Indraprastha
The earliest reference to a settlement at Delhi is found in the Mahabharata which mentions a magnificent city called Indraprastha, built by the Pandavas around 1450 BCE. While the story belongs to legend, the names mentioned in the Hindu epic are those of dynasties and geographical sites known to history. The city is supposed to have been planned by Maya, a celebrated architect who also designed palaces for the Pandavas. Indraprastha was located in the Purana Qila area where excavations have revealed evidence of continuous habitation for almost 2,500 years. The city was likely sacked by the Huns after the fall of the Gupta empire. There was a village in Delhi called Indrapat until the British demolished it to build New Delhi in the late 19th century.

Lal Kot and Qila Rai Pithora
For nearly one thousand years after the Pandavas, Delhi was an unimportant village until Anangpal I of the Rajput Tomars built a fort of red sandstone in 731 in what is now the Mehrauli district on the southern edge of Delhi. Lal Kot was subsequently destroyed but was rebuilt by Anangpal II around 1030, when he moved his capital from Kannauj. When Prithviraj of the Chauhan Rajputs defeated the Tomars in twelfth century, he enlarged the old city of Lal Kot, adding ramparts and a moat, and renamed the fort Qila Rai Pithora after himself.

The Qila Rai Pithora was oblong with seven gates: the Sohna, Ranjit, Ghazni, Hauz Rani, Barka, Budaun and Maya. The Sohna gate boasted a sun temple situated on a lake. At least twenty-seven Hindu and Jain temples were built inside the walls of the fortress. Anangpal II hung a bell outside of his palace for any of his subjects to ring, day or night, when his judgement was needed. He also erected an iron pillar dedicated to Vishnu in the center of the city which has not yet rusted, an example of the existing knowledge of metalworking.

In 1192, Mohammad Ghori defeated Prithviraj, the last Hindu king of Delhi. Returning to Afghanistan, he left behind his slave, Qutub-ud-din Aybak, as viceroy. Qutub-ud-din captured Delhi in 1193 and declared himself the first sultan of Delhi. The Lal Kot continued to be the capital till 1303 when Qutb-ud-din built his own citadel and India's first mosque, the Quwwat-ul-Islam Masjid, in the same area as the Red Fort later occupied. He began building his victory tower, the Qutb Minar, in 1199, completing three stories before his death. His son-in-law Iltutmish, added the fourth. The tower was damaged by lightning in 1326 and 1366, but Firoz Shah Tughlaq repaired the damage and added the fifth story to give it a completed height of 72 meters (236 feet).

Siri
The city of Siri was built by Ala-ud-din Khilji in 1311. His fort is supposed to have the heads of infidels buried under its foundations. Thick stone walls enclosed his palace which was built by Saljuqians from the region of present day Iran who were in India to escape from the Mongol invasions in their own land. In order to ensure his water supply, Ala-ud-din built a huge reservoir in the present day Hauz Khas district.

Tughlaqabad
Over four years beginning in 1321, Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq built a new fort city into the rocky ridge to the south. The massive outer walls were built into a half hexagonal shape and topped by high battlements. The fort was further protected by deep trenches on the three sides not protected by the land itself. A highway led into Tughlaqabad, with the palace situated immediately to the left of the entrance and audience halls and other public buildings on the right. The streets beyond the public buildings were laid out in a grid where houses, mosques and markets were located. Tughlaqabad lacked a dependable source of water and was abandoned within five years.

Jahanpanah
Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq's son Muhammad first built two small forts, Adilabad and Nai-ka-Kot, to the south of Tughlaqabad. Within the walls of Adilabad he built a grand palace with a thousand pillars. Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq later enclosed the areas lying between the old cities of Siri, Tughlaqabad and Lal Kot, creating a new city he named Jahanpanah, the Asylum of the World. When Muhammad expanded his empire southward and subsequently moved his capital to Daulatabad in the Deccan, he not only moved the government offices, but forcibly moved most of Delhi's inhabitants to his new capital. A lack of water in the new city and the stagnation of his military campaign forced the king to return to Delhi after only two years. So many people died during these relocations that the population of Delhi was greatly reduced for many years.

Firozabad
In 1354, Firoz Shah of the Tughluqs built a new capital city on the banks of the Yamuna River, naming it after himself. His fort was called the the Firoz Shah Kotla. Inside its high walls were barracks and armories, audience halls, mosques, a pigeon tower, a well and a water tank, and public and private baths. The royal quarters lay along the riverfront and atop his palace, Firoz Shah placed an Ashokan pillar he had found. He also built several hunting lodges around Delhi. After Firoz Shah's death, the sultanate became politically unstable and in 1398, Timur invaded India and sacked Firozabad.

Dinpanah and Purana Qila
In 1533, Babar's son Humayun moved his capital back to Delhi from Agra and built a new city which he called Dinpanah, or Refuge of the Faithful, which was located near Firozabad. He began a fort there but was ousted from power by the Afghan Sher Shah. Sher Shah renamed the citadel Purana Qila, now known as the Old Fort, and added a number of buildings to the fortified complex. In 1541 Sher Shah erected the grand mosque of Qila-I-Kuhna Masjid which he built of white marble and red sandstone. The inner qibla wall which faced Mecca contained five arched openings decorated with black and white marble. Sher Shah began construction of an octagonal tower with steep steps leaing to its roof. The Sher Mandal was built of red sandstone and was intended to be taller than the two stories it reached before the death of Sher Shah. When Humayun retook Delhi in 1555, he used the Sher Mandal as an observatory and library.

Shahjahanabad
Shahjahanabad, now known as Old Delhi, was begun by Shah Jahan, Akbar's grandson, in 1638. Built next to the left bank of the Yamuna River, the city was surrounded by a moat kept filled from the diverted waters of the river. The massive stone walls enclosed 6400 acres and had twenty-seven towers and eleven gates, with near 400,000 people living within. Shahjahanabad was planned around two wide streets which intersected each other at right angles and was zoned by occupation and social status. The main gate opened into the Chandni Chowk, a covered arcade of shops which in time spread from the main street into the connecting lanes. The new city incorporated both Hindu and Muslim architecture.

The Red Fort, or Lal Qila, occupied the northeast corner of the city of Shahjahanabad. The red sandstone fort enclosed municipal buildings, the palace, the royal baths and a mosque as well as ornamental gardens and fountains. Shah Jahan kept his private working quarters in the Shahi Burj. His wives and concubines lived in the Rang Mahal, an elaborate palace which included gilded turrets decorated with mosaics of mirrors, a gold and silver ceiling, and a central reflecting pool built into the marble floor.

New Delhi
The British took control of Delhi in 1803. The first unsuccessful national revolt against the foreigners in 1857 centered around Delhi. In 1931 the British moved their capital from Calcutta to their freshly built city of New Delhi, sited south of Shahjahanabad. Much of this new city was planned by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The inhabitants of Delhi were at the forefront of the independence movement. In 1950, Delhi was made the capital of the newly independent India and declared a