Moradabad- The City of Brass

Moradabad was originally called Chaupala. It was a stronghold of the Katehria Rajputs, who had built a mud-brick fort overlooking the Ganges. Little remains of the settlement from this period, except for some monuments to widows of the Katehria chieftains. Under the Mughal Empire, Chaupala was the seat of a pargana; it is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari as being part of the sarkar of Sambhal. It produced a revenue of 1,340,812 dams for the imperial treasury and it provided a force of 500 infantry and 100 cavalry to the Mughal army.

The modern city of Moradabad was founded by Rustam Khan Dakhani, Mughal governor of Sambhal, during the reign of Shah Jahan. In 1624, Raja Ramsukh, leader of the Katehrias, had rebelled and invaded the Tarai region. The raja of Kumaon had complained to Shah Jahan, who then sent Rustam Khan to deal with the disturbance. Rustam Khan did so "with great vigor": he not only captured Chaupala and put Ramsukh to death, but also refounded the city as Rustamnagar (named after himself), building a new fort and great mosque and making the place his new capital. The ruins of which were still visible as of the early 20th century in the form of a wall along the riverfront. The mosque is also extant, with an inscription dated to 1632. The fort and mosque remain among the oldest major monuments in Moradabad today.

The name "Rustamnagar" was short-lived, however. Shah Jahan soon called Rustam Khan to his court and demanded an explanation for why he had exceeded his orders. In an attempt to placate the emperor, Rustam Khan said that he had named it Muradabad in honor of the young prince, Murad Bakhsh. The emperor was satisfied and permitted Rustam Khan to remain in charge of the new city, which now came to replace Sambhal as the Mughal governors' capital, and the name Muradabad (or Moradabad) has been in use ever since.

Moradabad  is a city, commissionary and municipal corporation in Moradabad district of Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Moradabad is situated on the banks of the Ramganga river, at a distance of 167 km (104 mi) from the national capital, New Delhi and 344 km north-west of the state capital Lucknow.

Founded by Rustam Khan, the governor of Katehar under the Mughal emperor Shahjahan, Moradabad is named after prince Murad Bakhsh, the youngest son of the emperor. Soon after its establishment, the city replaced Sambhal as the seat of the governor of Katehar. Moradabad was subsequently annexed into the Kingdom of Rohilkhand by Ali Mohammed Khan in 1740. The city came under the control of Oudh State in 1774 after the fall of Rohillas in the First Rohilla War and was then ceded to the British East India Company by the Nawab of Oudh in 1801.^[3] In the early nineteenth century, the Rohilkhand area was divided among the Princely State of Rampur and two districts - Bareilly and Moradabad; Moradabad became the headquarter of the latter.

Moradabad was connected with railway lines during the latter half of the nineteenth century. A line connecting Moradabad to Chandausi was built in 1872 and it was continued up to Bareilly in 1873. The Bareilly-Moradabad chord via Rampur was completed in 1894, which was extended to Saharanpur in 1886. A branch line to Aligarh via Chandausi was opened in 1894 while Moradabad was linked to Ghaziabad in 1900. Moradabad is the divisional headquarters of Northern Railway (NR).The city is known as Pital Nagri ("Brass City") for its famous brass handicrafts industry.In October 2014, Livemint included Moradabad in its list of "25 Emerging Cities To Watch Out For In 2025".

Export

Moradabad is popularly known as the Brass City of the country. Countries like Britain, the US, Middle East, Germany and Canada import brassware from Moradabad. In Moradabad, there are about 600 export units and 9000 industries in the district. Moradabad exports goods worth Rs. 4500 crore yearly. Products such as iron sheet, metal wares, aluminum, artworks and glassware are exported. The export of mint is done in several crores from Moradabad. Due to upsurge of exports and popularity in foreign particularly in America, Europe, Italy and other countries, a large No. of exporters are launching their units and started their export. Moradabad is of the seven industrial corridors declared by the State Government in Industrial Policy 1999–2002. Mohammed Yar Khan is known as the founder of Moradabad’s brass industry who migrated from Afghanistan in the 1800s and started the export industry He was awarded various medals from British Empire exhibitions in United Kingdom