The India Zone

An inscription found near Begur, reveals that the district was a part of the Ganga Dynasty until 1004 and was known as Benga-val-oru, the "City of Guards" in old Kannada. The Cholas of Tamil Nadu ruled over the city from 1015 to 1116 until the town came under the rule of the Hoysala Empire. Modern Bangalore was founded by a feudatory of the Vijayanagara Empire, Kempe Gowda I, who built a mud fort and a Nandi Temple in the proximity of modern Bangalore in 1537. Kempe Gowda referred to the new town as his "gandu bhoomi" or "Land of Heroes".

Within the fort, the town was divided into petes (IPA: [pe?te?]) or markets. The town had two main streets: Chickkapete Street ran east-west and Doddapete Street ran north-south. Their intersection formed Doddapete square — the heart of Bangalore. Kempe Gowda's successor, Kempe Gowda II, built four famous towers that marked Bangalore's boundary. During the Vijayanagara rule, Bangalore was also referred to as "Devarayanagara" and "Kalyanapura" ("Auspicious City"). After the fall of the Vijayanagara Empire, Bangalore's rule changed hands several times. It was captured by the bijapur sultan prior to being given as a jagir to shahaji . The Mughals after capturing from marhatas sold Bangalore to Chikkadevaraja Wodeyar (1673–1704) of Mysore for 300,000 rupees in 1687.[13] The city became part of the Kingdom of Mysore when the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb leased Bangalore to Chikkadeva Raja Wodeyar in 1689. After the death of Krishnaraja Wodeyar II in 1759, Haider Ali, Commander-in-Chief of the Mysore Army, proclaimed himself the de-facto ruler of Mysore. The kingdom later passed on to Haidar Ali's son Tippu Sultan, known as the Tiger of Mysore. Bangalore was eventually incorporated into the British East Indian Empire after Tippu Sultan was defeated and killed in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799). The British returned administrative control of the Bangalore "pete" to the Maharaja of Mysore, choosing only to retain the Cantonment under their jurisdiction. Under British rule, Bangalore was incorporated into the Madras Presidency. The Kingdom of Mysore relocated its capital from Mysore city to Bangalore in 1831. Two important developments during this period contributed to the rapid growth of the city: the introduction of telegraph connections and a rail connection to Madras in 1864.

South Parade (now Mahatma Gandhi Road) during colonial times.In the 19th century, Bangalore essentially became a twin city, with the "pete", whose residents were predominantly Kannadigas, and the "cantonment", whose residents were predominantly Tamils. Bangalore was hit by a plague epidemic in 1898 that dramatically reduced its population. New extensions in Malleswaram and Basavanagudi were developed in the North and South of the Pete. Telephone lines were laid to help co-ordinate anti-plague operations, and a health officer was appointed to the city in 1898. In 1906, Bangalore became the first city in India to have electricity, powered by the hydroelectric plant situated in Shivanasamudra. Bangalore's reputation as the Garden City of India began in 1927 with the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the rule of Krishnaraja Wodeyar IV. Several projects such as the construction of parks, public buildings and hospitals were instituted to beautify the city. After Indian independence in August 1947, Bangalore remained in the new Mysore State of which the Maharaja of Mysore was the Rajpramukh. Public sector employment and education provided opportunities for Kannadigas from the rest of the state to migrate to the city. Bangalore experienced rapid growth in the decades 1941–51 and 1971–81 , which saw the arrival of many immigrants from northern Karnataka and Kodagu. By 1961 Bangalore had become the sixth largest city in India, with a population of 1,207,000. In the decades that followed, Bangalore's manufacturing base continued to expand with the establishment of private companies such as Motor Industries Company (MICO; a subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH), which set up its manufacturing plant in the city. Bangalore experienced a boom in its real estate market in the 1980s and 1990s, spurred by capital investors from other parts of the country who converted Bangalore's large plots and colonial bungalows to multistorey apartments. The establishment of multinational companies such as ANZ Bank and Citibank as well as international fast food chains such as Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in the 1990s continued to expand foreign investment in Bangalore. The city witnessed one of its largest media events ever when it hosted the 1996 the Miss World beauty pageant, which was seen by over two billion viewers worldwide. Many of these developments were met with opposition from groups fearing the loss of the city's national and linguistic identity. Widespread protests organised against the Miss World contest by women's organisations led to the arrests of about 1,000 protesters. In 1996 farmer activists attacked and damaged the KFC outlet in Bangalore, accusing it of "representing western food habits which are not needed in India". Through the 1990s the state government promoted large-scale development projects such as the construction of sports stadia and exclusive apartment complexes, which resulted in the demolition and resettlement of poorer settlements to outer-city locations. In the mid-1990s, Bangalore's economy grew many fold because of the software boom.