Balaghat district

Balaghat District a of   of. The town of serves as its administrative headquarters.

Geography
Balaghat District is located in the southern part of. It occupies the south eastern portion of the and the upper valley of the. The district extends from 21º19' to 22º24' north latitude and 79º31' to 81º3' east longitude. The total area of the district is 9,245 km². Balaghat District is bounded by of Madhya Pradesh to the north,  to the northwest,  of  state to the east,  and  districts of  state to the south, and  of Madhya Pradesh to the west.

The and its tributaries are the most important rivers in the district. The town of Balaghat is on the Wainganga, which flows north and south through the district and forms part of the boundary with Seoni District. The Bagh, Nahra and Uskal rivers are tributaries of the Wainganga. The and  rivers define the boundary with Maharashtra.

Geographically the district is divided into three distinct parts:
 * The southern lowlands, a slightly undulating plain, comparatively well cultivated and drained by the Wainganga, Bagh, Deo, Ghisri and Son rivers.
 * The long narrow valley known as the Mau Taluka, lying between the hills and the Wainganga river, and comprising a long, narrow, irregular-shaped lowland tract, intersected by hill ranges and peaks covered with dense jungle, and running generally from north to south.
 * The lofty plateau, in which is situated the Raigarh Bichhia tract, comprising irregular ranges of hills, broken into numerous valleys, and generally running from east to west. The highest points in the hills of the district are as follows: - Peaks above Lanji, 2300 or 2500 feet; Tepagarh hill, about 2600 ft.; and Bhainsaghat range, about 3000 ft. above the sea. The Banjar, Halon and Jamunia rivers, tributaries of the, drain a portion of the upper plateau.

Administratively, the district is divided into eight development blocks: Waraseoni, Balaghat, Katangi, Paraswada, Baihar, Khairlanji, Laanji, and Kirnapur.

Demography
The population of the district is 1,445,760, with an area of 9229 km², and a population density of 157 persons per km².

In the 1991 Census, the total population of the district was 1,365,870 out of which 1,236,083 was rural and 129,787 is urban. Out of the total population, 1,13,105 are and 298,665 are s. The no. of males was 682,260 and the  no. of  females is 683,610. The population density of the district was 148 persons per km² while the sex ratio is 1003 females per 1000 males.

Transport
The - section of runs north and south through the district, along the valley of the Wainganga. The line was formerly  for its entire length, but the section between Balaghat and Gondia was converted to  in 2005-2006, connecting Balaghat to India's national broad gauge network for the first time. Work is underway to convert the Balaghat-Jabalpur section to broad gauge as well. A narrow gauge branch line runs west from Balaghat to and  via.

Balaghat is directly connected by bus with larger cities such as Bhopal, Nagpur, Gondia, Jabalpur, Raipur, etc. The nearest airport is at Nagpur.

Forests and minerals
About 52% of the district's area is covered with forest. (Tectona grandis), (Shorea robusta),  and saja are the main trees. Fauna includes, , , , , and , and birds like , and. lies partly within the district.

About 80% of the production in India comes from Balaghat District. The recently discovered deposit at  is regarded as the largest in the country. ,, and are the other main s of the district.

History
At the beginning of the 18th century, the district was divided among two kingdoms; the portion of the district west of the Wainganga was part of the Gond kingdom of, while the eastern portion was part of the  kingdom.

The Deogarh kingdom was annexed by the s of  in, and shortly thereafter conquered all but the northern section of the district. This section, together with the rest of the Garha-Mandla kingdom, was annexed in 1781 to the Maratha province of, then under control of the Maratha. In 1798 the Bhonsles also obtained the former Garha-Mandla territories.

In 1818, at the conclusion of the, The Nagpur kingdom became a of. In 1853, the Nagpur kingdom, including Balaghat District, was annexed by the British, and became the new province of. Balaghat District was then divided among the British districts of and. Nagpur Province was reorganized into the in 1861.

Balaghat District was constituted during the years 1867 by amalgamation of parts of the Bhandara, Mandla and Seoni districts. The headquarters of the district was originally called "Burha" or  "Boora". Later, however, this name fell into disuse and was replaced by "Balaghat", which was originally the name of the district only. Administratively, the district was divided into two tehsils, Baihar tehsil in the north, which included the plateau region, and Balaghat tehsil, which included the more settled lowlands in the south. The new district was part of the Central Provinces'.

In the middle of the 19th Century the upper part of the district was a lightly settled, but a handsome Buddhist temple of cut stone, belonging to some remote period, is suggestive of a civilization which had disappeared before historic times. The first Deputy-Commissioner of the district,, encouraged the settlement of Baihar tehsil with Marathas from the Wainganga Valley. About that time one Lachhman Naik established the first villages on the Paraswara plateau.Malanjkhand is the most populer copper mine in Asian Region.

In 1968-9 the rains ceased a month before time, causing the failure of the lowland rice crop and a famine. The district suffered very severely from the famine of 1896-1897, when the output of all crops fell to only 17 percent of normal. The district suffered again in 1899-1900, when the rice crop failed again, falling to only 23 percent of normal. The population in 1901 was 326,521, having decreased 15% in the decade 1891-1901, due to the effects of famine.

At the beginning of the 20th Century, the district had only 15 miles of paved roads, together with 208 miles of unpaved roads. The Jabalpur-Gondia railway line through the district was completed in 1904, with six stations in the district.

After Indian Independence in 1947, the Central Provinces became the Indian state of. In 1956, Balaghat District became part of the of Madhya Pradesh, when the districts to the south of Balaghat, including Gondiya, Bhandara, and Nagpur districts, were transferred to.