Gujarat

Gujarat is a state in the western part of India known locally as Jewel of the Western part of India. It has an area of 196,204 km2 (75,755 sq mi) with a coastline of 1,600 km (990 mi), most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula, and a population in excess of 60 million. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north, Maharashtra to the south, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea, as well as the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west. Its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India.

The state encompasses major sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, such as Lothal and Dholavira. Lothal is believed to be one of the world’s first seaports. Gujarat’s coastal cities, chiefly Bharuch and Khambhat, served as ports and trading centres in the Maurya and Gupta empires, and during the succession of royal Saka dynasties from the Western Satraps era, whose geographic territories included Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, South Sindh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh states.

Gujarat was known to the Ancient Greeks, the various Persian Empires, the Roman Republic, and was familiar in other Western centers of civilization through the end of the European Middle Ages. The oldest written record of Gujarat’s 2,000-year maritime history is documented in a Greek book titled The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century.

Gujarat is a state in western India. It has an area of 78,687 sq mi (203,800 km2) with a coastline of 1,600 km, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula, and a population in excess of 60 million. The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north, Maharashtra to the south, Madhya Pradesh to the east, and the Arabian Sea as well as the Pakistani province of Sindh on the west. Its capital city is Gandhinagar, while its largest city is Ahmedabad. Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India.
The state encompasses major sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, such as Lothal and Dholavira. Lothal is believed to be one of the world’s first ports. Gujarat’s coastal cities, chiefly Bharuch and Khambhat, served as ports and trading centers in the Maurya and Gupta empires, and during the succession of royal Saka dynasties from the Western Satraps era, whose territories included Saurashtra and Malwa: modern Gujarat, Southern Sindh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Mahatma Gandhi, who led the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule, was a Gujarati. Muhammmad Ali Jinnah, Founding father and first Governor general of Pakistan was from a Gujarati Muslim family. “Iron Man of India” Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister, was also from Gujarat. Dhirubhai Ambani, founder of Reliance industries was from Chorvad, Gujarat. Jamsetji Tata, who founded the famous Tata Group, India’s biggest conglomerate company, hailed from a Parsi Zoroastrian family in Navsari, Gujarat, and is today widely regarded as the “Father of Indian Industry”.
Gujarat played an important role in the economic history of India.It is one of the most industrialized states of India, and has a per capita GDP above the national average.