India’s most populous state holds over 241 million people
Uttar Pradesh—“Northern Province”—is India’s most populated state, with more than 241 million residents. Created in 1950 as successor to the United Provinces (renamed 1935 from the 1902 merger of North-Western Provinces and Oudh), it spans cultural belts from Braj and Rohilkhand to Awadh and Purvanchal.
Covering 243,286 square kilometres, about 7.3 percent of India, it is the fourth-largest state by area and touches more neighbours than any other: nine states, the union territory of Delhi, and Nepal to the north. Lucknow is the capital and Prayagraj, seat of the High Court, the judicial capital; the state is split into 18 divisions and 75 districts. The Ganges and Yamuna meet at the Triveni Sangam in Prayagraj, and most of the land is heavily farmed Indo-Gangetic plain, with forest on just 6.1 percent, mainly in the northern Terai.
Hindi is the official and dominant language, with Urdu also official. Mauryan, Gupta, Vardhana and Pala rulers, then the Delhi sultans and the Mughals, all governed from heartlands here, and the region was central to the 1857 rebellion and the independence movement. Varanasi, Mathura, Ayodhya and Prayagraj rank among Hinduism’s holiest places, and the Buddha preached his first sermon at nearby Sarnath. Once famous for sugar, the economy now leans on tourism, hotels, property and finance, yet ranks only third among the states at about 410 billion dollars; UP sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.
Hunter-gatherers were present between roughly 85,000 and 72,000 years ago, and Paleolithic finds date to about 31,000 to 21,000 years ago. Microlithic camps like Sarai Nahar Rai, around 10,000 BCE, show hunting, fishing and burials, while Koldihwa records rice farming and cattle, sheep and goats, with villages from about 6000 BCE.
Copper-using Ochre Coloured Pottery culture, Painted Grey Ware at Hastinapur and Northern Black Polished Ware in cities such as Kaushambi and Varanasi trace growing urban life. Seven of ancient India’s sixteen great realms lay wholly inside today’s borders, including Kosala, whose capital Ayodhya is where Hindu tradition places Rama’s reign; Krishna is said to have been born at Mathura.
Source: Uttar Pradesh
