Ahmedabad, located on the banks of river Sabarmati was named after Sultan Ahmed Shah, who was primarily responsible for building Ahmedabad. This exciting city was founded in the year 1411 AD and is today, known as the Manchester of the East, because of its once booming textile industry and being one of the highly industrialised cities in India, also known as India's Textile City. This city was originally built on the banks of the river Sabarmati, but it has expanded since.

Visitors in the hot season should bear in mind the sarcastic title given to Ahmedabad by the Mughul emperor, Jehangir: Gardabad, the City of Dust. Nevertheless, this comparatively little-visited city has a number of attractions for travellers including:

Ahmedabad has a chequered history. Over the centuries it has experienced periods of both majesty and decline. Sultan Ahmed Shah, the erstwhile ruler of Medieval Gujarat, founded it in AD 1411.

The city quickly grew as skilled artisans and traders were invited to settle. Its splendid mosques were clearly intended to assert Muslim supremacy, and heralded the new Indo-Islamic style of architecture, which though best displayed here, is a marked feature of many Gujarati cities.

However the Ahmedabad declined within a century of its being established and in 1572, Emperor Akbar seized it and assimilated it within the great Mughal Empire. It profited from a flourishing textiles trade, which exported velvets, silks and shimmering brocades as far a field as Europe. But after a devastating famine in 1630 AD and a period of political instability when government passed to and fro between the Muslims and the Hindu Marathas, the city went into decline.

Another famine in 1812 AD left it almost crippled, but the merchants and traders who had left during Maratha rule were encouraged to return five years later when taxes were lowered by the newly arrived British. Trade in opium grew as the British needed something to offer the Chinese in return for silk and tea. The introduction of modern machinery re-established Ahmedabad as a textile exporter that came to be known as the "Manchester of the east".

The city became the temporary capital of the state of Gujarat from 1960 to 1970 and is now regarded as a national pilgrimage centre, a symbol of non-violence and peace.

Stepping onto the streets of Ahmedabad is like stepping into a chaotic time-warp where the past and present are tumbled together in a happy, if somewhat ugly, mess, that deserves discovery. Here the visitor will find solace from the mayhem in the streets in their hotel or within the walls of its many splendid temples and museums. No matter where you choose to go, the history of the city will creep into your everyday adventures and you, like those that have been before you, will find the place endearing in its chaos.

In 17th century it was thought to be one of the finest cities in India. In the 18th century it went through a period of decline. Its industrial strenght once again raised the city up and, from 1915, it became famous as the site of Gandhi's Ashram.

The vibrant history of Ahmedabad commences with King Karandev I, the Solanki ruler who waged a war against the Bhil King Ashapall or Ashaval. Karandev Inamed this city Karnavati. In 1411 century Gujarat fell in the hands of Sultan Ahmed Shah, and he renamed the city to Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad remained the royal capital for a period of 162 years (1411-1573 A.D.).

This city was originally built on the banks of the river Sabarmati, but it has expanded since. Enclosed by a fort by Mohammed Begdo, the grandson of Ahmed Shah, to protect it from outside invaders, conditions in the city were chaotic at the time of Sultan Muzaffar III. Akbar, the great Moghul emperor, conquered Gujarat in 1573. During the Moghul reign, Ahmedabad became one of the thriving centres of trade in the country with textiles being exported as far as Europe. By 1753, the armies of Raghunath Rao and Damaji Gaekwad captured the city, which resulted in the end of the Mughal Rule in Ahmedabad. A famine in 1630 and the rule of the Peshwa and the Gaekwad almost destroyed the city. By 1818, the British East India Company took over the city.