Meerut

Meerut, or Mirath, a division, district, and capital city in the North-West Province of British India. The former includes six districts, viz. Dehra Doon, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Bulandshahr, and Aligarh, and has an area of 11,138 square miles, forming part of the Doab. The district lies to the W. of the Ganges and the E. of the Jumna, having Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahr to the N. and S. respectively. It consists of a narrow plain about 2,361 square miles in extent, with a slight slope from N. to S. With the exception of some small patches of jungle or sand, the whole is carefully irrigated and cultivated, and yields immense crops of grain, cotton, and indigo. The chief modern centres are Meerut, Ghaziabad, and Mawana. Sindhia ceded the territory to the British in 1803. The East Indian and the Punjab and Delhi railways together with numerous canals afford abundant means of intercommunication. Meerut, the capital, standing halfway between the Jumna and Ganges, is an ancient town, but owes its present importance entirely to the large cantonment which lies S. of the poor and uninteresting settlement and accommodates a whole division. It was here that the Mutiny broke out in 1857. The climate is fairly healthy, the European quarter is well laid out, and there are many useful and benevolent institutions.