Bangalore is the capital city of Karnataka. It has 4.5 million inhabitants and is the fourth largest city in India (2004).

Post independence, Bangalore evolved into a manufacturing hub for major heavyweight industries such as Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd and Indian Space Research Organization. More recently, Bangalore has been an important contributor to the growth of information technology in India.

The city is also the Training Command for the Indian Air Force.

Geography

Set in the Deccan Plateau, with an average elevation of 900 m above sea level, Bangalore has pleasant weather, with highs ranging from around 24°C in winter to 35° C during summer, despite being between the tropical latitudes of 12° 39' N and 13° N.

History

The Beginning

Bangalore is believed to have been founded in 1537 by Kempe Gowda (c. 1510 - 1570). During the time of the Puranas, this region was known as 'kalyanapuri' or 'Kalyananagara', the 'City Auspicious'. The Mauryan Emperor, Chandragupta Maurya, renounced his throne to become a Jain Monk at Shravanabelagola, a Jain piligrimage center, south west of Bangalore. After the arrival of the British, the city was given the anglicised name of "Bangalore".

Bengaluru

The place mentioned as Bengaluru in the Ganga record was originally a hamlet, even now called as Halebengaluru near Kodigehalli (not far away from Hebbal). It is said that Kempegowda I, when he built the new capital town in about 1537 called it Bengaluru as his mother and wife belonged to the hamlet by the same name, now called Halebengaluru.

Another version suggests that the name Bangalore derives from Benda Kalu, which means Boiled beans. It is said that a humble old lady served a 10th century ruler, King Veeraballa of Vijayanagara who lost his way in the forest. He liked the food so much he named the place Benda Kaluru, meaning "the city of boiled beans", to commemorate the event.

The Rulers

The reign of Bangalore changed hands several times. It was ruled by the kings of the Bijapur dynasty in 1638, and the Maratha ruler Shahji Bhosle took over in 1638. After 50 years of Maratha rule Bangalore was conquered by the Mughals in 1686. The city was leased to the Mysore ruler Chikkadevaraya by the Mughals around 1689 and Chikkadevaraya expanded the Bangalore fort to the south and built the Venkataramana temple in this fort area. This new fort in granite was strengthened by Haider Ali who secured Bangalore as jahgir in 1759. The British under Lord Cornwallis conquered the place in 1799 after defeating Tipu Sultan.

Plague

Bangalore was hit by a plague epidemic in 1898. The epidemic took a large toll and many of the temples were built during this time. Many of these temples are called 'Maramma' temples after the plague deity. It is believed that this epidemic helped in the development of Bangalore and improvements in sanitation and health facilities helped in modernizing Bangalore. A plague officer was appointed and the city was divided into four wards.

City Planning

Telephone lines were laid to help coordinate anti-plague operations. Regulations for building new houses with proper facilities of sanitation came into effect. A health officer was appointed in 1898 and the Victoria Hospital was inaugurated in 1900 by Lord Curzon, the then Viceroy. It is also believed that the advent of railways was a causal factor for the epidemic.

The plague of 1898 also led to the expansion of Bangalore. Basavanagudi (named after the Basaveshwara Temple or the Bull Temple in the Sunkenahalli village) and Malleshwaram (named after the Kadu Malleshwara Temple in the old Mallapura village) were created during this time. Kalasipalyam (near the old fort) and Gandhinagar were created between 1921-1931. Kumara Park came into existence in 1947 and Jayanagar in 1948.

The former Cantonment, named as Civil and Military Station after 1881 had roads named according to military conventions. Thus, there was Artillery Rd., Brigade Rd., Infantry Rd., Cavalry Rd., etc. The South Parade (presently Mahatma Gandhi Road) was to the south of the Parade Ground. The cantonment area was administered by a Resident and his quarters was called the Residency and hence the Residency Road. In around 1883, three extensions were added to the Municipal area of the Cantonment, namely, Richmond Town, followed by Benson Town and Cleveland Town.

Culture and education

Bangalore is the largest city in the state of Karnataka and is a cosmopolitan city. Kannada, the state language of Karnataka, is widely spoken here. Many people are fluent in more than one language. There are also a large number of people with Telugu and Tamil as their mother tongues, together said to almost match the number of those whose mother tongue is Kannada. English is widely understood, and spoken with variable fluency. The large number of central government and defence establishments with many employees from northern India, movies and television have made Hindi a widely understood language in the city. With the rapid growth of the information technology industry in Bangalore, English is becoming a standard.

Over 51% of Bangalore's population consists of expatriates from other parts of India as well as foreign nationals, a trend that existed even in colonial Bangalore. This is evident in the Tamil inscriptions on the memorial set up near Brigade Road by the then British rulers for the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in various wars.

Bangalore is home to the Indian Institute of Science, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM, Bangalore), the National Law School of India University, the Indian Institute of Information Technology - Bangalore and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences. Bangalore also plays host to a large number of Engineering and Medical science institutions.

Economic development and urban life

Manufacturing Industries

Long before Bangalore was ever called the Silicon Valley of India, the city made its name as headquarters to some of the largest national heavy industries of India. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) headquaters was based in Bangalore, and was for the most part dedicated to R&D activities for indigenous fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force. Today, HAL develops and maintains an impressive fleet of fighter aircraft and trainers for the Indian Airforce including Sukhoi 30 Flankers and Jaguars.

Airshows showcasing inventories from HAL and international corporations such as Sukhoi, Lockheed Martin, Mirage and BAE are held at the Yelahanka Airforce base near Bangalore once every two years.

