A brief History of Bengaluru
Benda-kal-ooru to Bengaluru to Bangalore,and back to Bengaluru : A short history of Bengaluru's name!
Benga-val-oru VS Benda kaal-ooru
The origin of the city's name is as much debated as its antiquity. The name has two parts in its phonetics.
T
he later part - URU or OOR or UR - has no debate about it. It simply means 'place'.The whole debate is about the adjective, the former part of the name, the qualifier prefixed to the place (ur).
The inscription stone found near Begur reveals, that the district was part of the Ganga Kingdom ruled from Gangavadi until 1024 C.E and was known as 'Benga-val-oru', the City of Guards in old Kannada.
A popular folklore has it that the 11th-century Hoysala king Veera Ballala II, while on a hunting expedition, lost his way. Tired and hungry, he came across a poor old woman who served him boiled beans. The grateful king named the place "Benda kaal-ooru" , literally "the town of boiled beans". This later metamorphosed to "Bengalūru".
There are also theories that the city name has a floral origin. It is derived from the tree Benga or "Ven-kai", also known as the Indian Kino Tree (Pterocarpus marsupium).
Year 1537
The city as it is known today was founded in 1537 AD by Kempe Gowda I, a local chieftain under the Vijayanagara Empire. He erected for watchtowers at high vantage points in the city - literally marking the four cardinal corners of the city.
You can see these for watchtowers at Halasuru, Mekhri Circle, Kempambudhi Lake and Lalbagh.
+200 years
In 1638 Maratha chieftain Shahaji Bhosle captures Bengaluru on the orders of the Bijapur Sultanate. In 1686 Kingdom of Mysore acquired Bengaluru for a sum of Three Lakh Rupees.
1759
The 40 years period from the death of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II in 1759 Bengaluru came under the Hyder Ali, the Commander-in-Chief of the Mysore Army, proclaimed himself the de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore , a his son Tipu Sultan. Lalbagh Botanical Gardens was built in 1760.
1799
The Wodeyar dynasty was reinstated after the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799. Bengaluru stall was more of a garrison town and trading center, than than glittery capital Mysore.
1927
By now Bangalore is more of a british cantonment town, with many colonial era constructions scattered around the city... the Cubbon Park,Lalbagh, tree lined boulevards and a temperament weather...all put together, Bengaluru earned the nickname, the Garden City. And ofcourse the anglicised name Bangalore as well.
1956 Bangalore became the capital of the modern Mysore State. The Mysore State was later renamed Karnataka in 1973. Mysore remained the ceremonial capital and Bangalore the administrative capital.
Bangalore became the base of many strategic Scientific and Academic centers of the nation. This foundation is probably what helped to springboard Bangalore into a IT/TECH hub later on...
2014
In October 2014, Bangalore was officially renamed to "Bengaluru", how the place was called since the pre-colonial era.