This article is all about historical, geographical, social, religious, cultural, amazing, rare, unknown interesting facts about Gujarat.
Quick Basic Facts about Gujarat
- Capital – Gandhinagar
- Official Language – Gujarati
- Area – 1,96,204 Sq Km
- Area Rank – 6th
- Population – 6,04,39,692 (2011 census)
- Population Rank – Ninth
- Sex Ratio – 919 females per 1000 male
- Literacy Rate – 79.3 %
- Literacy Rank – 12th
- Coast Line – 1600 Km
- No. of Districts – 33
- Assembly Seats – 182 (Unicameral)
- Lok Sabha Seats – 26
- Rajya Sabha Seats – 11
- Created on – 1 May 1960
- First Chief Minister – Jivraj Narayan Mehta
- First Governor – Mehdi Nawaz Jung
- Highest Peak – Girnar Hills, Junagadh, Height – 1031 mt
State Symbols of Gujarat
- State Tree – Banyan
- State Flower – Marigold
- State Fruit – Mango
- State Animal – Asiatic Lion
- State Bird – Greater Flamingo
- State Sport – Kabaddi and Cricket
Historical Facts about Gujarat
- Gujarat was main centre of Indus Valley civilization and site to important cities like Lothal, Dholavira and Dhoro. At lothal Ancient India’s first Port was established. More than 50 ruins of ancient cities have been excavated till now from Gujarat.
- The ancient Gujarat (arround 300 B.C.) regions depicts the prominent presence of Mauryan regime. Giringer (present Junagadh) was the epicenter of ancient Gujarat. Building of dam on Sudarshan lake, construction of the canals and engravings on the rocks of Junagadh was some of important construction works done during Mauryan rule of Gujarat.
- After decline of Mauryan rule, from 1st century to 300 AD most of Gujarat was ruled by Saka kings. This period is also marked with a number of Battles of Saka rulers with south Indian Satvahan kingdom.
- In 4th century AD the Saka Satrap rule came to end and Gujarat came under Gupta Empire.
- During the medieval period the port of Surat was the most important ports of India. Most of the trades to Europe was done through this port. It also gained the title Bab al Makkah meaning gateway to Makka.
- On 1 May 1960, Bombay state was bifurcated to form separate states of Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Geographical Facts about Gujarat
- Neighbouring States – Rajasthan in north, Madhya Pradesh in East, Maharashtra in South.
- Gujarat borders with Pakistan’s Sindh province in northwest and Arabian Sea in west. Length of international border shared with Pakistan is 506 Km.
- Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu lies in south of state and are totally surrounded with.
- Gujarat harbours the rivers like Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada, Tapi, Byas of which Sabarmati is the largest and Narmada covers longest distance in its flow through Gujarat. Sardar Sarovar Dam is built on Narmada.
- Narmada is the one of only three major rivers of the Peninsular India which flows from east to west. Other two major rivers are Tapti and Mahi.
- Gir Forest which is a National Park and Wildlife sanctuary is the only place where Asiatic Lions are found.
- Kutch district (area 45652 Sq Km) is the largest district of Gujarat by area. Kutch also holds the rank of Largest district of India in terms of area. Dang district is smallest in area in Gujarat.
- Ahmedabad is largest by population.
- Kutch district is bigger than 9 States of India namely – Haryana ( 44200 Sq Km), Kerala (38863 Sq Km), Manipur (22327 Sq Km), Meghalaya (22429 Sq Km), Mizoram(21081 Sq Km), Nagaland (16579 Sq Km), Tripura (10486 Sq Km) , Sikkim (7096 Sq Km) and Goa (3702 Sq Km).
- Out of 33, 15 districts of Gujarat are coastal. In other words, 15 districts forms the coastal boundary of Gujarat. Out of these 15 districts, Kutch district has longest coastal length.
Social and Cultural Facts about Gujarat
- Garba and Dandiya Ras are the main traditional folk dances of Gujarat
- Tippani is other folk dance which is performed by women mostly in Saurashtra region.
