Junagadh district is a district of the

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n state of

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the 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 fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Its administrative headquarters is the city of

Junagadh Junagadh () is the headquarters of Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Located at the foot of the Girnar hills, southwest of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar (the state capital), it is the seventh largest city in the state. Literally ...

Geography

The district is located on the

Kathiawar Kathiawar () is a peninsula, near the far north of India's west coast, of about bordering the Arabian Sea. It is bounded by the Gulf of Kutch in the northwest and by the Gulf of Khambhat (Gulf of Cambay) in the east. In the northeast, it is ...

peninsula in western

. It is surrounded by

Rajkot District Rajkot district is one of the 33 districts of the Indian state of Gujarat. Located in Saurashtra peninsula, Rajkot city is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is the third-most advanced district in Gujarat and the fourth most po ...

(North),

Porbandar District Porbandar district is one of the 33 districts of Gujarat state in western India. The district covers an area of 2,316 km2. It had a population of 5.85,449 of which 48.77% were urban as of 2011 census This district was carved out of Junagadh ...

(North-West), Amreli District (East). To the South and West is the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

. Porbandar, was earlier a part of this district, before the Porbandar district was carved out of Junagadh district. Junagadh has a mountain range called

Girnar Girnar is an ancient hill in Junagadh, Gujarat, India. Geology Mount Girnar is a major igneous plutonic complex which intruded into the basalts towards the close of the Deccan Trap period. The rock types identified in this complex are ga ...

which is a place of pilgrimage for

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

and

Jainism Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle bein ...

Divisions

Taluk A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluka, or taluk) is a local unit of administrative division in some countries of South Asia. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administr ...

as of Junagadh are: Junagadh City, Bhesan subdistrict, Junagadh Rural, Keshod, Malia, Manavadar, Mangrol, Mendarda, Vanthali, Visavadar

Transportation

Junagadh is well connected by road and railway networks. It is about 100 km from Rajkot and 350 km from Ahmedabad. National highway 8D connects Junagadh to Rajkot via Jetpur. Junagadh railway station is also well connected with Rajkot, Ahmedabad. It is in the city area. Junagadh also has an airport at

Keshod Keshod is a town (Now a City) and a Taluka in Junagadh District. History on the name It has been told by many old aged people of this city that the name of the city came from a very interesting incident happened during the Mahabharata time. K ...

which has limited connectivity with

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 ...

. The district has a long shore line and has ports like

Veraval Veraval also known as Somnath is a municipality and the headquarters of Gir Somnath district in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is also known for the hub of fishing industries in India. Geography Veraval is located at . It has an average ele ...

, Mangrol, Chorwad etc. But it has limited usages other than fisheries industry. As of October 2011, the government of India has given its approval for a rope way on Mount and in 2021 it got completed and was inaugurated by Prime minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament fro ...

. In the past helicopter service was available for Mount Girnar but it is now discontinued.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census Junagadh district has a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 2,743,082, roughly equal to the nation of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

or the US state of

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. This gives it a ranking of 142nd in India (out of a total of 640). The district has a population density of . Its

population growth rate Population growth is the increase in the number of people in a population or dispersed group. Actual global human population growth amounts to around 83 million annually, or 1.1% per year. The global population has grown from 1 billion in 1800 to ...

over the decade 2001–2011 was 12.01%. Junagadh has a

sex ratio The sex ratio (or gender ratio) is usually defined as the ratio of males to females in a population. As explained by Fisher's principle, for evolutionary reasons this is typically about 1:1 in species which reproduce sexually. Many species d ...

of 952

females Female (symbol: ♀) is the sex of an organism that produces the large non-motile ova (egg cells), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females ...

for every 1000 males. It had a literacy rate of 67.7% in 2001 which increased to a

literacy rate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, huma ...

of 76.88% in 2011. The divided district has a population of 1,525,605. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are 151,971 and 37,810 which is 9.96% and 2.48% of the population respectively. Hindus are 1,348,315 and Muslims 170,338 which is 88.38% and 11.17% of the population respectively. At the time of 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 ...

, 97.44% of the population in the district spoke

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

as their first language.

