USAF 380 AEW new facilities 060214-F-0000J-001

A cantonment (, , or ) is a type of

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

. In

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

). In

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. U.S. United States Code, federal law names six armed forces: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States Navy, Na ...

parlance, a cantonment is, essentially, "a permanent residential section (i.e., barrack) of a fort or other military installation". The word ''cantonment'', derived from the French word '' canton'', meaning ''corner'' or ''district'', refers to a temporary military or winter encampment. For example, at the start of the

Waterloo campaign The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two War of the Seventh Coalition, Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied arm ...

in 1815, while the Duke of Wellington's headquarters were in Brussels, most of his Anglo–allied army of 93,000 soldiers were ''cantoned'', or stationed, to the south of Brussels.

List of permanent cantonments

Afghanistan

The former Sherpur Cantonment in

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, Afghanistan, which was the site of the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment (1879) in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878–1880), is now maintained as a British Army cemetery.

Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, cantonments are residential quarters for many military personnel as well as headquarters for different army units. A wide variety of military training is provided in Bangladesh cantonments: * Alikadam Cantonment, Bandarban * Bandarban Cantonment, Bandarban * Chittagong Cantonment, Chittagong * Comilla Cantonment, Comilla * Dhaka Cantonment,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

* Dighinala Cantonment, Khagrachari * Mithamain Cantonment, Kishoreganj * Guimara Cantonment, Chittagong * Halishahar Cantonment, Chittagong * Jahanabad Cantonment,

Khulna Khulna (, ) is the third-largest city in Bangladesh, after Dhaka and Chittagong. It is the administrative centre of the Khulna District and the Khulna Division. It is the divisional centre of 10 districts of the division. Khulna is also the seco ...

* Jahangirabad Cantonment, Bogra * Jalalabad Cantonment,

Sylhet Sylhet (; ) is a Metropolis, metropolitan city in the north eastern region of Bangladesh. It serves as the administrative center for both the Sylhet District and the Sylhet Division. The city is situated on the banks of the Surma River and, as o ...

* Jamuna Cantonment, Tangail * Jessore Cantonment,

Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...

* Kaptai Cantonment, Kaptai * Khagrachari Cantonment, Khagrachari * Kholahati Cantonment,

Dinajpur Dinajpur ( ) is a city and the district headquarters of Dinajpur district situated in Rangpur Division, Bangladesh. It was founded in 1786. It is located 413 km north-west of Dhaka. It is bounded on the north by Suihari, Katapara, Bangi ...

* Lalmonirhat Cantonment, Lalmonirhat * Barisal Cantonment,

Barisal Barisal ( or ; , ), officially known as Barishal, is a major city that lies on the banks of the Kirtankhola river in south-central Bangladesh. It is the largest city and the administrative headquarter of both Barisal District and Barisal Divi ...

* Majhira Cantonment, Bogra * Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka * Mymensingh Cantonment, Mymensingh * Padma Cantonment, Shariatpur * Postogola Cantonment, Dhaka * Qadirabad Cantonment,

Natore Natore is a city ("town" in some sources) in western Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of the Natore District. Its current administrator is Asha Khatun. The Narod river is passing through the center of the city with pollution from upstream industr ...

* Rajendrapur Cantonment, Gazipur * Rajshahi Cantonment,

Rajshahi Rajshahi (, ) is a metropolis, metropolitan city and a major Urban area, urban, administrative, commercial and educational centre of Bangladesh. It is also the administrative seat of the eponymous Rajshahi Division, division and Rajshahi Distr ...

* Ramu Cantonment, Cox's Bazar * Rangamati Cantonment, Rangamati * Rangpur Cantonment, Rangpur * Saidpur Cantonment, Nilphamari * Savar Cantonment, Dhaka * Shahid Salahuddin Cantonment, Ghatail * Sylhet Cantonment, Sylhet

India

Several cities in the

Indian subcontinent The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia below the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west. It is now divided between Bangladesh, India, and Pakista ...

, including

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Ambala Ambala () is a city and a municipal corporation in Ambala district in the state of Haryana, India, located on the border with the Indian state of Punjab (India), Punjab and in proximity to both states capital Chandigarh. Politically, Ambala ...

, Bellary,

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, Danapur,

Jabalpur Jabalpur, formerly Jubbulpore, is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the 3rd-largest urban agglomeration of the state and the 38th-largest of the country. Jabalpur is the administrative h ...

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

, Bathinda,

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, Nilgiris,

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...

