Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College ( ur, Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind, italics=yes) was founded in 1875 by Sir

Syed Ahmad Khan Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI (17 October 1817 – 27 March 1898; also Sayyid Ahmad Khan) was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu-Muslim unity, h ...

, initially as a primary school, with the intention of taking it to a college level institution, known as Muhammedan Anglo Oriental Collegiate School. It started operations on

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

's 56th birthday, 24 May 1875.

History

It was established as ''Madrasatul Uloom Musalmanan-e-Hind'' in 1875, and after two years it became ''Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College''. The statesman

founded the predecessor of

Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...

, the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College, in 1875 having already established two schools. These were part of the movement of Muslim awakening associated with Syed Ahmad Khan which came to be known as

Aligarh Movement The Aligarh Movement was the push to establish a modern system of Western–style scientific education for the Muslim population of British India, during the later decades of the 19th century. The movement's name derives from the fact that i ...

. He considered competence in English and "Western sciences" necessary skills for maintaining Muslims' political influence, especially in Northern India. Khan's image for the college was based on his visit to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and he wanted to establish an education system similar to the British model. Sir Syed nursed the institution at a time when English education was a taboo. Intermediate classes were started in 1878, and in 1881 B.A. degree classes were added. In 1881, a civil service preparatory class was started for aspiring students. In 1887, it began to prepare students to enter

Thomason College of Civil Engineering Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (abbreviated IIT Roorkee) is a technical university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India. It is the oldest engineering institution in India, and was founded as the College of Civil Engineering in B ...

at Roorkee. In the beginning, the college was affiliated with the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every yea ...

for the matriculation examination but became an affiliate of

Allahabad University , mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees" , established = , type = Public , chancellor = Ashish Chauhan , vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava , head_label ...

in 1885. In 1877, the school was raised to college level and

Robert Bulwer-Lytton Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, (8 November 183124 November 1891) was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. He served as Viceroy of India between 1876 and 1880duri ...

, 1st Earl of Lytton The college also published a magazine by its name. Sir Syed said that their intention was to establish a university. It was the predecessor of

Principals

The former Principals of the college were. *

Henry George Impey Siddons Henry George Impey Siddons (1851 – 18 September 1936) was an Indian educationist. He was born in Indore, India and died on 18 September 1936 at Bath, Somerset, England. Career Siddons was educated at the Oxford University and then he returned ...

(1877–1884) *

Theodore Beck Theodore Beck (4 July 1859 – 2 September 1899Buckland, C. E., ''Dictionary of Indian biography'', 1906) was a Quaker and British educationalist working for the British Raj in India. From 1883 until his death in 1899 he was Principal of Muh ...

(1884–1899) *

Theodore Morison Sir Theodore Morison (9 May 1863 – 14 February 1936) was a British educationalist who served as a Member of the Council of India and Director of the University of London Institute in Paris. He is best known as an interpreter of Muslim life ...

(1899–1905) * William Archbold (1905–1909) * J. H. Towle (1909–1919) *

Ziauddin Ahmad Sir Ziauddin Ahmad (born Ziauddin Ahmed Zuberi; 13 February 1873 – 23 December 1947) was an Indian mathematician, parliamentarian, logician, natural philosopher, politician, political theorist, educationist and a scholar.1875 establishments in India Aligarh Muslim University Aligarh Movement Educational institutions established in 1875 hihihi {{UttarPradesh-university-stub