ALIGARH  , a

city and district of British India in the Meerut division of the United Provinces . The city, also known as Koil, was a station on the East Indian railway, 876 m. from Calcutta . Sir Sayad Ahmad Khan, K.C.S.I., who died in 1898, founded in 1864 the Aligarh Institute and Scientific Society for the translation into the vernacular of western literature; and afterwards the Mahommedan Anglo-Oriental college, under English professors, with an English school attached . The college meets with strong support from the enlightened portion of the Mussulman community, whose aim is to raise it to the status of a university, with the power of conferring degrees . The population (1901) 70,434, showed an increase of 14% in the decade . There are several flour-mills, cotton-presses and a dairy farm . Aligarh Fort, situated on the Grand Trunk road, consists of a regular polygon, surrounded by a very broad and deep ditch . It became a fortress of great importance under Sindhia in 1759, and was the depot where he drilled and organized his battalions in the European fashion with the aid of De Boigne . It was captured from the Mahrattas under the leadership of Perron, another French officer, by Lord Lake's army, in September 1803, since which time it has been much strengthened andimproved . In the rebellion of 1857 the troops stationed at Aligarh mutinied, but abstained from murdering their officers, who, with the other residents and ladies and children, succeeded in reaching Hathras . The district of Aligarh has an area of 1957 sq. m . It is nearly a level plain, but with a slight elevation in the centre, between the two great rivers the Ganges and Jumna .

The only other important

river is the Kali Nadi, which traverses the entire length of the district from north-east to south-west . The district is traversed by several railways and also by the Ganges canal, which is navigable . The chief trading centre is Hathras . In 1901 the population was 1,200,822, showing an increase of 15% in the decade, due to the extension of irrigation . There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton .