Bangalore, India

Bangalore , also known as Bengaluru ) is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and fifth-most populous urban agglomeration. As of 2009, Bangalore was inducted in the list of global cities and ranked as a "Beta World City" alongside cities such as Dallas, Miami, Boston, Kuwait City, Lima, and Munich in the studies performed by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group and Network in 2008.Though historical references to the city predate AD 900, a modern written history of continuous settlement exists only from 1537, when Kempe Gowda I, a vassal of the imperial Vijayanagara Empire built a mud-brick fort at the site and established it as a province of the empire. During the British Raj, it became a centre of colonial rule in South India. The establishment of the Bangalore Cantonment brought in large numbers of migrants from other parts of the country.Today as a large city and growing metropolis, Bangalore is home to many of the most well-recognized colleges and research institutions in India. Numerous public sector heavy industries, software companies, aerospace, telecommunications, and defence organisations are located in the city. Bangalore is known as the Silicon Valley of India because of its position as the nation's leading IT exporter. A demographically diverse city, Bangalore is a major economic and cultural hub and the fastest growing major metropolis in India.