1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Moradabad

MORADABAD, a city and district of British India, in the Bareilly division of the United Provinces. The city is on the right bank of the river Ramganga, 655 ft. above sea-level, and has a station on the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway, 868 miles from Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 75,128. It was founded in 1625 by Rustam Khan, who built the fort which overhangs the river bank, and the fine Jama Masjid or great mosque (1631). The town forms a large centre of trade in country produce. It has a special industry in ornamental brassware, sometimes plated with lac or tin, which is then engraved. Cotton weaving and printing is also carried on.

The District of Moradabad lies east of the Ganges and west of the native state of Rampur. Area, 2285 sq. m. It lies within the great Gangetic plain, and is demarcated into three subdivisions by the rivers Ramganga and Sot. The eastern tract consists of a submontane country, with an elevation slightly greater than the plain below, and is traversed by numerous streams descending from the Himalayas. The central portion consists of a level central plain descending at each end into the valleys of the Ramganga and Sot. The western section has a gentle slope towards the Ganges, with a rapid dip into the lowlands a few miles from the bank of the great river. In addition to Moradabad the principal towns are Amroha (q.v.), Sambhal (39,715) and Chaudansi (25,711).

For the early history of Moradabad see Bareilly. It passed into the possession of the British in 1801. The population in 1901 was 1,191,993, showing an increase of 1·1% in the decade. Mahommedans are more numerous than in any other district of the province, forming more than one-third of the total. The principal crops are wheat, rice, millet, pulse, sugar-cane and cotton. The main line of the Oudh & Rohilkhand railway traverses the district from south to north, with branches towards Aligarh and Rampur. A third branch from Moradabad city towards Delhi crosses the Ganges at Garhmukhteshwar by a bridge of eleven spans of 200 ft. each.