, Ramgarh,

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

, and Trichy, contained large cantonments of the former

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

, with

and Ramgarh being two of the most important cantonments in

Northern India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

, second only to the headquarters at Rawalpindi (now in Pakistan). Meerut was established in 1803, and for 150 years was the largest cantonment in the region. Although cantonments in India were considered to be semi-permanent in the 18th and 19th centuries, by the turn of the 20th century, they had transitioned to being permanent garrisons. They were further entrenched as such, via the military reforms of Lord Kitchener in 1903, and the Cantonments Act of 1924. At India's Independence in 1947, India had 56 cantonments. After this India added 6 cantonments the last being Ajmer Cantonment in 1962, taking the total number to 62. They covered an area of . As of 2019, there were sixty-one "notified cantonments" in India, occupying an area of : twenty-five in Central Command, nineteen in Southern Command, thirteen in Western Command, four in Eastern Command, and one in Northern Command. On 24 July 2024, a press release notified that, in order to move on from older Colonial-era concepts, Ministry of Defence has decided to give up responsibility to consider to excise civil areas of certain Cantonments and merge them with neighbouring State municipalities. As of then, there were 58 Cantonments of which 10 were to be handed over in the first phase. The administration of civil areas was to be handed over from Cantonment Boards to the neighbouring

Municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

while the military region was to remain with the Armed Forces. However, on 27 April 2024, KhasYol had become the first cantonment board to be "de-notified". On 2 September 2024, it was reported that paperwork are being completed to handover civilian areas of Cantonments from the Indian Army. The Cantonments include Dehradun, Deolali, Nasirabad, Babina, Ajmer, Ramgarh, Mathura, Shahjahanpur, Clement Town and Fatehgarh. The report sain, "Indian Army's Central Command, South Western Command and Southern Command are in the process of completing the hand over exercise in coordination with

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

governments." Major cantonments and garrisons include the following:

Notified cantonments

# Central Command ## Agra Cantonment,

## Almora Cantonment,

## Ayodhya Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Bareilly Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Chakrata Cantonment, Uttarakhand ## Clement Town Cantonment, Uttarakhand (To be denotified) ## Danapur Cantonment,

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

## Dehradun Cantonment, Uttarakhand (To be denotified) ## Fatehgarh Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh (To be denotified) ## Gopalpur Cantonment,

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

## Jabalpur Cantonment,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

## Kanpur Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Landour Cantonment, Uttarakhand ## Lansdowne Cantonment, Uttarakhand ##

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Mathura Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh (To be denotified) ## Meerut Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Mhow Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh ## Nainital Cantonment, Uttarakhand ## Pachmarhi Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh ## Prayagraj Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Ramgarh Cantonment,

(To be denotified) ## Ranikhet Cantonment, Uttarakhand ## Roorkee Cantonment, Uttarakhand ## Shahajahanpur Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh (To be denotified) ## Varanasi Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh # Southern Command ## Ahmedabad Cantonment,

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

## Ahmednagar Cantonment,

## Ajmer Cantonment,

(To be denotified) ## Aurangabad Cantonment, Maharashtra ## Babina Cantonment, Jhansi,

(To be denotified) ## Belgaum Cantonment,

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

## Bellary Cantonment, Karnataka (Inactive, De-notified) ## Dehu Road Cantonment, Maharashtra ## Deolali Cantonment, Maharashtra (To be denotified) ## Jhansi Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh ## Kamptee Cantonment, Maharashtra ## Kannur Cantonment,

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

## Kirkee Cantonment, Maharashtra ## Morar Cantonment,

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

## Nasirabad Cantonment, Rajasthan (To be denotified) ## Pune Cantonment, Maharashtra ## Sagar Cantonment, Madhya Pradesh ##

Cantonment,

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

## St. Thomas Mount Cantonment, Chennai,

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

## Wellington Cantonment, Tamil Nadu # Western Command ## Ambala Cantonment,

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

## Amritsar Cantonment, Punjab, India, Punjab ## Bakloh, Bakloh Cantonment, Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh ## Dagshai, Dagshai Cantonment, Himachal Pradesh ## Dalhousie Cantonment, Himachal Pradesh ## Delhi Cantonment, Delhi ## Ferozepur Cantonment, Punjab ## Jalandhar Cantonment, Punjab ## Jammu Cantonment, Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir ## Jutogh, Jutogh Cantonment, Shimla, Himachal Pradesh ## Kasauli Cantonment, Himachal Pradesh ## Subathu Cantonment, Shimla Hills, Himachal Pradesh ## KhasYol Cantonment, Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh (de-notified on 2023) # Eastern Command ## Barrackpore, West Bengal ## Dum Dum Cantonment, West Bengal (Inactive, De-notified) ## Jalapahar, Darjeeling, West Bengal ## Lebong Valley, Lebong, Darjeeling, West Bengal ## Shillong Cantonment, Meghalaya # Northern Command ## Badami Bagh, Badamibagh Cantonment, Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir

