Gujarat is a state in the western coast of India with 1,600 km along the coast line and 75,686 sq. miles in area. It began its settlements with the Indus Valley Civilisation. British established three trade centers here. 1. Surat, 2. Ahmadabad, and 3. Broach ( present name Bharuch).Bharuch served as ports and trading centers in the Nanda, Maurya, Satavahana and Gupta empires. After the fall of Gupta Empire in the 6th century , Gujarat flourished as an independent Hindu/Budhist states. The 11th century history of Gijarat saw the emergence of Muslim rule. The first Muslim conqueror was Mahmud of Gazni whose conquest of Somnath effectively ended the rule of Solankis.
From 1297 to 1300, Allauddin Khilji, Sultan of Delhi, destroyed Anhilwara and incorporated Gujarat into the Delhi Sultanate.The Sultanate of Gujarat remained independent until 1576, when the Mughal emperor Akbar the Great conquered and annexed it to the Mughal empire. The port of Surat become the prominent and main port of India during Mughal Rule. Gujarat remained a province of the Mughal empire until the Marathas occupied eastern and central Gujarat in the eighteenth century.
After battle of Panipath in 1761, all Maratha general established themself as autonomous Government . The British East India Company wrested control of much of Gujarat from the Marathas during the second Anglo-Maratha war.Portugal was the first European power to arrive in Gujarat, acquiring several enclaves along the Gujarati coast, including Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagarhaveli. When British opened trade post in Gujarat , Mughal emperor Jahangir was in power their.
Maratha and British
When the cracks had started developing in the edifice of the Mughal Empire in the mid 17th century, the Marathas were consolidating their power in the west., Chatrapati Shivaji, the great Maratha ruler attacked Surat twice , first in 1664 and again in 1672. These attacks marked the entry of the Marathas in Gujarat, the Europeans had made their presence felt, with the portuguese leading them, followed by the Dutch and the English.
The Peshwas had established their sovereignty over Gujarat including Saurashtra, and collected taxes and tributes through their representatives.The war between Marathas and Peshwas were fully exploited by the British. British had also created their alliances Gujarat.