- Main festivals are Janmastmi, Makar Sankranti, Kite festival, Navratri.
- The majestic and magnificent Lakshmi Vilas Palace of Baroda was built by Sayaji Rao Gaekwad III in 1890. It is also called as Largest private building ever built in India till date. It is spread in 700 acres area and is four times bigger than Buckingham Palace of London.
- The famous temple of Somnath is one of 12 Jyotirlings of Shiva and is of extreme religious importance as per Hindu beliefs. This temple has a history of being attacked by Muslim attackers and then again built by Indian rulers. This temple was first looted and destructed by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1024 CE. This temple was rebuilt by Parmar and Solanki Kings. Second time it was destructed by Alauddin Khilji in 1296, then by Muzaffar Shah, then by Mahmud Begada and lastly by Auranzeb in 1665. It was finally rebuilt by Marathas in 1783.
- Dwarka is one of the four pilgrimage sites of Char Dham as per Hindu Beliefs. The other three are Kedarnath, Puri and Rameswaram.
- Literacy rate of Gujarat is 79.3 % which is above India’s average literacy rate of 74.04 %. Gujarat is 12th most literate state of India.
- National Institute of Oceanography scientifically proves that there was really a city submerged under sea in Dwarka. This confirms the Mahabharat legend about Dwarka city.
Economic Facts about Gujarat
- Gujarat is the state with least unemployment rate in India. As per figures of year 2015, only 1.2% work force are unemployed.
- Gujarat ranks first in India for production of Cotton and second in production of tobacco.
- In terms of total installed power capacity(Coal, Gas, Nuclear, Hydroelectric and others) Gujarat stands at second rank (Maharashtra being first). In terms of Gas based thermal power plant capacity, Gujarat holds the first rank.
- Valsad is India’s first Integrated horticulture district.
- The state is major producer of Inorganic chemicals such as Soda-ash, Caustic Soda and chemical fertilizers. Gujarat caters 91% of India’s total Soda Ash production. 66% of India’s salt production comes from Gujarat.
- The state produces nearly 63 % of milk in all over country.
- It is major salt producing state which accounts for 60 % of total salt produced.
- Jalalpur is known for its numerous large and small scale textile industries.
- Kalol and Ankleshwar are well known for their natural gas production.
- Surat is the world’s largest hub for diamond trade.
- Ahmedabad, Ankaleshwar and Vapi are the main centres for Chemical industries and Rajkot is the hub for engineering components and spares for automobiles, machine tools, forging and casting industries.
- Alang (near Bhavnagar) is the world’s largest ship breaking yard.
- The first Expressway of country is between Ahmadabad and Vadodara.
- Main agricultural products of Gujarat – Bajra, jowar, maize, rice, wheat, tobacco, cotton, groundnut and isabgol.
- Mineral Resources of Gujarat – Petroleum oil, Natural gas, Calcite, gypsum, manganese etc.
- Most Important Port of Gujarat – Kandala
- Industries of Gujarat – Textiles, Inorganic chemicals, Petrochemicals, drugs, oil refinery, pharmaceuticals, cement, machine tools, electrical and electronic goods etc.
- Gujarat is the state which has maximum number of working Airports. There are total 9 working airports in the state. These are in Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Bhavnagar, Bhuj, Surat, Jamnagar, Rajkot, Mehsana and Porbandar. Keshod airport is no longer serving now and the Dholera airport is proposed international airport near Ahmedabad.
Tourist Places of Gujarat
- Temples – Modhera Sun temple of Mehsana, Hatheesing Jain temple, Bhadreshwar jain pilgrimage, Shamlaji vaishnav temple, Akshardham temple, Parsee fire temple – Udwada
- Shrines – Jama masjid, Rani Rupmati mosque,
- Historic Places : Uparkot fort built by Yadavas, Rani ki Vav built by queen Udaymanti, Adalaj Vav – Gandhinagar