Belgaon

Belgaum
City
Belagavi
Rani Chenamma of Kittur
Nickname(s): Cradle of Infantry, Kunda Nagari
Belgaum Show map of Karnataka Belgaum Show map of India Location of Belagavi in Karnataka
Coordinates: 15°51′N 74°30′E / 15.850°N 74.500°E / 15.850; 74.500Coordinates: 15°51′N 74°30′E / 15.850°N 74.500°E / 15.850; 74.500
Country	India
State	Karnataka
District	Belagavi district
Regions of Karnataka	Western ghats
Government
• Type	District Administration
• Body	Belagavi Municipal Corporation
• Administrator	Shri. N. Jayaram
• Mayor	Sanjyot Bandekar
• Deputy Mayor	Nagesh Mandolkar
Area
• City	94 km2 (36 sq mi)
Area rank	4
Elevation	784 m (2,572 ft)
Population (2011)
• City	488,292
• Density	5,200/km2 (13,000/sq mi)
• Metro	610,350
Language
• Official	Kannada
Time zone	ST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	590001 to 590020
Telephone code	(+91) 831
Vehicle registration	KA-22
Website	belgaumcity.gov.in

Belgaum (officially known as Belagavi, and earlier known "Venugrama" or the "Bamboo Village",) is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous Belgaum division and Belgaum district. The Government of Karnataka has proposed making Belgaum the second capital of Karnataka, hence a second state administrative building Suvarna Vidhana Soudha was inaugurated on 11 October 2012.

Belgaum has been selected in first phase out of 20 cities, as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a smart city under PM Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission.

The Vadgoan and Madhavpur suburbs of Belgaum were important urban centres between 400 BC and 300 AD. The present city was built in the 12th century AD by the Ratta dynasty, who were based at nearby Saundatti. The fort of Belgaum was built in 1204 by a Ratta officer named Bichiraja. Belgaum served as the capital of that dynasty between 1210 and 1250, before the Rattas were defeated by the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri. Belgaum then briefly came under the sway of the Yadavas of Devagiri. The Khiljis of Delhi invaded the region at the turn of the 14th century and succeeded in ruining both indigenous powers of the region, the Yadava and the Hoysalas, without providing a viable administration. This lacuna was supplied by the Vijayanagara Empire, which became the established power of the area by 1336. A century later, the town became a bustling trading hub for diamonds and wood, owing to its favourable geographic location in the kingdom.

In 1474, the Bahmani Sultanate, then ruling from Bidar, captured the fort of Belgaum. Shortly afterwards, in 1518, the Bahamani sultanate splintered into five small states and Belgaum became part of the Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur. The Adilshahis reinforced the fort of Belgaum; much of the existing structure dates from 1519. In 1686, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb overthrew the Bijapur sultanate and Belgaum passed nominally to the Mughals. However, the Mughal empire went into decline after the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, and his principal detractors, the Maratha confederacy, took control of the area during the rule of the Peshwas ("prime ministers"). In 1776, the country was overrun by Hyder Ali of Mysore, but was retaken by the Peshwa with British assistance. In 1818, the British deposed the last Peshwa and annexed his kingdom, which included Belgaum. Kitturu Chennamma (1778–1829) was the queen of the princely state of Kittur in Karnataka. In 1824, 33 years before the 1857 War of Independence in Murree, she led an armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse. The resistance ended in her martyrdom and she is remembered today as one of the earliest Indian and the First Indian Queen to have fought for independence.