Moradabad district () is one of the districts of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city of Moradabad is the district headquarters. Moradabad district is part of Moradabad division. It used to be the second most populous district of Uttar Pradesh out of 75 after Prayagraj till a new district Sambhal was carved out of it in 2011.

The district of Moradabad lies between 28°21´ to 28°16´ north latitude and 78°4´ to 79° east longitude.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, Moradabad district has a population of 4,772,006, roughly equal to the nation of Singapore or the US state of Alabama. This gives it a ranking of 26th among India's 640 districts. The district has a population density of . Its population growth rate over the decade 2001-2011 was 25.25%. Moradabad has a sex ratio of 903 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 58.67%.

After bifurcation, the residual Moradabad district has a population of 3,126,507 and a sex ratio of 910 females per 1000 males. 1,156,525 (36.99%) lived in urban areas. Scheduled Castes make up 436,149 (13.95%) of the population.MINUTES OF THE 34th MEETING OF EMPOWERED COMMITTEE TO CONSIDER AND APPROVE REVISED PLAN FOR BALANCE FUND FOR THE DISTRICTS OF GHAZIABAD, BAREILLY, BARABANKI, SIDDHARTH NAGAR, SHAHJANPUR, MORADABAD, MUZAFFAR NAGAR, BAHRAICH AND LUCKNOW (UTTAR PRADESH) UNDER MULTI-SECTORAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN MINORITY CONCENTRATION DISTRICTS HELD ON 22nd JULY, 2010 AT 11.00 A.M. UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS. F. No. 3/64/2010-PP-I, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF MINORITY AFFAIRS

Religions

After the separation of Sambhal district in 2013, Moradabad district became the second Muslim-majority district of Uttar Pradesh after Rampur.

+Religions in Moradabad by tehsil (2011)Tehsils Muslims HindusOthersThakurdwara54.53%44.83%0.64%Kanth44.95%54.28%0.77%Moradabad51.17%47.73%1.10%Bilari49.72%49.73%0.55%

Languages

At the 2011 Census of India, 82.48% of the population of the residual district spoke Hindi and 17.32% Urdu as their first language. The dialect spoken in the region is Khari Boli.

History

Delhi Sultanate Era (14th–16th century)

Moradabad's known history begins from the 14th century, when it was part of the territory to the east of Ramganga river known as Katehr. The region consisted all of Moradabad, Rampur, and while most of it was jungle at the time, it was a stronghold of the Katehria Rajputs, who used to live in tribes. Little is known about who the Katehrias were and how they came to this region. British administration believed that:

Either they were part of the various Rajput tribes that first colonized the area in 11th century, but were probably known by some other name because no mention of the Katehrias is found in the administrative or cultural texts from that period Or they migrated from the western parts of Ganga into the jungles of Katehr because of the excesses and hostilities of Muslim rulers such as Muhammad Ghori, Qutb ud-Din Aibak, and Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah.

The Katehrias were known for insurrections against Muslim rulers. As a result, they were targeted ruthlessly by the rulers and their generals, who tried to make sure that no inhabitant remained in the region. However, the Katehrias used to hide in the jungles and were never completely eliminated. Until the first quarter of 15th century, the whole of Katehr region was ravaged multiple times by almost all sultans of the Delhi Sultanate in revenge of the insurrections and surprise attacks done by Katehria Rajputs. The cycle ended only in 1424 after the death of Khizr Khan, the son of Alauddin Khilji, and subjection of Har Singh, a leader of Katehria Rajputs. After that the long-harassed region remained in peace for at least two centuries.

Mughal era (16th–18th century)

Sher Shah Suri's conquest (1539–1555) The Delhi Sultanate fell to Mughal Empire and its last Sultan Ibrahim Khan Lodi was defeated at the hands of Babur in 1526. With this, the way was paved for Katehr's entry to Mughal empire. Before his death in 1530, Babur dispatched his son Humayun with a large army to Sambhal to bring the region under their control. The mission was successful, though Humayun's reign was short-lived as he lost to Sher Shah Suri of Sur Empire in Battle of Chausa in 1539.

However, the reign of Suri empire was also short-lived as after the death of Islam Shah suri, successor of Sher Shah, a succession war broke out in the Suri empire and three rivals to the throne (Muhammad Adil Shah, his brother-in-law Ibrahim Shah Suri, and Sikandar Shah Suri) started fighting with each other. This helped Katehrias regain much of their lost power, and in 1554 they had possession not only of their regional stronghold Rampur but also of Bareilly and Chaupala (modern day Moradabad city). The succession war also provided an opportunity to Humayun to regain his lost territory, and he won it under the leadership of Bairam Khan in Battle of Sirhind on 22 June 1555. Bairam Khan, however, put another noble from Sher Shah's darbar named Isa Khan in charge of Sambhal as the latter had saved his life from Nasir Khan after Sher Shah's conquest.

Isa Khan was a capable administrator, who convinced Katehrias to cut down their jungles, repressed crime in the region, and imposed a revenue on them for the first time "according to the measurements". These reforms had a beneficial impact on the region and were also appropriated by Akbar during his reign.

Akbar and his successors During Akbar's reign, the sarkar of Sambhal consisted 20 parganas of Moradabad district. One among them was the Mughalpur pargna consisting of Thakurdwara and Chaupala (it is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari). It produced a revenue of 1,340,812 dams for the imperial treasury and it provided a force of 500 infantry and 100 cavalry to the Mughal army, while the cultivated area was 101,619 bighas. Although the territory was under Bairam Khan since the time of his father, Akbar appointed Ali Quli Khan as its administrator. Ali Quli cleared the region of Afghans before being appointed as governor to Jaunpur. Akbar ruled on the region by appointing governors who had their agency, and the last governor appointed by him was Mirza Ali Beg.

Almost no other major historical developments took place in the region during the reign of Akbar and his successors, Jahangir as well as Shah Jahan. However, that changed in 1624 when Raja Ram Singh, a Katehria leader who used to live in the jungles of Rampur, invaded the Tarai region. The raja of Kumaon complained about it to Shah Jahan, who then sent his general Rustam Khan Dakhani to deal with the disturbance. Rustam Khan captured Chaupala, put Ramsukh to death, and refounded the city as Rustamnagar. He built a new fort and the great mosque (Jama Masjid) on the banks of Ramganga river, which was the first Jama Masjid built on the banks of a river.

Shah Jahan, however, was not very pleased with Rustam Khan's actions. He summoned Rustam to his darbar and asked him to explain why he exceeded his instructions, and also the name that he had given to the new town. With great presence of mind, Rustam said that he has called it Muradabad in honour of Shah Jahan's young prince Murad Bakhsh. The emperor was satisfied, and he allowed Rustam Khan to govern the new town. Rustan Khan died in the Battle of Samugarh in 1658, post which a number of governors were appointed to the region.

There were some disturbances and uprisings in the region against Mughal rule in 1716 after the death of Bahadur Shah I, but they were swiftly repressed by the governors of those times. One governor of Kashmiri origin (Muhammad Murad) who had received the title of Rukn-ud-Daula even changed its name to Ruknabad and made it into a district suba in 1718, but that arrangement was short-lived as he was deprived of his office by Farrukhsiyar in 1719. The last Mughal governor of Moradabad was Sheikh Azmatullah of Lucknow, before the region came under Rohilla rule.

Rohillas (1742–1774)

In 1730s many people of various Afghan tribes were coming to India in search of service from Afghanistan. These people, though belonging to different tribes, were collectively known as Rohillas. They were settling in the Katehr region in large numbers, where they used to get employment as mercenaries for Mughal generals. One among them was Ali Mohammed Khan, who had acquired considerable estate in the region under patronage of governor Sheikh Azmatullah. In 1737, when Azmatullah took an expedition to Jansath, the stronghold of Barha Saiyids in Muzaffarnagar, Ali Mohammed joined him. He had by then built an army of thousands of mercenaries by inducting most of the Rohillas who used to arrive in the region. Nader Shah's invasion of Afghanistan, which forced more afghans to flee from their homeland, also helped his cause.

The Jansath expedition was a success, and that earned Ali Mohammed the title of Nawab from Sheikh Azmatullah. However, the increasing aggressiveness of Ali Mohammed led to an order being given by Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in 1742 to Raja Harnand, the Khattri governor of Moradabad, to expel the Rohillas from Katehr. This was, however, easier said than done. As Raja Harnand was waiting for astrologers with an army of 50,000 men (which also consisted the army of Bareilly's governor Abd-un-Nabi) in Bilari, Ali Mohammed attacked him with 12,000 Rohillas at night and the Mughal army was completely routed. Both governors (Raja Harnand as well as Abd-un-Nabi) were slain, and Ali Mohammed seized control of Sambhal, Moradabad, as well as Amroha and Bareilly. Though Wazir Qamr-ud-din sent his son Mir Mannu with an army to chastise the rebels, Rohillas convinced him to come to an agreement under which Ali Mohammed agreed to pay a fixed tribute to the Wazir every year, and married his daughter with a large dowry to Wazir's son. In turn, he was recognized as the Nawab of Rohilkhand.

Rohillas quickly expanded their territory beyond the regions they had conquered, and as a result they soon came into conflict with his neighbor, the powerful Nawab Safdar Jang of Oudh state. Now Ali Mohammed was once again facing the Mughal army, this time commanded by Emperor Muhammad Shah in person. They forced him to surrender, and in 1746 he was taken prisoner to Delhi. He was kept under close surveillance for six months, until Hafiz Rahmat Khan arrived with an army of 6,000 to demand his release. A compromise was effected, under which Ali Mohammed had to give two of his sons (Abdullah and Faizullah) as hostages to the emperor while he himself was freed and sent as a governor to Sirhind.

Ali Mohammed's surrender brought Moradabd again under the imperial administration of Mughal empire. Azmatullah put his son Fariduddin in charge of the administrative affairs, while Safdar Jang's forces set out on the mission to evict Rohillas from the Tarai region. However, Rohillas were not easily suppressed. They raided Moradabad and killed Fariduddin, post-which Raja Chhattarbhoj took his place as governor of Moradabad. But once Ahmad Shah Abdali invaded in 1748, Ali Mohammed returned to the region from Sirhind and expelled Chhatarbhoj, repossessing Moradabad. He was confirmed as the legitimate ruler of region by Ahmad Shah Abdali, and he evicted all the zamidars, including Thakur Mahendra Singh of Thakurdwara, to consolidate his power. Ali Mohammed died on 14 September 1748, and in the absence of his sons Hafiz Rehmat Khan was appointed as his successor by a council of nobles with Dunde Khan, the cousin of Ali Mohammed, as commander-in-chief.

War with Oudh state