Kannada : ಬೆಳಗಾವಿ ಜಿಲ್ಲೆ ) is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka . The administrative seat is the eponymous city of Belgaum (Belagavi).

geography

The Belgaum district is located in the northwest of Karnataka on the border with the neighboring states of Maharashtra and Goa . Neighboring districts are Bijapur and Bagalkot in the east, Gadag in the southeast, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada in the south (all Karnataka), as well as in Goa North Goa in the west and in Maharashtra Sindhudurg and Kolhapur in the northwest and Sangli in the north.

Rock landscape near Sogal

With an area of ​​13,415 square kilometers, the Belgaum district is the largest district of Karnataka. The district area belongs to the highlands of Dekkan and is largely a plateau with an average height of 600 to 700 meters above sea level, which is broken here and there by chains of hills. In the west on the border with Goa, the Belgaum district has a share of the mountains of the Western Ghats . The most important rivers in the district are the Krishna and its tributaries Ghataprabha and Malaprabha . All three have their source in the Western Ghats and flow in an easterly direction through the Belgaum district. The Ghataprabha overcomes the 52 meter high Gokak Falls near Gokak . The Mandovi , which has its source in the Belgaum district and flows into the Arabian Sea in Goa, flows to the west.

The Belgaum district is divided into the ten taluks Chikodi, Athni, Raybag, Gokak, Hukeri, Belgaum, Khanapur, Sampgaon, Parasgad and Ramdurg.

history

Belgaum Fort (1874)

The area of ​​Belgaum has been under the rule of different ruling dynasties in the course of its history: in the 12th century the dynasty of the Ratta founded Belgaum as their capital, in the 13th century the Yadava conquered the city. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the area was gradually ruled by the Delhi Sultanate , the Vijayanagar Empire, the Bahmanids and the Bijapur Sultanate . In the late 17th century, Bijapur came under the Mughal Empire before being conquered by the Marathas in the early 18th century . In the Third Marath War , Belgaum finally came under British rule in 1818 . The British incorporated the area into the province of Bombay . Initially, the area belonged to the Dharwad district , before the Belgaum district was formed from its northern part in 1836. Some of the Marathi kingdoms remained as nominally independent princely states under British sovereignty. Within the Belgaum district were the princely state of Ramdurg and numerous fragmented exclaves of Kolhapur , Sangli , Kurundwad and Miraj .

After Indian independence in 1947, the Belgaum district came to the state of Bombay. The princely states were not dissolved and their exclaves were incorporated into the Belgaum district. When the Indian states were reorganized according to the language borders in 1956, the affiliation of the Belgaum district became a matter of dispute. Of the district's eleven taluks, three were predominantly Marathi at the time . In the district capital, Belgaum, Marathi speakers made up just over half of the population. In the remaining eight taluks, Kannada was the predominant language. Ultimately, the Belgaum district became part of the Kannada-speaking state of Mysore (renamed Karnataka in 1973 ) through the States Reorganization Act . Only the Taluk Chandgad , in which Marathi speakers made up more than 90 percent of the population, was added to the Kolhapur district and incorporated into the Marathi-speaking state of Bombay ( Maharashtra from 1960 ). Maharashtra still lays claim to the Belgaum district to this day.

population

According to the 2011 Indian census, the Belgaum district has 4,778,439 inhabitants. This makes it the second largest district of Karnataka in terms of population after Bengaluru Urban . Between 2001 and 2011 the population grew by 13.4 percent. The population growth is thus slightly lower than the average in Karnataka (15.7 percent). The population density of 356 people per square kilometer is above the state average (319 people per square kilometer). 25.3 percent of the inhabitants of the Belgaum district live in cities. The degree of urbanization is thus below the mean value in Karnataka (38.6 percent). At 73.9 percent, the literacy rate is slightly lower than the state average (75.6 percent).

According to the 2001 census, Hindus make up the clear majority of the residents of the Belgaum district with 84.6 percent. Muslims make up 10.5 percent of the district's population. There is also an exceptionally large Jain minority of 4.0 percent. In addition to the speakers of Kannada , the main language of Karnataka, there are a large number of Marathi speakers in the Belgaum district . As in most parts of Karnataka, Urdu is also widespread among Muslims .

Cities

city	Population (2001)
Athni	39,200
Bail Hongal	43,215
Belgaum	399,600
Belgaum Cantonment	23,678
Chikodi	32,820
Gokak	67.166
Gokak Falls	10,042
Hindalgi	10,857
Hukeri	19.906
Kangrali (BK)	8,414
Kangrali (KH)	8,423
Khanapur	16,563
Konnur	17,978
Kudchi	19,852
Londa	6.276
Mudalgi	29,894
Nipani	58,061
Ramdurg	31,822
Raybag	15,924
Sadalgi	20.207
Sankeshwar	32,511
Saundatti-Yellamma	38,212

literature

• The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Volume 7: Bareilly to Berasiā. New edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1908, pp. 145–156 , keyword: Belgaum District .

Web links

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

• Belgaum District website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Belgaum district website: Statistics. ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ Report of the States Reorganization Commission, New Delhi 1955, pp. 97-98.
3. ↑ Census of India 2011: Provisional Population Totals: Data Sheet (PDF; 1.7 MB) and Population and decadal growth rate by residence Persons. (PDF; 1.3 MB)
4. ↑ Census of India 2001: Population, population in the age group 0-6 and literates by sex - Cities / Towns (in alphabetic order) ( Memento from June 16, 2004 in the Internet Archive )