Editing Northern Circars

{{Short description|Division of British India's Madras Presidency}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| conventional_long_name = Northern Circars
| common_name            = Northern Circars
| nation                 = [[British India]]
| subdivision            = [[Divisions of British India|Division]]
| era                    = 20th century
| year_start             = 1823
| date_start             = 
| event_start            = The British buy the rights over the Circars
| year_end               = 1947
| date_end               = 
| event_end              = [[Independence of India]]
| event1                 = 
| date_event1            = 
| p1                     = Mughal Empire
| s1                     = Republic of India
| flag_p1                = 
| flag_s1                = Flag of India.svg
| image_flag             = British Raj Red Ensign.svg
| image_coat             = 
| image_map              = India 1763 EN.svg
| image_map_caption      = The Northern Circars shortly after their occupation by the British
| coordinates            = {{coord|17.45|N|83.00|E|region:IN_type:landmark_source:kolossus-svwiki|display=title,inline}}
| stat_area1             = 78000
| stat_year1             = 
| stat_pop1              = 
| footnotes              = 
| capital                = Eluru
| today                  = {{Flag|Republic of India|name=India}}
| government_type        = British Colonial Government
}}

The '''Northern Circars''' (also spelt '''Sarkars''') was a division of [[British India]]'s [[Madras Presidency]]. It consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the [[Bay of Bengal]] from 15° 40′ to 20° 17′ north latitude,<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Circar |volume=6 |page=380}}</ref> in the present-day Indian states of [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Odisha]]. The Subah of Deccan (Hyderabad/Golconda) consisted of 22 circars. These northern circars were five in number and the most prominent ones in the Subah.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bXxXJEVuQVwC|title=Madras District Gazetteers, Volume 1|publisher=Superintendent, Government Press|date=1915|page=235}}</ref>

They became British in a protracted piecemeal process lasting from 1758 to 1823, involving diplomacy and financial settlements rather than military conquest. The annexation by the British of the Northern Circars deprived [[Hyderabad State]], the [[Nizam]]'s dominion, of the considerable coastline it formerly had, assuming the shape it is now remembered for that of a [[Landlocked country|landlocked]] [[princely state]] with territories in [[Central Deccan]], bounded on all sides by [[British India]].<ref>P. N. Chopra, B.N. Puri & M.N. Das, ''A Comprehensive History of India'', Volume 3. pg. 298</ref>

== Etymology ==
''Circar'' was an English spelling of [[Sarkar (administrative division)|''sarkar'']], a Mughal term for district (a subdivision of a ''[[Subah (province)|subah]]'' or province), which had been in use since the time of [[Sher Shah Suri]] (1486–1545).<ref name=EB1911/><ref name="Moreland2011">{{citation |last=Moreland |first=W. H. |title=The Agrarian System of Moslem India: A Historical Essay with Appendices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a7Fr34r66ZcC&pg=PA75 |year=2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-02828-8 |pages=74–75}}</ref><ref name="Regani1988">{{citation |last=Regani |first=Sarojini |title=Nizam-British Relations, 1724-1857 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Fb26pWqhScC&pg=PA152 |year=1988 |publisher=Concept Publishing Company |isbn=978-81-7022-195-1 |page=152}}</ref> "Northern Circars" meant the northern districts of the Nizam's dominion.

Eventually "Circar" also acquired the meaning of "British Sarkar", i.e., the British government.<ref>{{citation |title=A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sunnuds Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries: States in Rajpootana, Central India, and the mediatized chiefs in Central India and Malwa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KHgqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA538 |year=1876 |publisher=Re-printed at the Foreign Office Press |pages=538–}}</ref> Hence, "Sarkar districts" could also be understood as the districts under the administration of the British government.  In British maps, the area might just be labelled "Circars".<ref>As in [[:File:Joppen1907India1795a.jpg|this map in a popular atlas of 1907]], in fact showing "India in 1795".</ref>

==Geography==
The Northern Circars were five in number: Chicacole ([[Srikakulam]]), Rajmandri ([[Rajahmundry]]), Ellore ([[Eluru]]), Mustaphanagar ([[Kondapalli]]) and Murtuzanagar ([[Guntur]]), with a total area, was about {{convert|30000|sqmi|km2}}<ref name=EB1911/> when Nizam initially lost control of them to the European Colonizers.<ref>Great Britain India Office. ''[[The Imperial Gazetteer of India]]''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1908.</ref>

In the main, the region at various points of time corresponded to the northern and the central parts of [[Coastal Andhra]] region of Andhra Pradesh, including the whole of present-day districts of [[Guntur district|Guntur]], [[Bapatla district|Bapatla]], [[Palnadu district|Palnadu]], [[NTR district]], [[Krishna District|Krishna]], [[Eluru district|Eluru]], [[East Godavari]], [[West Godavari]], [[Konaseema district|Konaseema]], [[Kakinada district|Kakinada]], [[Alluri Sitharama Raju district|Alluri Sitharama Raju]], [[Anakapalli district|Anakapalli]], [[Visakhapatnam]], [[Vizianagaram district|Vizianagaram]], [[Parvathipuram Manyam district|Parvathipuram Manyam]] and [[Srikakulam district|Srikakulam]] of Andhra Pradesh. It also included parts of the present day [[Prakasam district]] of Andhra Pradesh, [[Ganjam district|Ganjam]], [[Gajapati district|Gajapati]], [[Rayagada district|Rayagada]], [[Koraput district|Koraput]], [[Nabarangpur district|Nabarangapur]] and [[Malkangiri district|Malkangiri]] districts of Odisha and a few parts of the [[Mulugu district|Mulugu]] and [[Bhadradri Kothagudem district|Kothagudem]] districts of Telangana.

