Akola () is a

municipal corporation A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ...

and the third largest city in Vidarbha after

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nagpur is projected to ...

and

Amravati Amravati (pronunciation ( help·info)) is the second largest city in the Vidarbha region and ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India. It is administrative headquarters of Amravati district and Amravati division which includes Akola, Buld ...

and tenth largest city in Maharashtra. is located about east of the state capital,

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, and west of the second capital,

. Akola is the administrative headquarters of the

Akola district Akola district (Marathi pronunciation: �kolaː is a district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The city of Akola is the district headquarters. Akola district forms the central part of Amravati Division, which was the former British Raj Ber ...

located in the Amravati division, and is governed by the Akola Municipal Corporation. Akola is located north-central of Maharashtra state, western India, on the banks of the

Morna River The Morna River is a river of Western India. It is one of the chief tributaries of Purna River and empties in it at Andura Village in Akola District, Maharashtra. Etymology Lots of co-operative society's name given after Morna river.like' Morna ...

. Although it is not considered a common tourist destination, Akola is an important city due to its history, culture, politics, and agriculture. It also has a prominent road and rail junction in the

Tapti River The Tapti River (or Tapi) is a river in central India located to the south of the Narmada river that flows westwards before draining into the Arabian Sea. The river has a length of around and flows through the states of Maharashtra, Gujara ...

valley that functions as a commercial trading center. Akola is an important educational center with several colleges affiliated with the Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University. The city is developing into a market center. The primary language spoken by the people of Akola is Marathi.

History

Early medieval history (Classical)

Akola is mentioned to be a part of Berar province and the legendary kingdom of

Vidarbha Vidarbha (Pronunciation: �id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...

in the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

epic

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the s ...

. Berar also formed part of the Mauryan Empire during the reign of

Ashoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, s ...

(272 to 231 BCE), before being ruled by the

Satavahana The Satavahanas (''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty based in the Deccan region. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavahana rule began in the la ...

dynasty (2nd century BCE – 2nd century CE), the

Vakataka The Vakataka dynasty () was an ancient Indian dynasty that originated from the Deccan in the mid-3rd century CE. Their state is believed to have extended from the southern edges of Malwa and Gujarat in the north to the Tungabhadra River in th ...

dynasty (3rd to 6th centuries), the Chalukya dynasty (6th to 8th centuries), the Rashtrakuta dynasty (8th to 10th centuries), the Chalukya dynasty (10th to 12th centuries), and the

Yadava dynasty The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri ( IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of ...

Devagiri Daulatabad Fort, also known as Devagiri Fort or Deogiri Fort, is a historic fortified citadel located in Daulatabad village near Aurangabad, Maharashtra, India. It was the capital of the Yadava dynasty (9th century–14th century CE), for a br ...

(late 12th to early 14th centuries).

Late medieval history

A period of Muslim rule began when

Alauddin Khalji Alaud-Dīn Khaljī, also called Alauddin Khilji or Alauddin Ghilji (), born Ali Gurshasp, was an emperor of the Khalji dynasty that ruled the Delhi Sultanate in the Indian subcontinent. Alauddin instituted a number of significant administrativ ...

Sultan of Delhi The following list of Indian monarchs is one of several lists of incumbents. It includes those said to have ruled a portion of the Indian subcontinent, including Sri Lanka. The earliest Indian rulers are known from epigraphical sources fou ...

, conquered the region in the early 14th century. The region was part of the Bahmani Sultanate, which broke away from the Delhi Sultanate in the middle of the 14th century. The Bahmani Sultanate itself broke up into smaller sultanates at the end of the 15th century, and in 1572 Berar became part of the

Nizam Shahi The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a late medieval Indian Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur. Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor of Junnar after defeating the Bahmani army led by general J ...

sultanate, based at Ahmednagar. The Nizam Shahis ceded Berar to the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

in 1595, and the Mughals ruled the Berar province during the 17th century. The Akola fort was heavily fortified during the Mughal king Aurangzeb's rule. As Mughal rule started to unravel at the start of the 18th century, Asif Jah I,

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

seized the southern provinces of the empire (including Berar) in 1724 to form an independent state.

Maratha Empire

The region came under the rule of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and later his sons as the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...

rose from 1674 to 1760. When Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj I died in 1749, he appointed Peshwa as the head of the Maratha Empire with certain conditions. The third battle of Panipat in 1761 crippled the Maratha Empire and weakened the power of Peshwa, but Berar remained under Maratha rule. The Battle of Argaon in 1803 was fought in Akola between the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and the Marathas during the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

. In the

third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

, the last Peshwa,

Baji Rao II Shrimant Peshwa Baji Rao II (10 January 1775 – 28 January 1851) was the 13th and the last Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. He governed from 1795 to 1818. He was installed as a puppet ruler by the Maratha nobles, whose growing power prompted ...

