History

The earliest inhabitants of Rajasthan belonged to the Great Harappan Civilization. This area saw the arrival of the horse riding Aryans from central Asia in about 2000 BC. The Mauryan dynasty-one of the first dynasties to rule over large parts of India controlled this area in about 400 AD.

With the passing of time, however, this arid region became the scene of the ravaging onslaught brought about by the Huns and the Scythians. The settling of the Scythians in Rajasthan set the stage for the rise of the Rajputs who were the offspring’s of the Indo-Scythians. This new race proliferated into a number of new clans. Rajasthan thus became the homeland of these groups of warrior clans, collectively called Rajputs, who dominated this region for over a thousand years.

In medieval period the state was under the control of Muslim rulers. The important parts like Nagaur, Ajmer and Ranthambhore were the administrative centres of their power. In 13th century AD the most powerful state of Rajasthan was Mewar.

The modern period starts from 1707 and continued till 1947. This was the most significant period in the history of Rajasthan. The Mughal emperor Akbar created a united and separate province of Rajasthan. But the political disintegration started due to the fall of Mughal Empire. The Marathas got the chance to invade Rajasthan and in the year 1755, they occupied Ajmer.

In 1817 the British started to rule over the province and it was called Rajputana. After independence the process of integration was started in various parts of the country. The present state of Rajasthan is formed by the integration of different parts of the erstwhile princely states. This process of integration started in 1948 and ended on 1st November, 1956, when the old Rajaputana province was renamed as Rajasthan. The present state of Rajasthan comprises of 32 districts (including the new district of Karauli), 105 sub-divisions, 241 tehsils, 37889 inhabited villages and 222 towns.