==History==
The region was invaded by the [[Bahmani Sultanate]] in 1471; in 1541 the [[Qutb Shahi dynasty|Qutb Shahi]] conquered and extended their conquests over the Guntur and [[Masulipatnam]] districts. They appear to have acquired only an imperfect possession of the country, as it was again wrested from Balram Dev I, the ruling Jeypore king and his several feudal lords. The conquest was finally completed in 1571, during the reign of [[Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah Wali|Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah]] of [[Golconda]] and [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]].<ref name=EB1911/>

In 1674, Vishwambhar Dev of [[Kingdom of Jeypore|Jeypore kingdom]] defeated the [[Faujdar]] of [[Chicacole]], appointed by the Qutb Shahi Sultans and claimed an independent semi-monarchy over the Circars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Senapati|first=N.|date=1966|title=Orissa district gazetteers : Koraput|url=http://indianculture.gov.in/gazettes/orissa-district-gazetteers-koraput|access-date=2021-06-03|website=INDIAN CULTURE|pages=66–69|language=en}}</ref> Aurangzeb conquered Golconda in 1687 and the Circars along with the Qutb Shahi Sultanate were annexed to the extensive empire of [[Aurangzeb]].<ref name="EB1911" /> However, the first two Faujdars appointed by the Mughals were defeated and slain in the battlefield by the Maharaja of Jeypore, Raghunath Krishna Dev, who continued to rule claiming independent control over the region until he died in 1708.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Deo Kumar Bidyadhar Singh|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.209240|title=Nandapur A Forsaken Kingdom Part-i|date=1961|edition=Second|pages=69}}</ref> The successor of Raghunath Krishna proved to be an inefficient ruler and as a result lost a vast territory of the Circars. However, the kings of Jeypore continued to rule their decreased kingdom independently until the advent of the British in 1777. The British destroyed the fort of Jeypore and granted them a demoted status of a [[Zamindar]]i.<ref name=":0" />

In 1724, [[Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan]] was appointed the governor of Hyderabad, with the title ''Nizam al Mulk''. He came to be known as the [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], its ''de facto'' ruler. The fourth Nizam [[Salabat Jang]], a son of the Nizam al Mulk, who was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the [[French Indies Company|French East India Company]], granted the district of [[Kondavidu|Kondavid]] (in the Guntur district) to the French in return for their services, and soon afterwards granted the other circars as well. In 1759, through the conquest of the fortress of [[Masulipatnam]], the maritime provinces from the river [[Gundlakamma River|Gundlakamma]] to the [[Chilka Lake]] were transferred from the French to the [[British East India Company|British]]. But the British left them under the administration of the [[Nizam]], except Masulipatnam, a valuable port, which was retained by the British.<ref name=EB1911/>

[[File:Madras Prov North 1909.jpg|thumb|262x262px|The Northern Circars in 1909|left]]

In 1765, Lord [[Robert Clive]] obtained from the Mughal emperor [[Shah Alam II]] a grant of the five Circars. The fort of Kondapalli was seized by the British as an opening move. On 12 November 1766, a treaty of alliance was signed with [[Nizam Ali Khan]] by which the British undertook to maintain troops for Nizam's assistance. By a second treaty, often referred to as the '''Treaty of Masulipatnam''', signed on 1 March 1768, the Nizam acknowledged the validity of Shah Alam's grant and resigned the Circars to the British East India Company, receiving as a mark of friendship an annuity of £50,000. Guntur, as the personal estate of the Nizam's brother Basalat Jang, was excepted from British rule during his lifetime under both treaties. He died in 1782, but it was not till 1788 that Guntur came under British administration. Finally, in 1823, the claims of the Nizam over the Northern Circars were bought outright by the company, and they became a British possession.<ref name=EB1911/><ref>[http://heavydutytravel.blogspot.com/2012/10/in-context-northern-circars.html The History of Vizag]</ref>

[[File:Northern circars.jpg|thumb|266x266px|The Geohydrographic Draught of North Circars]]
The Northern Circars were governed as part of [[Madras Presidency]] until India's independence in 1947, after which the presidency became India's Madras State. The northern, [[Telugu language|Telugu]]-speaking portion of Madras state, including the Northern Circars, was detached in 1953 to form a new 'Andhra State'. The Andhra State was merged with the Telugu-speaking parts of [[Hyderabad State]] in 1956 to form a united [[Andhra Pradesh]]. The two were bifurcated again in 2014 as [[Andhra Pradesh]] and [[Telangana]].

==See also==
*[[Rajamundry Sarkar]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Divisions of British India}}

[[Category:Madras Presidency]]
[[Category:Subdivisions of British India]]