BIJNOR, a town and district of British India in the Bareilly division of the United Provinces. The town is about 3m. from the left bank of the Ganges. The population in 1931 was 23,52o. There is a large trade in sugar.
The district of Bijnor has an area of 1,793 square miles. The country is mainly a level plain, but the northern part rises towards the Himalayas, the greatest elevation being 1,342ft. above the sea-level. The Koh and Ramganga are the principal rivers, and the Ganges forms its western boundary. In 1931 the population was 835,469. The country is watered in most parts by streams, but a series of small canals has been constructed. Sugar is largely exported.
Of the early history of Bijnor, even after it passed under Mohammedan rule, little is known with any certainty. About i748 the Rohilla chief, Ali Mohammed, made his first annexations in Bijnor, the rest of which soon fell under the Rohilla domina tion. The northern districts were granted by Ali Mohammed to Najib Khan, who gradually extended his influence west of the Ganges and at Delhi, receiving the title of Najib-ud-daula and becoming paymaster of the royal forces. For the part played by him in the victory of Panipat he was made wazir of the empire. After his death in 177o his son, Zabita Khan, was defeated by the Mahrattas, who overran all Rohilkhand. In 1772 the nawab of Oudh made a treaty with the Rohillas, covenanting to expel the Mahrattas in return for a money payment. He carried out his bargain; but the Rohilla chiefs refused to pay. In 1774 the nawab concluded with the Government of Calcutta a treaty of alliance, and he now called upon the British, in accordance with its terms, to supply a brigade to assist him in enforcing his claims against the Rohillas. This was done; the Rohillas were driven beyond the Ganges, and Bijnor was incorporated in the terri tories of the nawab, who in 1801 ceded it to the East India com pany. During the Mutiny of 18S7 it was occupied by the nawab of Najibabad, a grandson of Zabita Khan; he held it until April 1858, when he was defeated by the British at Nagina; whereupon British authority was restored.