Azamgarh district

This article is about the district. For its eponymous headquarters, see Azamgarh.

Azamgarh district आज़मगढ़ ज़िला اعظم گڑھ ضلع
Location of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh
State	Uttar Pradesh, India
Administrative division	Azamgarh
Headquarters	Azamgarh
Area	4,054 km2 (1,565 sq mi)
Population	3,939,915 (2001)
Tehsils	7
Lok Sabha Constituencies	Azamgarh, Lalganj
Official website

Azamgarh district (Hindi: आज़मगढ़ ज़िला, Urdu: اعظم گڑھ ضلع) is one of the three districts of Azamgarh Division in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Etymology

The district is named after its headquarters town, Azamgarh. Azam, son of Vikramajit, founded the town in 1665. Vikramajit a descendant of Gautam Rajputs of Mehnagar in pargana Nizamabad had embraced the faith of Islam. He had two sons, namely, Azam and Azmat. It is also known as land of the famous rishi Durvasa whose ashram is situated in Phulpur tehsil where thousands of his students were used to take education.

History

India's Freedom Struggle

Azamgarh has the distinction of participating in every small and big struggle to free India from its colonial rulers. The Great Historian, Writer, Social Reformer, Nationalist Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan played a major role in Indian Freedom Struggle. He have been arrested and jailed for three Years for creating Anti-British Writings and speeches. Both Hindu and Muslim landowners (known as Rautaras) of Azamgarh aided and abetted the mutiny and rebellion against the British in 1857. On the 3rd of June 1857 the 17th Regiment of Native Infantry mutinied at Azamgarh, murdered some of their officers, and carried off the government treasure to Fayzabad. The district became a centre of the fighting between the Gurkhas and the rebels, and was not finally cleared until October 1858 by Colonel Kelly. Later, many of the local land owners were crushed by the British. Later, residents of Azamgarh actively participated in various national movements including the Civil Disobedience Movement and the Quit India Movement in 1942.

Geography

Azamgarh district has an area of 4,054 square kilometres (1,565 sq mi). The district lies between the Ganges and the Ghagahara. Azamgarh district is surrounded by the districts of Mau in the east, Gorakhpur in the north, Ghazipur in the south-east, Jaunpur in the south-west, Sultanpur in the west and Ambedkar Nagar in the north-west.

Azamgarh district is further divided into 7 tehsils, and 22 development blocks. There are 4,106 villages (3,792 inhabited and 314 uninhabited) in the district.

Economy

In 2006 the Ministry of Panchayati Raj named Azamgarh one of the country's 250 most backward districts (out of a total of 640). It is one of the 34 districts in Uttar Pradesh currently receiving funds from the Backward Regions Grant Fund Programme (BRGF).

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Azamgarh district has a population of 4,616,509, roughly equal to the nation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the US state of South Carolina. This gives it a ranking of 30th in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of 1,139 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,950 /sq mi) . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 17.17 %. Azamgarh has a sex ratio of 1017 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 72.69 %.

Azamgarh district's total population was 3,939,915 as per 2001 census with population density of 972/km². The population consists of 297,300 urban and 3,642,616 rural; 1,989,501 females and 1,950,414 males. The literacy rate was 57%.

Languages

Vernaculars spoken in Azamgarh include Bhojpuri, a language in the Bihari language group with almost 40 000 000 speakers, written in both the Devanagari and Kaithi scripts.

Culture

Places of Interest

Darul Musanafeen (Asia's Biggest Arabic library)

External links

Official website