There have been at
least eight cities around modern Delhi.
The
first four were to the south around the area where the Qutab Minar
stands. The
earliest known Delhi was called Indraprastha and was
centered near present-day Purana Qila. At the beginning of the 12th century
the last Hindu kingdom of Delhi was ruled by the Tomara and Chauthan
dynasties and was also near the Qutab Minar and Suraj Kund, now in Haryana.

This city was followed by Siri,
constructed by Ala-ud-din near present day Hauz Khas in the 12th century.
The third Delhi was
Tughlaqabad, now entirely in ruins, which stood
10 km south-east of the Qatar Miner. The fourth Delhi dates from the 14th
century and was also a creation of the Tughlaqs. Known as Jahanpanah, it
also stood near the Qatar Minar.
The fifth Delhi, Ferozabad, was sited at Feroz Shah Kotla in present
day New Delhi. Emperor Sher Shah, an
Afghan ruler created the sixth
Delhi at Purana Qila, near India Gate in New Delhi today. The
Mughal
Emperor, Shah Jahan, constructed the seventh Delhi in the 17th century,
thus shifting the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi; his Shahjahanabad
roughly corresponds to Old Delhi today and is largely preserved.
Finally,
the eighth Delhi, New Delhi, was constructed by the British- the move
from Calcutta was announced in 1911 but construction was not completed and
the city officially inaugurated until 1931.

Delhi
has seen many invaders through the ages. Tamerlane plundered it in the 14th
century; the Afghan Babur occupied it in the 16th century and in 1739 the
Persian Emperor, Nadir Shah, sacked the city and carted the Kohinoor Diamond
and the famous Peacock throne off to Iran. The British captured Delhi in
1803 but during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 it was a centre of resistance
against the British. Prior to partition, Delhi had a very large Muslim
population and Urdu was the main language. Now Hindu Punjabis have replaced
many of the Muslims, and Hindu predominates.