Editing Bhopal (section)

== History ==

=== Early history ===
[[File:Statue of Raja Bhoja 01.jpg|thumb|  Bhopal was founded by and named after 11th-century [[Malwa]] king [[Bhoja]]]]
According to folklore, Bhopal was founded in the 11th century by the [[Paramara dynasty|Paramara]] king [[Bhoja]], who ruled from his capital at [[Dhar]]. This theory states that Bhopal was originally known as Bhojpal after a dam (''pal'') constructed by the king's minister.<ref name=census/> An alternative theory says that the city is named after another king called Bhupala (or Bhupal).<ref>{{cite book | title = Historical Geography of Madhya Pradesh from Early Records | author = Pranab Kumar Bhattacharyya | publisher = [[Motilal Banarsidass]] | year = 1977 | isbn = 978-0-8426-9091-1 | page = 275 }}</ref><ref>[http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-BHO-cpi-joins-campaign-against-naming-bhopal-as-bhojpal-1939473.html CPI joins campaign against naming Bhopal as Bhojpal] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111123014730/http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-BHO-cpi-joins-campaign-against-naming-bhopal-as-bhojpal-1939473.html |date=23 November 2011 }}. Daily Bhaskar,16 March 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ashfaq Ali |title=Bhopal, Past and Present |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owMMAQAAIAAJ |year=1981 |publisher=Jai Bharat |page=xxix |access-date=19 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161223154011/https://books.google.com/books?id=owMMAQAAIAAJ |archive-date=23 December 2016 |url-status=live  }}</ref> According to yet another version, Raja Bhoj suffered from leprosy. His physician advised him to build a lake with water from 365 rivers and take daily bath in it. When such a lake was built, it was called ''Bhoj Tal'' [or Bhoj's lake]. Gradually people started calling the city ''Bhojpal'', and finally Bhopal.<ref name="Salam_2022">{{cite news |author=Ziya Us Salam |date= 12 September 2022 |title= Of a female knight and the Begums of Bhopal |url= https://www.thehindu.com/books/of-a-female-knight-and-the-begums-of-bhopal/article65882458.ece|work= The Hindu |location= India |access-date=12 September 2022}}</ref>

In the early 17th century, Bhopal was a small village in the [[Garha Kingdom|Gond kingdom]]. The modern Bhopal city was established by [[Dost Mohammad Khan, Nawab of Bhopal|Dost Mohammad Khan]] (1660–1726) died at the age of 66,<ref name="bhopal.nic.in">{{cite web | url=https://bhopal.nic.in/en/history/ | title=History of Bhopal &#124; District Bhopal, Government of Madhya Pradesh &#124; India }}</ref> a [[Pashtun people|Pashtun]] soldier in the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] army.<ref>{{cite book | title = The Waterhouse albums: central Indian provinces | author = John Falconer, James Waterhouse | publisher = Mapin | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-81-89995-30-0 }}</ref> After the death of the emperor [[Aurangzeb]], Khan started providing mercenary services to local chieftains in the politically unstable [[Malwa]] region. In 1709, he took on the lease of [[Berasia]] estate and later annexed several territories in the region to establish the [[Bhopal State]].{{sfn|Khan|2000|p=11}} Khan received the territory of Bhopal from the Gond queen Kamlapati in lieu of payment for mercenary services and usurped her kingdom after her death.<ref name="KamlaMittal_1990">{{cite book | title = History of Bhopal State | author = Kamla Mittal | publisher = Munshiram Manoharlal | year = 1990 | oclc = 551527788 | page = 2 }}</ref> In the 1720s, he built the Fatehgarh fort in the village, which developed into the city of Bhopal over the next few decades.

