Agra

It has been speculated that in Mahabharata the city Agra is referred to as Agravana which translates as “front of the forest”. It is mentioned that the Shurasena dynasty of Lord Krishna maintained an outpost at Agravana. Greek 

geographer Ptolemy referred to Agra by its modern name in his Geographia and placed it in his world map in the 2nd century AD. The 11th-century Persian poet Mas'ūd Sa'd Salmān writes of an assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by King Jaypal, by Mahmud of Ghazni. Despite his surrender, Mahmud sacked the place. It was mentioned in 1080 AD when a Ghaznavide force captured it. A 17th century chronicle called the Agra before Sikandar Lodī's time (1488–1517) as an old settlement which was merely a village, owing to its destruction by Mahmud of Ghazni. Sikandar was the first sultan to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in 1504, its administration having previously been under Bayana. He governed the country from here and Agra assumed the importance of the second capital. He died in 1517 and his son, Ibrāhīm Lodī, remained in power there for nine more years. Several palaces, wells, and a mosque were built by him in the fort during his period. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526.Between 1540 and 1556, Afghans, beginning with Sher Shah Suri, ruled the area. It was the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1556 to 1648. The city was later taken by the Marathas and later still fell to the British Raj.

As of 2011 India census, Agra city has a population of 1,585,704, while the population of Agra cantonment is 53,053. The urban agglomeration of Agra has a population of 1,760,285. Males constitute 53% of the population and females 47%. Agra city has an average literacy rate of 73%, below the national average of 74%. Literacy rate of males is considerably higher than that of women. The sex ratio in the city was 875 females per thousand males while child sex ratio stood at 857.^[1 Agra district literacy rate is 62.56%.

According to the 2011 census, Agra district has a population of 4,380,793, roughly equal to the nation of Moldovaor the US state of Kentucky. This gives it a ranking of 41st in India (out of a total of 640).The district has a population density of 1,084 inhabitants per square kilometre (2,810/sq mi) . 52.5% of Agra's population is in the 15–59 years age category. Around 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.