Politics

Notable personalities

Narsinh Mehta Narsinh Mehta, also known as Narsinh Bhagat, was a 15th-century poet-saint of Gujarat, India, honored as the first poet, or ''Adi Kavi,'' of the Gujarati language. Narsinh Mehta is member of Nagar Brahman community. Narsinh became a devotee of K ...

(1414?–1481?), poet-saint, born in

Talaja, Bhavnagar Talaja is a town and a municipality in Bhavnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Geography Talaja is located at . It has an average elevation of 19 metres (62 feet). Talaja is located on national Highway No. 8 in between ...

. * Putlibai Gandhi - mother of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

Keshubhai Patel Keshubhai Patel (24 July 192829 October 2020) was an Indian politician who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 1995 and from 1998 to 2001. He was a six-time member of Gujarat Legislative Assembly. He was a member of RSS since 1940s, of Bharatiya ...

(1928–2020), politician who served as

Chief Minister of Gujarat The Chief Minister of Gujarat is the chief executive of the government of the Indian state of Gujarat. The governor appoints the chief minister, whose council of ministers are collectively responsible to the assembly. The chief minister's ter ...

, was born in

Visavadar Visavadar is a town and a municipality in Junagadh district in the Indian state of Gujarat. Geography Visavadar is located at . It has an average elevation of 91 metres (298 feet). Demographics India census, Visavadar had a populati ...

in Junagadh *

Wazir Mohammad Wazir Mohammad (born 22 December 1929) is a former Pakistani cricketer and banker who played in 20 Test matches for Pakistan national cricket team between 1952 and 1959. Wazir was a determined middle-order batsman with a strong defence. His h ...

(1929–), cricketer, born at Junagadh, later settled in Pakistan *

Dhirubhai Ambani Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (28 December 1932 – 6 July 2002), popularly known as Dhirubhai Ambani, was an Indian business tycoon who founded Reliance Industries. Ambani took Reliance public in 1977 and was worth US$2.9 billion in 2002 upon hi ...

(1932–2002), business magnate and entrepreneur, born at Chorwad, Junagadh *

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...

(1934–2016), cricketer, born at Junagadh, settled in Pakistan after 1947 * Rajendra Shukla (1942–), poet, born at Bantwa, Junagadh *

Mushtaq Mohammad Mushtaq Mohammad PP (Urdu: مشتاق محمد‎; born 22 November 1943) is a Pakistani cricket coach and former cricketer who played in 57 Tests and 10 ODIs from 1959 to 1979. A right-handed batsman and a leg-spinner, he is one of the mos ...

(1943–), cricketer, born at Junagadh, later settled in Pakistan *

Sadiq Mohammad Sadiq Mohammad ( ur, , born 3 May 1945) is a former Pakistani cricketer and younger brother of the Pakistani batsmen Hanif and Mushtaq Mohammad. His Test debut was the first Test between Pakistan and New Zealand in 1969, and he played his final ...

(1945–), cricketer, born at Junagadh, later settled in Pakistan *

Parveen Babi Parveen Babi (4 April 1954 – 20 January 2005) was an Indian actress and model. Recognized for her roles in Hindi films throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Babi was known for her "glamorous" acting style, and was one of the highest-paid ...

(1949–2005), Bollywood actress, born at Junagadh * Nawab Muhammad Mahabat Khan

Flora and fauna

Junagadh contains the

Gir Forest National Park Gir National Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, also known as Sasan Gir, is a forest, national park, and wildlife sanctuary near Talala Gir in Gujarat, India. It is located north-east of Somnath, south-east of Junagadh and south-west of Amreli. ...

, which is the only home to

Asiatic lion The Asiatic lion is a population of '' Panthera leo leo'' that today survives in the wild only in India. Since the turn of the 20th century, its range has been restricted to Gir National Park and the surrounding areas in the Indian state of Gujar ...

s. Mount Girnar is also declared a forest reserve for Bamboos. "Girnari Giddh", the long-billed vultures, are found only on Girnar, as the Girnar region alone accounts for about 25 per cent of the species and about 10 per cent of the total vulture population in the

State.

Education

Junagadh Agricultural University is majorly famous here. Other educational institutes include: # N R Vekaria Institutes of Business Management Studies # Amrut Institute, Junagadh # http://www.bknmu.edu.in/

References

External links

Official websiteJunagadh Collectorate official websiteJunagadh Jilla Panchayat official website
{{Authority control Districts of Gujarat