The city of Ahmedabad in the Gujarat state is famously known as
the “Manchester City of India”. This name was given to this city by a popular
textile center in the Manchester of Great Britain, adhering to the striking
similarities of Ahmedabad’s prospering cotton textile industries with the ones
in Manchester.
During the 18th century when the Great Britain’s Industrial
Revolution took the world by storm, the industry which flourished the most was
the cotton textile industry. Manchester was one such city which became the most
famous and a major textile manufacturing center of the world. Just like
Ahmedabad is located on the Sabarmati River banks, Manchester is located on the
bank of the Mershey river. Both the cities utilize these rivers’ water in the
tinting of the cotton threads.
Ahmedabad is well-known for producing the best cotton cloth in the
world. The good quality cotton-made products in this city have a good demand
all over India. The city has a good climatic condition which is apt for the
spinning of fine threads. It has a good and skilled labor force working in the
handloom industries and also has a good source of cheap labor from the nearby
villages. All these factors also contributed in making the Ahmedabad city
famous for its handloom spinning and weaving, giving it the name “Manchester
City of India”.
Why Ahmedabad is called the “Manchester City of India”?
The story behind giving Ahmedabad the nickname of the “Manchester
City of India” started in 1780 with the British entering into the domestic
politics of the Marathwada region. A lot of conflicts were taking place among
the Maratha chiefs and the British took the advantage of the situation. They
plunged themeselves into the situation by fighting the First Anglo-Maratha War.
After a series of events, the British finally took over Ahmedabad, located on
the banks of the Sabarmati River. They contemplated on making this state a port
and reduce the freight traffic from Bombay.
This dream of the British was short-lived as they soon lost
control over Ahmedabad. But this did not move them much and they kept their
enthusiasm intact. By winning the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the British again
won control over Ahmedabad in 1818. The city became a perfect destination for
setting up cotton mills due to the availability of black soil, sunshine all
throughout the year, plenty of money with the merchants and the cheap
labor. In view of earning great profits and filling their treasuries,
they set up a railway line in 1864 which linked Ahmedabad with Bombay, which is
a major port in India. This railway line solved the traffic and other problems
while doing trade.
Thus, all these economic, geographical, and political situations
led to the naming of Ahmedabad as the Manchester City of India. Since then, the
city has been engaged in the production of colourful cotton fabrics having high
demand not just in India, but also abroad.
