BANGALORE, a city of India, the capital of the native State of Mysore, and the largest British cantonment in the south of India. It is 3, I 13f t. above sea-level, and 219m. W. of Madras by rail. Pop. (1931) 172,357, was nearly double that of 19". This rapid increase is due to the development of industry and commerce. The foundation of the present fort was laid by a husbandman who, probably in the i6th century, left his native village and settled a few miles to the north of Bangalore, which he conquered. Later, Bangalore was in the possession of Shahji, father of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta sway, and then of his son, who sold it to the raja of Mysore in 1687. In Bangalore was granted as a jagir or fief to Hyder Ali, afterwards usurper of Mysore, who greatly enlarged and strengthened the fort, which on his expulsion from Seringapatam in 1760, served as his refuge.
In 1791 the fort was stormed by a British army commanded by Lord Cornwallis, and in 1799 the district was included by the Treaty of Seringapatam within the territory of the restored raja of Mysore. It formed the headquarters of the British adminis tration of Mysore from 1831 to 1881. When the State of Mysore was restored to its raja in 1881, the civil and military station of Bangalore was permanently reserved under British jurisdiction as an "assigned tract." It has an area of i 2sq.m., and had in 1931 a population of 172,357. Bangalore is the headquarters of a mili tary district, its elevation rendering it healthy for British troops. A considerable number of European pensioners reside here, and there are many visitors in the season. There is a modern palace for the maharaja and a fine Indian institute of science. Bangalore is an important railway centre. There are oil, cotton, wool and silk mills, brick and iron works, a distillery and a tobacco factory. Suburbs have been built recently outside the city, owing to the prevalence of plague, but the poorer quarters are overcrowded. There is a good water supply, drainage and electric light.
The District of Bangalore borders on the Madras district of Salem. The main portion consists of the valley of the Arkavati river, which joins the Cauvery on the southern frontier. Its area is 2,922sq.m. Pop. (1931) 908,056.