AHMEDNAGAR, or AHMADNAGAR  , a city and district of British India in the Central division of Bombay on the left bank of the river Sina . The town is of considerable antiquity, having been founded in 1494 by Ahmad Nizam Shah, on the site of a more ancient city, Bhingar . This Ahmad established a new monarchy, which lasted till its overthrow by Shah Jahan in 1636 . In 1759 the Peshwa obtained possession of the place by bribing the Mahommedan commander, and in 1791 it was ceded by the Peshwa to the Mahratta chief Daulat Rao Sindhia . During the war with the Mahrattas in 1803 Ahmednagar was invested by a British force under General Wellesley and captured . It was afterwards restored to the Mahrattas, but again came into the possession of the British in 1817, according to the terms of the treaty of Poona . The town has rapidly advanced in prosperity under British rule . Several mosques and tombs have been converted to the use of British administration . The old industries of carpet-weaving and paper-making have died out; but there is a large trade in cotton and silk goods, and in copper and brass pots, and there are factories for ginning and pressing cotton . Ahmednagar is A station on the loop line of the Great Indian Peninsula railway, 218 m. from Bombay, and a military cantonment, being the headquarters of a brigade in the 6th division of the western army corps . The population in 1901 was 43,032 . The DISTRICT OF AHMEDNAGAR is a comparatively barren tract with a small rainfall .

The

area is 6586 sq. m . The population in 19o1 was 837,695, showing a decrease of 6 % in the decade, due to the results of famine . The bulk of the population consists of Mahrattas and Kunbis, the latter being the agriculturists . On the north the district is watered by the Godavari and its tributaries the Prawara and the Mula; on the north-eastby the Dor, another' tributary of the Godavari; on the east by the Sephani, which flows through the valley below the Balaghat range; and in the extreme south by the Bhima and its tributary the Gor . The Sina river, another tributary of the Bhima, flows through the Nagar and Karjat talukas . The principal crops are millet, pulse, oil-seeds and wheat . The district suffered from drought in 1896-1897, and again in 1899–1900 .