HOSHANGABAD, a town and district of British India in the Nerbudda division of the Central Provinces. Founded by Hoshang Shah, a Malwa king in the 15th century, the town came into prominence after its capture by Bhopal in 172o. Between then and 1818, when it came under British rule, it was the scene of many conflicts between the Mahrattas and the Bhopal rulers. It has never been a big trading centre, but has enjoyed some im portance as a district headquarters, and its position on the Ner budda River and on the G.I.P. Railway (Indian Midland section) is a favourable one. Pop. 12,332, is a decline of over 2,50o on 1901, due to serious epidemics of plague and the influenza mortality of 1918.
The District of Hoshangabad, area of 3,681 sq.m., lies in the Nerbudda valley between the Vindhyas on the north and the Sat pura range on the south. The central plain contains rich black soil, wheat being the principal crop. The G.I.P. Railway from Bombay to Jubbulpore runs up the valley and at Itarsi, near Hoshangabad two branches take off, the northern to Delhi through Bhopal and Gwalior, the southern to Nagpur across the Satpuras.
The population was 486,63o at the last census, Hindus predomi nate, but there are 45,450 Animists and only 23,475 Mohamme dans. The district had a wheat boom in 1888, and in 1891 its population was 493,000, but bad years followed by plague and influenza caused a serious temporary decline; the people are, however, now generally prosperous and very fond of litigation. Cotton is grown in the west, and in the poorer tracts in the south and east there are millets and oil seeds. Apart from these it is one of the principal wheat-growing districts of the Province.
Wheat, cotton and oil seeds are largely exported. Dyeing, brass work and weaving are the chief local industries. There is a large area of Government forest on the south and the Bori teak forests are very valuable. The town of Harda, in the west, which had a population of 16,000 in the wheat boom, declined in 1921 to I I ,000, but rose again to 16,031 by 1931.