Kanpur Aerial View

This page is about Kanpur. Kanpur is a beautiful (Oh Really!?) city on the banks of river Ganga. It happens to be the largest industrial city of Uttar Pradesh with a population of more than 5 Millions. Kanpur is known as the Manchester of the East and the city serves as the economic and industrial capital of Uttar Pradesh. Kanpur has one of the finest leather tanneries in South Asia. It is the 75th largest city of the world with an area of over 300 square kilometers. The name of the city has changed from Karnapur in the ancient times to Cownpore in the British empire and to Kanpur in independent India.

History of Kanpur

Bithoor - Kanpur

Kanpur has significant appearances in Hindu epics. It is said that lord Brahma established a Lingam here just after the creation of Universe. That Lingam represents the center of universe and is still worshiped in Bithoor that is located in northern Kanpur. Bithoor also happens to be the very place where Valmiki wrote Ramayan and where Sita spent many years during her exile. However, let's still focus only on modern history in this article because these theories are brutally ridiculed after the advent of western civilization in India.

Indian Freedom Fight 1857

Kanpur degraded into a large village during the Mughal Empire. The city's fate took a new turn in 18th century when British conquered the city. They soon realized the strategic and geographic importance of Kanpur and established their largest military base of North India in this city. It was declared a district in 1803.

It was Kanpur that lead the famous freedom fight of 1857 in India. Nana Sahib declared independence on 7th June 1957 in Kanpur. A series of mishaps followed this declaration and hundreds of freedom fighters had to lose their lives in that fight. Even today, Holi is celebrated in Kanpur for over 7 days in the memory of that freedom fight. British ensured that Kanpur does not revive in the time to come and this beautiful (Yes, I mean it here) city is still waiting for its renaissance.

Geography of Kanpur

Kanpur Location

Kanpur is located at around 500 KMs South East of New Delhi and around 80 KMs South West of Lucknow. It is surrounded by two main rivers of India. Ganga in the North East and Yamuna in the South. Kanpur City comes under the Indo-Gangetic planes of India and lies between the fertile Doab region of the Ganga and Yamuna rivers. Kanpur has a good supply of drinking water because of Ganga river. This city also enjoys being the vantage point of 4 national highways - NH2, NH25, NH86 and NH91.

Kanpur has long and hot summers, mild and short winters, dust storms and a monsoon season. Temperature can drop to a minimum of 0°C in winters and go up to 48°C in summers.  Wind speeds in Kanpur have been recorded to exceed 100 km/hr during the dust storms. Some of the rural outskirts of the city are often flooded by Ganga during the monsoon season.

Economy of Kanpur

Industrial Areas in Kanpur

Kanpur ranks 9th among the top Industrial cities of India with a GDP of over $20 Billion. Kanpur is one of the biggest producers of textile and leather products in India. The city also has a number  of other industries like chemicals, medicines, two wheelers, fertilizers etc. Some of the prominent business houses in this city are JK Industries Group, Duncans, Lohia machines, Kothari Productions, and RSPL etc.

Since, the city is home to some of the largest tanneries in India, it suffers from pollution caused by them. Many of the industries have died a slow and cold death in this city because of poor political support, lack of technologies and pollution factors. The industrial growth of this city is still on the rise because of many factors like availability of raw materials, cheap skilled man power, proximity to large markets and presence of premium research institutes in the city.

Resources on Kanpur

• Kanpur Map
• Kanpur Hotels
• Kanpur Schools
• Kanpur Colleges