Research Results For 'Deccan'

MOUNTAINS

Mountains are often classified according to their mode of formation: Fold
mountains; Block mountains; Residual mountains; Volcanic mountains.

High mountain chains such as the Himalayas, Andes, Alps, and Rockies are known as new fold mountain systems. The term 'fold' is a reference to the way in which such mountains have been formed. Throughout millions of years slow movements of the earth's crust have caused these
mountains to be raised. The movements which have resulted in mountain buildings were not, however, vertical uplifts. They were primarily horizontal movements, the effect of which was to cause the crust of the earth to 'wrinkle', in a similar way to which a tablecloth wrinkles if it is pushed along the table. The arched or upraised parts of the folds are known as anticlines and the troughs as synclines. These folds can vary greatly in size. Mountain building is undoubtedly due to some deep-seated cause. For a long period the most simple explanation was that folding was entirely due to the cooling and contraction of the earth, so that the crust, already cold and shrunken, had to wrinkle to fit itself to the still cooling and contracting 'core'. One of the objections advanced against this theory is that the amount of shrinking necessary to account for the Himalayas, Alps, etc., seems to be greater than the mere contraction of the earth would allow. While the theory of contraction cannot be completely rejected, serious consideration must be given to the more recent explanations of mountain building. For instance, Wegener suggests that mountain building may be due to the 'wrinkles' produced by the drifting of a continental mass, e.g. that the Alps were formed by the northward drift of the African continent towards the more stable blocks of Central Europe. As the African mass drifted slowly northward the zone between it and the European mass became narrower, and the land was raised into high ridges or folds. The raising of the Alps was accompanied by the formation of the deep trough which contains the Mediterranean Sea. The same hypothesis would account for the building of the Himalayas and the depression of the Indo-Gangetic trough by the northward drift of the Deccan mass.

During the physical history of the earth, mountain building appears to have proceeded more actively at some periods than others. Fold mountains are, therefore, not all of the same age. The newest group of fold mountains include the Himalayas, Alps, Rockies, and Andes. During an earlier period of folding (the Carboniferous) the Pennines, Appalachians, the Cape Ranges of South Africa, and the Dividing Range of Australia were uplifted. A still earlier period of folding accounted for the original mountains of Scotland and Norway, of which the present mountains are merely the worn down stumps. The older fold mountains, which have been subjected to the forces of denudation (such as the weather, rivers, glaciers, etc.) for long geological periods, are much lower and less rugged than the newer fold mountains. The term 'new fold' is applied to the mountain ranges which have been folded most recently, but they seem very old when their age in actual years is considered because they were uplifted many millions of years before historic time. Mountain building is a very long and slow process; and in the case of certain mountain chains, such as the Andes and the mountains of Japan, is probably still proceeding.

The new fold mountain systems of the world, except in such instances as the simple low folds of the Weald (South-east England), usually consist of high parallel ranges, the average height being well over 3000 metres. In the Himalayas' the highest peak rises to 8840 metres; in the Andes 7000 metres; in the Rockies 6000 metres; in the Alps to 4600 metres. Vast though these heights appear, the wrinkles of the earth's crust are only slight. The highest mountain in the world (Mount Everest) is about five miles high, so that on a globe of 40 cm, diameter it would protrude only 2.5 mm. Most of the active volcanoes are found in the neighbourhood of fold mountains, where the crust of the earth has been fractured during the process of folding. All around the Pacific Ocean there are many active and extinct volcanoes, as in New Zealand, the East Indies, Japan, and North, Central, and South America. Another belt of active volcanoes is associated with the fold mountains of the West Indies. The mountains of this type are characterised by ruggedness of relief in contrast to the smooth and rounded contours of mountain areas which have been subjected to weathering agents for long periods of time. This is obvious if pictures of the Alps and the Scottish Highlands are compared.