=== Maratha rule (1737–1818) ===
The area of Malwa which also included Bhopal and nearby regions came under [[Maratha Confederacy|Maratha]] control after the combined armies of [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]]-[[Nizam of Hyderabad|Nizam]]-[[Nawabs of Bhopal|Nawab]] were decisively defeated in [[Battle of Bhopal|Battle of Bhopal (1737)]] by the great [[Bajirao I|Peshwa Bajirao I]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=New Cambridge History of India |url=https://archive.org/details/the-marathas-1600-1818-cambridge-history-of-india-vol.-2-part-4/page/124/mode/2up |title=The Marathas – Cambridge History of India (Vol. 2, Part 4) |pages=125–126}}</ref>

=== British rule (1818–1947) ===
Bhopal became a [[princely state]] after signing a treaty (During the reign of Nazar Mohammed Khan 1816–1819) <ref name="bhopal.nic.in"/> with the [[British East India Company]] in 1818.{{sfn|Khan|2000|p=68}} Between 1819 and 1926, the state was ruled by four women, [[Begum of Bhopal|Begums]] – unique in the royalty of those days – under British suzerainty. [[Qudsia Begum of Bhopal|Qudsia Begum]] was the first woman ruler (between 1819 and 1837), who was succeeded by her granddaughter, [[Sultan Shah Jahan, Begum of Bhopal|Shah Jehan]]. Between the years 1844–1860, when Shah Jehan was a child, her mother [[Sikandar Begum|Sikandar]] (only daughter of Qudsia) ruled as regent. Curiously during the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|1857 revolt]], Sikandar supported the British, for which she was rewarded by proclaiming her as king in 1858. To give her further honour, she was given a 19-gun salute and the Grand Cross of the Star of India. The latter made her equivalent to a British person, who had been granted a knighthood. Thus she became, at that time, the only female knight in the entire British Empire besides Queen Victoria. Among the relatively minor rewards, a territory was restored to her, that she had earlier lost to a neighbouring prince.<ref name="Salam_2022"/>

Sikandar ruled until 1868, when Shah Jehan succeeded her and was Begum until 1901. In 1901, Shah Jehan's daughter [[Kaikhusrau Jahan, Begum of Bhopal|Kaikhusrau Jahan]] became Begum, ruled until 1926, and was the last of the female line of succession. In 1926, she abdicated in favour of her son, [[Hamidullah Khan]], who ruled until 1947, and was the last of the sovereign [[Nawab]]s. The rule of Begums gave the city its waterworks, railways, a postal system, and a municipality constituted in 1907.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bhopalmunicipal.com/history.htm |title=BMC History |access-date=12 June 2007 |date=15 May 2007 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412043526/http://bhopalmunicipal.com/history.htm |archive-date=12 April 2007 }}</ref>

=== Post independence ===
[[Bhopal State]] was the second-largest Muslim-ruled princely state: the first being [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]]. After the [[independence of India]] in 1947, the last Nawab expressed his wish to retain Bhopal as a separate unit. Agitations against the Nawab broke out in December 1948, leading to the arrest of prominent leaders including [[Shankar Dayal Sharma]]. Later, the political detainees were released, and the Nawab signed the agreement for Bhopal's merger with the Union of India on 30 April 1949.<ref name="SRBakshi_OPRalhan_2007">{{cite book | title = Madhya Pradesh Through the Ages | author = S.R. Bakshi and O.P. Ralhan | publisher = Sarup & Sons | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-81-7625-806-7 | page = 360 }}</ref> The [[Bhopal State (1949–56)|Bhopal state]] was taken over by the Union Government of India on 1 June 1949.

=== Bhopal in 1984 ===
{{Main|Bhopal disaster}}
In early December 1984, a [[Union Carbide]] pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including [[methyl isocyanate]] (MIC) gas which led to [[List of industrial disasters|the worst industrial disaster in the world to date]].<ref name="Limaye 2014 pp. 446–448">{{cite book | last=Limaye | first=P. | title=Encyclopedia of Toxicology | chapter=Bhopal Accident: Release of MIC | publisher=Elsevier | year=2014 | doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-386454-3.00252-9 | pages=446–448| isbn=9780123864550 | quote=Bhopal, the capital city of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India, is the site that witnessed probably the world's worst industrial calamity.}}</ref>

