Delhi
This article is about the National Capital Territory of Delhi. For the capital city of India, see New Delhi.
For other uses, see Delhi (disambiguation).
| Delhi दिल्ली | |
| — Capital — | |
 | |
  Delhi | |
| Coordinates | 28°36′36″N 77°13′48″E / 28.61°N 77.23°ECoordinates: 28°36′36″N 77°13′48″E / 28.61°N 77.23°E |
| Country | India |
| Territory | Delhi |
| Lt. Governor | Tejendra Khanna |
| Chief Minister | Sheila Dikshit |
| Mayor | Prithvi Raj Sawhney |
| Legislature (seats) | Unicameral (70) |
| Population • Density • Metro | 12,565,901[1] (2nd) (2010[update]) • 11,463 /km2 (29,689 /sq mi) • 18,916,890[2] (2nd) (2010[update]) |
| HDI (2005) |  0.789 (medium) |
| Official languages | English, Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi |
|---|---|
| Time zone | IST (UTC+5:30) |
| Area • Elevation | 1483 km2 (573 sq mi) • 239 metres (784 ft) |
| Website | delhigovt.nic.in |
 | |
Delhi, locally pronounced as Dilli (Hindi: दिल्ली , Urdu: دِلّی) or Dehli (Hindi: देहली, , Urdu: دهلی), officially National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India.[4][5][6][7] It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with more than 12.25 million inhabitants in the territory. There are nearly 22.2 million residents in the greater National Capital Region urban area (which also includes Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad along with other smaller nearby towns). The name Delhi is often also used to include urban areas near the NCT, as well as to refer to New Delhi, the capital of India, which lies within the metropolis. Although technically a federally administered union territory, the political administration of the NCT of Delhi today more closely resembles that of a state of India with its own legislature, high court and an executive council of ministers headed by a Chief Minister. New Delhi, jointly administered by both the federal Government of India and the local Government of Delhi, is also the capital of the NCT of Delhi.
Located on the banks of the River Yamuna, Delhi has been known to be continuously inhabited since at least the 6th century BC, Delhi is also widely believed to have been the site of Indraprastha, the legendary capital of the Pandavas during the times of the Mahabharata. Delhi re-emerged as a major political, cultural and commercial city along the trade routes between northwest India and the Gangetic plain after the rise of the Delhi sultanates.[11][12] It is the site of many ancient and medieval monuments, archaeological sites and remains. In 1639, Mughal emperor Shahjahan built a new walled city in Delhi which served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1649 to 1857.[13][14] though human habitation is believed to have existed since the second millennium BC.
After the British East India Company had gained control of much of India during the 18th and 19th centuries, Calcutta became the capital both under Company rule and under the British Raj, until George V announced in 1911 that it was to move back to Delhi. A new capital city, New Delhi, was built to the south of the old city during the 1920s. When India gained independence from British rule in 1947, New Delhi was declared its capital and seat of government. As such, New Delhi houses important offices of the federal government, including the Parliament of India, as well as numerous national museums, monuments, and art galleries.
Owing to the migration of people from across the country, Delhi has grown to be a multicultural, cosmopolitan metropolis. Its rapid development and urbanisation, coupled with the relatively high average income of its population, has transformed Delhi into a major cultural, political, and commercial centre of India.
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