Unlisted military cantonments

# Abohar Cantonment (Abohar, Punjab) # Akhnoor Cantonment (Akhnoor, Jammu and Kashmir) # Baddowal Cantonment (Ludhiana, Punjab) # Bangalore Cantonment (Bangalore, Karnataka) # Bikaner Cantonment (Bikaner, Rajasthan) # Bharatpur Cantonment (Rajasthan) # Bhatinda Cantonment (Bhatinda, Punjab) # Binnaguri Cantonment (West Bengal) # Bhuj Cantonment (Bhuj, Gujarat) # Bhopal Cantonment (Madhya Pradesh) # Bhubaneswar cantonment (Bhubaneswar, Odisha) # Beas Military Station (Punjab) # Chandimandir Cantonment (Chandigarh) # Dipatoli Cantonment (Ranchi, Jharkhand) # Faridkot Cantonment (Faridkot, Punjab) # Fazilka Cantonment (Fazilka, Punjab) # Gandhinagar Cantonment (Gandhinagar, Gujarat) # Gopalpur Cantonment (Brahmapur, Orissa) # Hisar Cantonment (Hisar, Haryana) # Itarana Cantonment (Alwar, Rajasthan) # Jaipur Cantonment (Jaipur, Rajasthan) # Jaisalmer Cantonment (Jaisalmer, Rajasthan) # Jodhpur Cantonment (Rajasthan) # Joshimath, Joshimath Cantonment (Joshimath, Uttarakhand) # Kapurthala Cantonment (Kapurthala, Punjab) # Khasa Cantonment (Amritsar, Punjab) # Kollam Cantonment (Kollam, India) # Ludhiana Cantonment (Punjab) # Mamun Cantonment (Pathankot, Punjab) # Missamari Cantonment (Missamari, Assam) # Nagrota Cantonment (Nagrota, Jammu & Kashmir) # Narengi Cantonment (Guwahati, Assam) # Pathankot Cantonment (Pathankot, Punjab) # Patiala Cantonment (Punjab) # Pithoragarh, Pithoragarh Cantonment (Pithoragarh , Uttarakhand) # Shahjahanpur Cantonment (Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh) # Solmara Cantonment (Tezpur, Assam) # Sri Ganganagar Cantonment (Sri Ganganagar, Rajasthan) # Suratgarh Cantonment (Suratgarh, Rajasthan) # Thiruvananthapuram Cantonment (Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala) # Tibri Cantonment (Gurdaspur, Punjab) # Udhampur Cantonment (Udhampur, Jammu & Kashmir) # Udaipur Cantonment (Rajasthan) # Vadodra Cantonment (Vadodra, Gujarat) # Varanasi Cantonment, Uttar Pradesh, Central Command # Siliguri Cantonment(West Bengal) # Shillong Cantonment(Meghalaya)

Ghana

* Cantonments, Accra

Nigeria

Cantonments in Nigeria refer to permanent military installations which house active personnel and their families. Cantonments in Nigeria include: * Airforce Cantonment, Ikeja, Lagos * Armed forces resettlement centre, Oshodi-Isolo, Oshodi, Lagos * Army Ordnance Cantonment, (also known as Abalti Barracks), Yaba, Lagos, Yaba, Lagos * Arn Cantonment, Yaba, Lagos * Badagry Cantonment, Badagry, Lagos * Dodan Cantonment, Ikoyi, Lagos * Ikeja Cantonment, Ikeja, Lagos * Marda Cantonment, Yaba, Lagos * Navy Town, Ojo, Lagos, Ojo, Lagos * Ojo Cantonment (also known as Palm Barracks), Ojo, Lagos, * Bonny Camp, Victoria Island, Lagos, Victoria Island * Jaji military cantonment, kaduna, * Dalet cantonment, kaduna, * Mogadishu cantonment, * Abiyssinia cantonment, * .Burma cantonment, * Adshanti cantonment, * Nigerian Defence Academy, Afaka, Kaduna

Pakistan

* Abbottabad Cantonment * Attock Cantonment * Allama Iqbal Cantonment * Bannu Cantonment * Bhawalpur Cantonment * Chaklala Cantonment * Clifton Cantonment, Karachi * Dera Ismail Khan Cantonment * Faisal Cantonment, Karachi * Faisalabad Cantonment * Gujranwala Cantonment * Hyderabad (Pakistan), Hyderabad Cantonment * Jhelum Cantonment * Kamra Cantonment, Kamra Cantonment * Karachi Cantonment * Kharian Cantonment * Khuzdar Cantonment * Korangi Creek Cantonment, Karachi * Lahore Cantonment * Walton Cantonment: Created out of the southern parts of the original Lahore Cantt., Walton, Lahore * Loralai Cantonment * Malir Cantonment, Karachi * Mangla Cantonment * Manora Cantonment, Karachi * Mardan Cantonment * Multan Cantt, Multan Cantonment * Murree Cantonment * Nowshera Cantonment * Okara, Pakistan, Okara Cantonment * Ormara Cantonment * Pano Aqil Cantonment * Peshawar Cantonment * Quetta Cantonment * Rawalpindi Cantonment * Sanjwal Cantonment * Sargodha Cantonment * Shorkot Cantonment (PAF Rafiqui) * Sialkot Cantonment * Taxila Cantonment * Wah Cantonment * Zhob Cantonment

Singapore

In Singapore, the term is used to denote a police cantonment.

South Africa

* Thaba Tshwane

Sri Lanka

* Panagoda Cantonment

United States

The United States military commonly uses the term "cantonment" to describe the permanent facilities at U.S. Army training bases as opposed to the field training areas. Cantonment areas often include housing (such as barracks and maid-service quarters), dining facilities, training classrooms, exchanges, and paved air fields.

References

External links

{{EB1911 poster, Cantonment
Cantonment Boards in India
Cantonments, Indian English idioms Military installations of India Barracks Military installations of Pakistan Military installations of Bangladesh