Delhi
Delhi names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Delhi a city of Hindustan
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Hindustan, in the Punjab, anciently capital of the Patan and Mogul Empires, about 954 miles N. W. of Calcutta. It was at one time the largest city in Hindustan, covering a space of 20 square miles, and having a population of 2,000,000. A vast tract covered with the ruins of palaces, pavilions, baths, gardens, mausoleums, etc., marks the extent of the ancient metropolis. The present city abuts on the right bank of the Jumna, and is surrounded on three sides by a lofty by the British at the beginning of the 19th century with a ditch and glacis. The palace or residence of the Great Mogul, built by Shah Jehan, begun in 1631, and now known as "the fort," is situated in the E. of the city, and abuts directly on the river. It is surrounded on three sides by an embattled wall of reddish sandstone nearly 60 feet high, with round towers at intervals, and a gateway on the W. and S. Since the mutiny in 1857, a great portion has been demolished in order to make room for military barracks. One of the most remarkable objects in the city is the Jamma Musjid or Great Mosque, a magnificent structure in the Byzantine-Arabic style, built by the Emperor Shah TOMB OF THE BANGLE-MAKER
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the ancient capital of Hindustan. It is situated on an upper tributary of the Ganges in the region known as the Punjab. It is very nearly equidistant from Bombay and Calcutta, to both of which railways have been built. In the time of the Great Mogul, Jehan, it had a population of 2,000,000. He built the palace of the Great Mogul, the most magnificent and interesting structure of the kind in India. It rivals the kremlin of Moscow. A mosque of white marble and red sandstone was built by the same monarch. It cost half a million dollars. The modern city is surrounded by a wall thirty feet high, defended by towers and pierced by eleven gates. Delhi College, founded in 1792, and attended by several hundred students, maintains instruction in the English, Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit languages. Delhi, with its surrounding ruins of tombs and palaces, has played an important part in the history of India. It is still noted for several industries, such as the weaving of cashmere shawls and the making of goldsmith's work of wondrous delicacy and beauty, especially gold embroidery. The people are half Hindu, half Mohammedan. Population, 208,000. See India
Delhi INDIA Jehan in the 17th century
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
INDIA Jehan in the 17th century. Among modern buildings are the government college, founded in 1792 (abolished as a college); the Residency, and a Protestant church. The East Indian Railway enters the city by a bridge over the Jumna. The S. W. quarter of the town is densely occupied by the shops and dwellings of the native population; the streets are narrow and tortuous, but some of the main thoroughfares of the city are splendi did streets, the chief being the Chandni Chauk, or "Silver Street." During the mutiny Delhi was seized by the Sepoys, who held possession for four months, during which many atrocities were committed. Pop. about 235,000.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Both accounts treat Delhi as a historic relic — Aiton's in 1910 calls it "the ancient capital of Hindustan" with 208,000 people, and Collier's in 1921 gives 235,000 and dwells on the Mutiny of 1857. Yet in December 1911, between the two, George V announced at the Delhi Durbar that the capital of British India would move from Calcutta; Lutyens and Baker's New Delhi was formally inaugurated in 1931 and became the capital of independent India in 1947, after Partition brought a flood of refugees from West Punjab. The city Collier's counted in the hundreds of thousands now holds roughly 16 million, with some 32 million in the wider metropolitan region — one of the largest urban concentrations on earth. The Red Fort and the Jama Masjid still stand and are UNESCO-listed (the fort since 2007), but Delhi College, the Residency and the shawl-weaving trade the old entries name have long since been transformed or vanished.
Written for this edition, 2026.