Raigad district
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Raigad District (Marathi: रायगड जिल्हा) is a district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is located in the Konkan region. The district was renamed after Raigad, the fort and former capital of the Maratha leader Shivaji, which is located in the interior forests of the district, on a west-facing spur of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri range. The district had a population of 2,207,929 of which 24.22% were urban as of 2001. [1]
The district is bounded by Mumbai Harbour to the northwest, Thane District to the north, Pune District to the east, Ratnagiri District to the south, and the Arabian Sea to the west. It includes the large natural harbor of Pen-Mandwa, which is immediately south of Mumbai Harbour, and forming a single landform with it. Part of the district is included in the planned metropolis of Navi Mumbai, and its port, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
The district includes Kashid and Kihim beaches, besides the towns of Mahad and Panvel.
The district also includes the isle of Gharapuri or Elephanta, located in Uran Tehasil which has ancient Hindu and Buddhist caves.
[edit] History
The district was called Kolaba or Kulaba during British rule, a name that is derived from it ancient form, and which means the "Land of the Koli". The Koli are an fisherman community.
The district was called Kulaba OR Kolaba during and also after the British Raj ended. It was only during late 1970's that it was renamed Raigad, after a fort with same name & situated in the southern part of the district near Mahad. The fort of Raigad was the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji, the founder of Hindavi Swaraj.
Alibag a costal town (quite big now) was it's headquarter when it was Kulaba & also when it has become Raigad.
The fort of Murud was being built by minor Koli chieftains as part of their defense against piracy when, by a stratagem, Siddis (African Muslims from Somalia), slaves and employees of the Bahamani Sultanate, seized it and made it their headquarters.
The tiny Muslim state of Murud-Janjira withstood attempts by many local powers, such as the Portuguese, English, Marathas, etc. to seize it but was never conquered. It allied at different times with different powers, often with the Mughal Empire and thrived off piracy. The Siddis even attempted to seize Mumbai from England, and actually succeeded in overwhelming the English force but were driven out by a militia organized by a Parsi settler from among the natives who had immigrated from Surat. Finally, it entered the system of subsidiary alliance with Britain, becoming a princely state of British India, in which condition it remained until 1947, when it acceded to newly-independent India.
[edit] External Links
| Divisions and Districts of Maharashtra |
|---|
| Amravati Division: Akola | Amravati | Buldhana | Washim | Yavatmal |
| Konkan Division: Mumbai | Mumbai (Suburban) | Raigad | Ratnagiri | Sindhudurg | Thane |
| Aurangabad Division: Aurangabad | Beed | Hingoli | Jalna | Latur | Nanded | Osmanabad | Parbhani |
| Nagpur Division: Bhandara | Chandrapur | Gadchiroli | Gondia | Nagpur | Wardha |
| Nashik Division: Ahmednagar | Dhule | Jalgaon | Nandurbar | Nashik |
| Pune Division: Kolhapur | Pune | Sangli | Satara | Solapur |
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