Mountains are effective climatic barriers, and the climates of regions on either side of a high mountain range are very different. For example, the coast lands of British Columbia have an equable climate and a heavy rainfall, while the lands to the east of the Rockies have an extreme climate and light rainfall. Again, the climate of the mountainous areas differs from that of the adjacent lowlands. The great mountain systems of the world are mainly important for their minerals, and, in the temperate zone, for their lumber. In the plateau regions of some mountain systems agriculture has been made possible by irrigation, and above the forests in temperate areas there are valuable alpine pastures. The swift streams of mountains are frequently sources of hydro-electric power, especially in countries which have no coal, such as Switzerland and Norway. In North America, the Western Cordillera provides gold, copper, lead, and silver, especially in the states of Nevada and Montana. The Andes provide tin and copper (Bolivia), gold and platinum
(Colombia), and silver (Peru). The Highlands of East Australia are important for copper and gold. The lumbering industry is specially important in British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon (soft woods), the Central American mountainous lands (hard woods), the Himalayan slopes (teak and sal), and the Scandinavian mountains (soft woods).

To provide food for the mining communities in inaccessible mountain areas, agriculture has been developed. There are numerous irrigation schemes in operation in most of the mountain states of the USA, e.g. at Salt Lake City in Utah. Similarly, the Andean states, e.g. Bolivia, grow small quantities of cereals in the plateau areas. Mountain pastures have been utilised most extensively for cattle rearing in Switzerland and Scandinavia. The vast central plateau of Asia is, owing to difficulty of access and climatic extremes, so isolated from other regions that very little development of any kind, on modern lines, has taken place. High mountain ranges are also barriers to communication, and so tend to separate peoples. Traffic across mountains is limited to the passes, which are often so high as to be snowbound in winter. Such ranges as the Alps, Andes, etc. can only be crossed with great difficulty or by expensive tunnelling.

It sometimes happens that movement of the earth's crust occurs along cracks or faults. Where such movement leaves a block of higher land standing between two areas of lower land, the highland is known as a 'Block Mountain' or horst. The Vosges and Black Forest Mountains are examples of such formations These mountains are usually very steep-sided, and often the summit levels are roughly the same.

When an area of highland remains standing above the general level after rivers and other natural agents have lowered the surface of the surrounding area, the name residual mountain is used. Sometimes such highlands are called 'mountains of denudation'. This term can usually be applied to the mountain ridges associated with 'dissected plateaux'. Included in this class are the mountain ridges of the Highlands of Scotland, the Sierras of Central Spain, and the Mesas and Buttes of the western plateau lands of the United States.

Mountains may be formed by volcanic material piled up around a crater, such mountains are popularly known as volcanoes.
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PLATEAU

A plateau or tableland generally denotes a large stretch of highland which is practically the same height above sea-level, and which descends on all sides to lower ground. Some plateaux, however, such as those of Tibet and Bolivia, that are fringed by high mountain ranges which tower above the plateau level, are known as intermont plateaux. Sometimes they are so completely enclosed as to have no outlet to the sea.

A plateau might be regarded as an elevated plain, but there is often a great difference between the surface of a plain and that of a plateau. As a plateau is high, rivers are swift and carve deep, narrow valleys instead of the broad, open valleys of the lower rivers of the plains. Such plateau areas as Wales and the Highlands of Scotland, are broken by deep, narrow valleys, and are termed dissected plateaux. On reaching the top of such an area one has a long view of a series of flat-topped mountain ridges. These ridges are all of approximately the same height, and if one imagines the clouds descending until they touched one ridge, then almost every other ridge would be similarly cloud-capped. Other good examples of plateaux are Tibet in Asia, the Ecuador and Bolivian plateaux in South America, and nearly the whole of the continent of Africa.

The Deccan of India is a plateau that has been tilted so that the western edge is much higher than the eastern edge, and all the main rivers drain eastwards. In many instances plateaux are formed by the denudation or wearing down of higher mountainous areas. Ultimately, such areas may become so low that they are nearly plains, i.e. peneplains, such as the land around Hudson Bay. Millions of years ago lava was forced up through cracks in the earth's crust, and spread out over the land in great sheets which have since hardened to form plateaux of basalt.

