AHMEDABAD

city, also spelt Ahmadabad , administrative headquarters of Ahmedabad district, Gujarat, western India. It is situated on the Sabarmati river, and lies 440 km north of Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Though a pre-industrial city, it now has a combination of old structural core with more modern extensions in the new city area.
Ahmedabad was founded in AD 1411 by a Muslim ruler, Sultan Ahmad Shah. Later, in 1572 the city was captured by Mughal emperor Akbar. It was surrounded by a wall and 12 gates, having both a temple and a mosque at the centre. Communities lived here in neighbourhoods, called Pols, by caste, religion, occupation, and language.
Ahmedabad was a temporary capital of Gujarat until 1970, when the administration was moved to Gandhinagar, a newly planned capital. Ahmedabad was known as the "Manchester of India", due to its famous cotton textile industry, which was started in the middle of the nineteenth century. Its economic pull had attracted a large number of migrant workers. However, since 1980, almost all textile mills have been closed down because of growing competition from synthetic fibres. During the last decade (1990-99), chemical, pharmaceutical, and engineering industries have grown here in place of cotton textile industry. In 2001, the city was rocked by a massive earthquake that killed thousands of people.
The city has many outstanding centres of learning like the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and the National Institute of Design (NID), which make it an important academic hub of western India. Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati ashram is also situated here.

A combination of Hindu, Muslim, and Jain architecture can be seen in the city. An attractive feature of Ahmedabad is Lake Kankaria. It also has the outstanding Calico Museum of Textiles, the Shreyas Folk Museum of Utensils, a tribal museum, and a municipal museum designed by Le Corbusier. Ahmedabad is well connected by broad- and metre-gauge railway, domestic and international airports, and private and public bus system. The city is a major junction on the Western Railway, with lines running to Mumbai, Delhi, and the Kathiawar Peninsula. The chief crops grown in the surrounding area are cotton, millet, wheat, and pulses. Population (2001) 4,215,497.