The official death toll was initially recorded as around 4,000. A Madhya Pradesh government report stated 3,787 deaths,<ref name="rehabilitation1">{{cite web |url=http://www.mp.gov.in/bgtrrdmp/relief.htm |title=Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, Bhopal. Immediate Relief Provided by the State Government |publisher=[[Government of Madhya Pradesh]] |access-date=28 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120518020821/http://www.mp.gov.in/bgtrrdmp/relief.htm |archive-date=18 May 2012 |quotation=Immediate Relief Provided by the State Government: Compensation paid to family members of deceased victims (3787 deaths) at Rs. 10,000 per person: Rs.3.78 Crores }}</ref> while other estimates state the fatalities were significantly higher (15,000)<ref name="the atlantic article"/> from the accident and the medical complications caused by the accident in the weeks and years that followed. The higher estimates have been challenged by Union Carbide, however, medical staff in the city were not able to adequately record data due to the massive influx of patients. The impact of the disaster continues to this day in terms of psychological and neurological disabilities, blindness, skin, vision, breathing, and birth disorders.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1945229,00.html |title=Victims of Bhopal Mark Anniversary |author=Altaf Qadri |date=3 December 2009 |magazine=Time |url-status=dead |access-date=3 December 2009 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609082241/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C1945229%2C00.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url = https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bhopal-the-victims-are-still-being-born-1830516.html| title = Bhopal: The victims are still being born| work = [[The Independent]]| date = 29 November 2009| first = Nina| last = Lakhani| access-date = 30 November 2009| location = London| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20091203010047/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/bhopal-the-victims-are-still-being-born-1830516.html| archive-date= 3 December 2009 | url-status= live |quotation=Around 8,000 people are now believed to have died within the first 72 hours. ... Another 15,000 are estimated to have died as a result of the gas exposure since then, often from painful and horrific damage to their lungs, heart, brain and other organs, according to Amnesty International.}}</ref><ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{cite news| url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8392206.stm | title = Bhopal marks 25 years since gas leak devastation| work = BBC News| date = 3 December 2009| access-date = 26 April 2010
| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100607190104/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8392206.stm| archive-date= 7 June 2010 | url-status= live |quotation=Initial deaths (3–6 December): more than 3,000 – official toll. Unofficial initial toll: 7,000–8,000. Total deaths to date: over 15,000.}}</ref> Lawyers, academics and journalists have described the disaster as an [[ecocide]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 February 2022 |title=Industrial disasters from Bhopal to present day: why the proposal to make 'ecocide' an international offence is persuasive – The Leaflet |url=https://theleaflet.in/industrial-disasters-from-bhopal-to-present-day-why-the-proposal-to-make-ecocide-an-international-offence-is-persuasive/ |access-date=21 June 2023 |website=theleaflet.in}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Perinchery |first=Aathira |date=26 February 2022 |title=We're Killing the Environment, and There's a Word for It – Ecocide – The Wire Science |url=https://science.thewire.in/environment/explained-ecocide-international-crime-climate-change/ |access-date=21 June 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pereira |first=Ricardo |date=1 June 2020 |title=After the ICC Office of the Prosecutor's 2016 Policy Paper on Case Selection and Prioritisation: Towards an International Crime of Ecocide? |journal=Criminal Law Forum|volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=179–224 |doi=10.1007/s10609-020-09393-y |s2cid=254428084 |issn=1572-9850|doi-access=free }}</ref>

The soil and ground water near the factory site have been contaminated by the toxic wastes.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk" /><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20091215&filename=news&sid=22&sec_id=9| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100418131307/http://downtoearth.org.in/cover.asp?foldername=20091215&filename=news&sid=22&sec_id=9| archive-date = 18 April 2010| title = Subterranean Leak}}</ref> The Bhopal disaster continues to be the part of the socio-political debate; the clean-up of environmental contamination and rehabilitation of those affected continues to challenge the people of Bhopal.<ref name="timesofindia.indiatimes.com" />

The centre is seeking a direction to [[Union Carbide]] and other firms for {{INR}}78.44&nbsp;billion additional amount over and above the earlier settlement amount of US$470&nbsp;million in 1989 for paying compensation to the gas tragedy victims.<ref>{{cite news |url = https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/bhopal-gas-tragedy-sc-to-hear-centres-plea-for-additional-rs-7844-cr-fund-to-compensate-victims/articleshow/73667264.cms |title = Bhopal gas tragedy: SC to hear Centre's plea for additional Rs 7,844 crore fund to compensate victims |date = 27 January 2020 |publisher = [[The Economic Times]] }}</ref>

The site of the industrial accident is rusting since the day of the disaster and has not been cleared off completely either by DOW Chemicals or government authorities, the site is still storing large quantities of lethal chemicals in underground tanks and overground storages.