Two well-known examples of such plateaux are in Antrim (Ireland), and on the Deccan of India to the east of Bombay. Many of the most extensive areas of plateaux in the world are composed of very hard old rock. The Guiana Highlands, most of Africa, Arabia, the Deccan of India, and the West Australian plateaux are all composed of rocks of similar age. The ancient plateau lands are principally valuable for their minerals, such as the gold of Western Australia; the iron and manganese of the Brazilian Highlands; the gold, copper, and diamonds of the African plateau; and the gold of the Lena plateau in Siberia. Where plateaux are found in tropical areas they are important because, being cooler than the neighbouring lowlands, they offer greater possibilities for successful European settlement and development. The highlands of Brazil, Kenya, and Tanganyika are illustrations of this. Much of the tropical plateau area is covered by savannah grasslands. Most of these areas are not yet developed, but offer possibilities for the production of a large variety of both animal and vegetable products when communications have been developed and further settlement has taken place.
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VALLEY

A valley is a long narrow depression in the earth's crust, flanked by well defined ridges and usually due to the erosive action of rivers or glaciers but sometimes due to trough-faulting.
Longitudinal valleys are the hollows between the up-folded mountain ranges, parallel to the mountains, and they usually contain a largee river. Similar valleys occur between upfoldod mountains and the crustal plateau which has resisted upheaval. The Indo-Gangetic valley between the upfolded Himalayas and the Deccan plateau is the largest example of this type.

The valley cut by vertical erosion is usually V-shaped in cross-section and irregular in its course, its gradient being punctuated by sudden drops and long shelves. These irregularities represent local base levels which are gradually removed by denudation, so that as the falls are worn back and lakes infilled the breaks in the profile are reduced. In southern England the valleys of the Severn and the Thames show the results of denudation, which has carved away the softer rocks, and left the more resistant ridges of the Cotswolds, Downs, and Chilterns, which confine the drainage system.

With lateral erosion and mass movement, the valley broadens. Deposition occurs as the gradient slackens, and floodplains fill the valley floor. Rejuvenation leaves remnants of old floodplains above the new ones in the form of terraces, the highest of which are the oldest. A lowering of the water-table may leave dry valleys, and sudden uplift may leave hanging valleys, while the flooding of valleys by the sea gives rias or 'drowned valleys' which are existing estuaries where the sea has encroached upon the lower courses of rivers, such as the Gulf of St Lawrence.
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AURENGZEBE

Aurengzebe was a Mogul emperor of Hindustan. He was born in 1618 or 1619 and died in 1707. When he was nine years old his weak and unfortunate father, Shah Jehan, succeeded to the throne. Aurengzebewas distinguished, when a youth, for his serious look, his frequent prayers, his love of solitude, his profound hypocrisy, and his deep plans. In his twentieth year he raised a body of troops by his address and good fortune, and obtained the government of the Deccan. He stirred up dissensions between his brothers, made use of the assistance of one against the other, and finally shut his father up in his harem, where he kept him prisoner. He then murdered his relatives one after the other, and in 1659 ascended the throne. Notwithstanding the means by which he had got possession of power, he governed with much wisdom. Two of his sons, who endeavoured to form a party in their own favour, he caused to be arrested and put to death by slow poison. He carried on many wars, conquered Golconda and Bijapur, and drove out, by degrees, the Mahrattas from their country. After his death in 1707 the Mogul Empire declined.
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BAHMANI

The Bahmani were a dynasty of sultans of the Deccan plateau in central India from 1347 to 1518. The dynasty was founded by Ala-ud-din Bahman Shah, who in 1347 rebelled against his Delhi suzerain. His successors expanded over the west-central Deccan, reaching a peak in the late 15th century under Mahmud Gawan, who successfully held encroaching Hindu and Muslim powers at bay. During the early 16th century the Hindu empire of Vijayanagar to the south expanded at the Bahmanis' expense, and between 1490 and 1518 the sultanate gradually dissolved into five successor Muslim states, Bijapur, Ahmadnagar, Golconda, Berar, and Bidar.
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BAL TILAK

Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian patriot. He was born in 1856 at Batnagiri and died in 1920. Born of the Brahman caste of Chitpavans, he was educated at the Deccan college, became a lawyer and in 1880 founded two newspapers, The Mahratta, printed in English and The Kesari printed in a local language. From his newspapers he attacked British occupation of India and appealed for independence. He was imprisoned by the British for sedition, and in 1908 following violent resistance among his supporters to the British occupation, he was sentenced to six years' transportation. In 1918 he went to Britain to prosecute his action against Sir Valentine Chirol claiming defamation contained in articles written by Chirol.
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MARATHA

