Travel India

Delhi - Overview

Delhi is a metropolis in India. The name Delhi also refers to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), which is a special union territory jointly administered by the Central government, NCT’s elected government and three municipal corporations : Delhi, Delhi Cantonment and New Delhi. New Delhi, an urban area within the metropolis of Delhi, is the seat of the Government of India.

Delhi’s metropolitan area, known as the National Capital Region (NCR) encompasses the entire NCT as well as the neighbouring satellite towns of Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana, and Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh making it the 5th most populous megalopolis in the world, with 19.5 million people.

Delhi has the most vibrant history among prominent cities or towns of India. It was the “capital of seven empires” in Indian history and has over 60,000 recognized monuments built over several millennia, as per the Archaeological Survey of India. It is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, founded by the Pandavas of the Mahabharata around 5000 BC.

The name Delhi may originate from the Persian word Dahleez (English: threshold, or frontier) or from the name of a Mauryan king, Raja Dhillu. Another possible etymology is the the city’s original name, Dhillika. The people of Delhi are known as Delhi-ites. The latter is a historical and cultural term describing people of the old city and the associated diaspora. The Persianized surname Dahelvi is also related to residents of Delhi.