Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad, founded in 1411 by Sultan Ahmad Shah on the eastern banks of the Sabarmati, grew larger and wealthier until dynastic decay and anarchy caused a decline and its capture by Akbar in 1572. Its renewed eminence under the Mughals ceased after Aurangzeb's death in 1707. The British annexed Gujarat in 1818 and the city's first cotton mills were opened in 1859-61. The city grew again and became the largest inland industrial centre in India. It was the temporary capital of Gujarat in 1960, until the state administration shifted to Gandhinagar in 1970. In 2001 the city was rocked by a massive earthquake that killed thousands of people, and in 2002 the city witnessed one of the worst communal riots since the partition; over a thousand people, mostly Muslims, were killed, allegedly with the tacit support of the ruling right wing Hindu nationalist party, BJP.