The Maratha are a Hindu warrior people of western India who in the 17th and 18th centuries led a military revival against Muslim expansion. The Maratha rose to prominence under the inspired leadership of Sivaji, who, after victories against the Moguls, established a Maratha kingdom in 1674. Their great age was the early 18th century when, after a temporary collapse, they benefited from Mogul decline to sweep over the north and central Deccan. They seemed poised for all-India mastery, but failure in 1761 of their bid to take Delhi (in the battle of Panipat) was followed by increasing internal disunity. Authority had passed from Sivaji's line to a Brahmin family based at Pune, who as hereditary peshwas struggled to hold the dissident chiefs together. Rivalry among these 'confederates', notably the Sindhia, Holkar, Bhonsla, and Gaekwar families, prevented a united stand against expanding British power.
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SALAR JUNG

Sir Salar Jung was an Indian statesman. He was born in 1829 and died in 1883. Of a family famous under the Moguls, he succeeded his uncle as prime minister under the nizam in 1853. He reorganised the Arab mercenaries and used them to suppress robbers and lawless nobles; he then went on to organise a police force, establish courts of justice, and improve education and agriculture. His loyalty to the British during the mutiny was invaluable in the Deccan.
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WARREN HASTINGS

Warren Hastings was the first governor-general of India. He was born in 1732 at Daylesford in Worcestershire and died in 1818. He was the grandson of the rector of Daylesford. He was educated at Westminster School, and in 1750 he set out for Bengal in the capacity of a writer in the service of the East India Company. When stationed at Cossimbazar he was taken prisoner by Surajah Dowlah on the capture of the place in 1756. Having made his escape, he served as a volunteer under Clive in 1757.

He was representative of the Company at Moorshedabad from 1758 to 1761. In the latter year he moved to Calcutta, having obtained a seat in the Bengal Council, but returned to England in 1764. As he lost the bulk of his means by unfortunate Indian investments, he again entered the Company's service, and sailed for India in 1769. In consequence of the misgovernment of the Nabob of Bengal the Company had deprived him of all real power, and now wished to have the country more directly under their control. Warren Hastings was its chief instrument in this undertaking, and in 1772 became president of the Supreme Council of Calcutta. Mohammed Reza Khan, the administrator of the revenues of Bengal, was now accused by an unprincipled character named Nuncomar of corruption and abuses of power. In this prosecution William Hastings acted as the tool of the Company. Mohammed and Shitab Roy, dewan of Behar (who had been similarly accused), were afterwards honourably acquitted, but meantime the reorganization desired by the Company had been carried out.

In 1773 the Company's powers were considerably modified by an act of parliament and William Hastings now received the title of Governor-general of India. As the majority of the Council disapproved of William Hastings' past policy, Nuncomar, his old ally, took advantage of the circumstance to accuse him of peculation in 1776. The accusations were favourably received by the Council, when Nuncomar was suddenly accused by a Calcutta merchant of forgery, was tried, and executed - a fate which he undoubtedly deserved.

In 1776 the directors of the Company petitioned government for his removal from the Council, but William Hastings resigned, and a successor to him was appointed. In 1777 one of the members of the Council died, and William Hastings,having thus procured a casting vote, withdrew his resignation, and returned to office. He now displayed extraordinary resource in meeting dangerous movements on the part of the Mahrattas, the Nizam of the Deccan, and Hyder Ali of Mysore, and to procure the needful money was less than scrupulous in his treatment of the rulers of Benares and Oude. He thus gave good grounds for censure, and a motion for his recall was passed in the House of Commons.

Fox's India Bill was thrown out in 1783, but next year Pitt's bill, establishing the board of control, passed, and William Hastings resigned. He left India in 1785, and was impeached by Burke in 1786, being charged with acts of injustice and oppression, with maladministration, receiving of bribes, etc. This celebrated trial, in which Burke, Fox, and Sheridan thundered against him, began in 1788, and terminated in 1795 with his acquittal, but cost him his fortune.

The Company in 1796 settled on him an annuity of 4000 pounds a year, and lent him 50,000 pounds for eighteen years-free of interest. He passed the remainder of his life in retirement at Daylesford, which he purchased.
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DECCAN

Deccan is a Hindu term for the whole of the great south tableland of India formed by the east and west Ghats and by the Vindhya Mountains in the north.
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