The National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is also headquartered in Bangalore and is dedicated to the development of aerospace technologies. NAL has a staff strength of over 1,300 employees and often works in conjunction with HAL.

Space Technology

In June 1972, the Government of India set up the Space Commission and Department of Space (DOS). India's premier space research organization, the ISRO was created under the DOS and headquartered in Bangalore. The main objective of ISRO includes development of satellites and launch vehicles. Aryabhatta, India's first satellite, was developed and successfully launched by ISRO. Since then, the organization has successfully launched numerous other satellites such as Bhaskara, Rohini, APPLE and the INSAT series, and successfully deployed PSLVs and GSLVs. ISRO also heads India's ambitious moon program.

Bangalore is also a major manufacturing base and houses such public sector manufacturing giants as BHEL, BEL and ITI.

"Silicon Valley"

Bangalore is called the "Silicon Valley of India" due to the large number of computer and technology companies, as well as the related infrastructure, located there. Many multinational corporations, especially computer hardware and software giants, have operations in Bangalore. Electronics City, located in the southern outskirts of Bangalore, is an industrial park spread over 330 acres (1.3 km²). Bangalore houses more than a hundred industries, including IT industry leaders such as IBM, Dell, Oracle, HP, SAP, Motorola, Satyam, Infosys, Siemens, ITI, i-GATE, Honeywell, Wipro and MindTree.

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a growing field in the city. Bangalore accounts for atleast 97 of the approximately 240 biotechnology companies in the nation. Interest in Bangalore as a base for biotechology companies stems from Karnataka's comprehensive biotechnology policy, described by the Karnataka Vision Group on Biotechnology . In 2003-2004, Karnataka attracted the maximum venture capital funding for biotechnology in the country - $8 million. Biocon, headquartered in Bangalore, is the nation's leading biotechnology company and ranks 16th in the world in revenues.

Urban life

The city is known as the "Garden City of India", and there are many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park.

Bangalore has an active night culture and is home to over 200 pubs. Some of the clubs in Bangalore are Pecos, The Club Inferno, Insomnia, "Spinn",iBar, Urban Edge, Club X, Styx (a pub for hard rock fans), fBar (fashion, et al) and Opium.

Infrastructural woes

Initially a Grade B city in India, Bangalore was not built to accommodate the massive influx of skilled and unskilled workers from other parts of Karnataka and India. The fastest growing city in Asia now has to struggle with a constantly and rapidly increasing population of technocrats and blue collar workers. Being a land-locked city, Bangalore neither has access to a shoreline, like Mumbai or Kolkata to meet the water needs of its 4 million plus people, nor deep pockets to purchase electricity for its needs. The result is a constant power shedding: mandatory stoppage of electricity supply to residential areas.

The city's roads were not designed to accommodate the massive traffic that now prevails in Bangalore. As the city expands and absorbs other towns into it, the necessity for proper planning and road infrastructure to commute through the city increases.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited owned and operated the airport that was subsequently used for commercial civil aviation by the Government of Karnataka. Most airports are controlled by the Airports Authority of India. This led to a prolonged three way tussle between the HAL, the Government of Karnataka and the Indian Air Force.

Eventually, a plan for a full scale international airport was planned at Devanahalli, 30 kilometers from Bangalore, which also became a war ground for Central and State political parties. The clearance for the construction of the $288 million airport was eventually granted in June 2004. The major stakeholders of this project include Siemens-Zurich Airport-L&T consortium, Airports Authority of India and Karnataka State Investment and Industrial Development Corporation.

Bangalore's infrastructural woes have led Wipro's Azim Premji to threaten to pull out of the city unless there is a drastic improvement in facilities within the next few years. It also led to a boycott of the government-organised IT.com festival, in which IT employees closed down all shops in Banergatta Road and thereby urging the government to make improvements in the roads' construction.

Slum population

According to the Census of India 2001 results, 345,200 people or 8% of the population live in slums in Bangalore. The sex ratio of the slum population was 948 females/1000 males, as compared to the overall sex ratio of Bangalore of 915 females/1000 males.

Slum Jagathu is a Banagalore based magazine for and by slum dwellers.

Institutions of Bangalore

• Indian Institute of Science
  
• Indian Institute of Management
  
• Indian Institute of Information Technology
  
• Indian Space Research Organisation
  
• National Aerospace Laboratories
  
• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
  
• Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
  
• The University of Agricultural Sciences
  
• National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences
  
• National Centre for Software Technology
  
• National Law School of India University
  
• National Institute of Fashion Technology
  

Landmarks

• Vidhana Soudha
  
• Attara Kacheri
  
• Lalbagh Botanical Garden
  
• Cubbon Park
  
• Hebbal lake
  
• Sankey Tank
  
• Visvesvaraya Industrial And Technological Museum
  
• Kempe Gowda's watch towers
  
• Ulsoor Lake
  
• Nehru Planetarium
  
• Tipu's Summer Palace

Places of Worship

• Devarayana Durga
  
• Gavi Gangadhareshwara
  
• ISKCON Temple
  
• Plagamma Temple
  
• Dodda Ganesha Temple
  
• Ram Anjaneya Gudda
  
• Raji Gudda Anjenaya
  
• St.Mary's church

Interest Groups

• Birdwatchers' Field Club of Bangalore
  
• Association of Bangalore Amateur Astronomers
  
• Karnataka Quiz Association
  
• Bangalore PalmOS Users Group
  
• Bangalore Amateur Radio Club
  
• Bangalore Linux User Group

External links

• Link to Karnataka
• The Bangalore Cyber Police
• Links to various departments
• Bangalore: Silicon Valley or Coolie Valley?