, was defeated. In 1853, the Akola district together with the rest of Berar came under the administration of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. Berar was divided into East and West Berar with the Akola district being included in the west. In 1903, Berar was leased to the Nizam of Hyderabad by the British East India Company in return for the debt.

Post-independence

After

India's independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

in 1947 from the British Government, the newly formed country was divided into different states. The

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

's proposed linguistic provinces plan before the Independence of India had positioned Akola as the headquarters of the Berar region. The states and provinces of India were reorganized in 1956, and the region of Berar was divided among different states. Akola became a part of bilingual state of Bombay which was further divided into two states in 1960 when Akola became a part of the new state of Maharashtra.

Demographics

According to the

2011 Census of India The 2011 Census of India or the 15th Indian Census was conducted in two phases, house listing and population enumeration. The House listing phase began on 1 April 2010 and involved the collection of information about all buildings. Information ...

, Akola City had a population of 427,146 and an area of about . After the city's municipal limits were extended in Aug 2016, it was recorded to have a population of 537,137.

Geography and climate

Governance

Police administration

Akola Police maintains eight police stations in the Akola city subdivision that cover the metropolitan area of the city. The government also approved the creation of a new Railway Police Akola subdivision that will include Akola, Wardha, and Badnera railway police units. The Akola Police subdivision falls under the Nagpur District of Railway. Mahabeej Bhavan Akola

Transportation

Air

Akola Airport Akola Airport is an airport located in Akola in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The airport can currently said to be non-functional for public use, as of now no public airplane services are available in Akola. It is natively called Dr. Panjabr ...

(also known as Shioni Airport) is the domestic airport of Akola and is above sea level. It was built by British authorities in the 1940s and regularly sent flights to Mumbai. Now it is non-functional and has one runway (4,600×145 ft). The airport's expansion and use have been delayed as it is unable to get land from the university of

Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV or PKV) is an agricultural university located at Akola, in Maharashtra, India, in the Vidarbha region. The university is entrusted with the responsibility of agricultural education, research an ...

Road

NH-6, which connects Surat to Kolkata, passes through the city . State Highways No. 68 and 69 also pass through the municipal limits. Other highways include State Highway 204, State Highway 200: Akola – Amravati, and State Highway 197. NH-161 begins from Akola and reaches in Telangana near Hyderabad.

Education

Agricultural university

Akola houses Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV), whose jurisdiction covers all eleven districts of Vidarbha.

Medical science colleges

* Government Medical College, Akola

Notable people

Vasantrao Deshpande Vasantrao Deshpande (2 May 1920 – 30 July 1983) was a Hindustani classical vocalist renowned for his contribution to Natya Sangeet (musical dramas). Early life Vasantrao Deshpande was born into a Deshastha Brahmin family in Murtizapur, Akol ...

Anand Modak Anand Modak ( mr, आनंद मोडक) (13 May 1951 – 23 May 2014) was an acclaimed Marathi film composer and music director in Marathi cinema and Marathi theatre, known for his experimental style. He is notable films include ''Lapan ...

Vijay P. Bhatkar Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar PB PS is an Indian computer scientist, IT leader and educationalist. He is best known as the architect of India's national initiative in supercomputing where he led the development of Param supercomputers. He is a P ...

Patrick Barr Patrick David Barr (13 February 1908 – 29 August 1985) was an English actor. In his career spanning over half a century, he appeared in about 144 films and television series. Biography Born in Akola, British India in 1908, Barr was educate ...

* Vitthal Wagh * Sudharak Olwe *

Shivdeep Lande Shivdeep Wamanrao LandeWhy is Patna crying for this cop?"" is an IPS Officer of 2006 Batch. He is currently serving as Deputy Inspector General- Kosi division, Bihar. Earlier, he served as the Superintendent of Police in Araria, Purnia and Mun ...

Ranjit Patil Ranjit Patil (born 20 January 1964) is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council, belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party and was State General Secretary Maharashtra Unit. He represents the Amravati graduate constituency. He was appointed Mah ...

* Sanjay Shamrao Dhotre * T. S. Korde * Vallabhdas Aidan Mohta Raj-Rajeshwar Temple Akola