Kanpur

Kanpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on the south bank of the Ganges southwest of Lucknow. Its cotton mills and leather works once made it one of the main industrial cities of northern India, known as the Manchester of the East.

The British set up a military station at Kanpur, then called Cawnpore, in the late 18th century, and a town grew around it on the river. Cotton and woolen mills opened in the 19th century beside tanneries that made saddles and boots. The Elgin Mills and the Lal Imli woolen mill became known across India for their cloth. In 1959 the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur opened, one of the first of the national engineering institutes, with help from American universities.

Kanpur is a center of the leather trade, and its tanneries and workshops make shoes, saddles and harness for export. The Superhouse Group, based in the city, makes leather shoes and gloves. Pan Parag, a brand of pan masala, is made by the Kothari group of Kanpur.

The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur has a wooded campus with its own airstrip, used for flight research. The JK Temple, built by the JK industrial family in the 1960s, combines ancient and modern styles in white marble. Green Park Stadium, on the bank of the Ganges, has hosted Test cricket matches since the 1950s. The Kanpur Zoo, opened in the 1970s, is set in a forest with lakes on the northern edge of the city. Moti Jheel, a lake and park in the center, is used for evening walks and boating.