HAZARIBAGH, a town and district of British India, in the Chota Nagpur division of Behar and Orissa. The town is situated at an elevation of 2,000 feet. Pop. (193r), 20,977.
The DISTRICT comprises an area of 7,021 sq. miles. In 1931 the population was 1,517,357. The physical formation of Hazaribagh exhibits three distinct features : (I) a high central plateau occupy ing the western section, the surface of which is undulating and cultivated; (2) a lower and more extensive plateau stretching along the north and eastern portions ; to the north the land is well cultivated, while to the east the country is of a more varied character, the elevation is lower, and the character of a plateau is gradually lost ; (3) the central valley of the Damodar river occupying the entire southern section. Although the salient char acteristics of the district are rock, hill and wide-spreading jungle, fine stretches of cultivation are met with in all parts, and the scenery is generally pleasing and often striking. Rice and oil seeds are the principal crops. The most important river is the Damodar, with its many tributaries, which drain an area of 2,48o sq. miles.
The district contains four important coalfields, the Giridih, Bokaro, Rangarn and Karanpura coalfields. In the Giridih field, where the mines are owned and worked by the East Indian Rail way company, the output in 1925 was over 750,000 tons. The Bokaro field produced 1 million tons in the same year. The Karanpura field, which has suffered from lack of facilities for transport, is expected to develop with the extension of railways to the west and east. The district also contains a large part of a mica-producing belt, which extends into the districts of Gaya and Monghyr, and produces about half of the world's total output of mica. The production of shellac is another local industry of some importance. The sub-divisional town of Giridih, on which the export of coal has hitherto centred, has 21,122 inhabitants. Parasnath hill is annually visited by large numbers of Jain wor shippers.