Canon · Early Modern (1500–1800)

Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi)

1639–1648 · India · South Asia · Sacred, imperial, and cosmological order · Planned by Emperor Shah Jahan
"Plan of the city of Delhi" published in the Illustrated London News, 1857 — a contemporaneous survey plan of the walled city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) built 1639–1648 by Shah Jahan, showing the fo
"Plan of the city of Delhi" published in the Illustrated London News, 1857 — a contemporaneous survey plan of the walled city of Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) built 1639–1648 by Shah Jahan, showing the fo · public-domain

Core idea

Walled Mughal capital with axial Chandni Chowk, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, and hierarchical mohalla neighborhoods

Why it matters

Template for Mughal imperial urbanism; still the living core of Delhi

Description

Shah Jahan founded Shahjahanabad (Old Delhi) in 1639 as the walled Mughal capital, organized along the ceremonial spine of Chandni Chowk running from the Red Fort palace-fortress past the great Jama Masjid, with hierarchical residential quarters (mohallas) and a canal-fed water system threading the fabric.

Significance

Shahjahanabad is the template of the late Mughal imperial capital, balancing axial ceremony with organic neighbourhood life. Still the living, teeming core of Delhi, it demonstrates the endurance of pre-colonial planning within a modern megacity.

What became of it

Realised as the Mughal capital and still inhabited as Old Delhi; the Red Fort, Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk survive, though the city walls were largely demolished after 1857 and the fabric is now densely overbuilt.

What shaped it

Plans it influenced

Sources

Open it on the interactive timeline →
hub.toekom.st — History of Urbanism · an interactive timeline of 850 planned cities across 6,000 years.