Delhi

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 2026 Editor's Note: By way of comparison, Delhi today is one of the largest urban areas on earth — over 16 million in the city and some 32 million in its metro region — up from the 208,000 this article reports, and even eclipsing the 2,000,000 it credits to the Mughal peak. (Ed: BR 2026-06-03)