1. KGF, it means Kolar Gold Field. KGF is a mining area in Kolar District of Karnataka State. This place was well known for the production of gold during the British era.
2. Kolar is the second deepest mine in the world and gold was mined from here for 121 years. According to media reports, a total of more than 900 tonnes of gold has been extracted from Kolar.
3. Kolar, 100 kilos away from Bangalore, is famous for the production of gold. In the year 1905, India was ranked 6th in terms of producing the most gold in the world.
4. The British used to call it Mini England.
5. KGF is the second city in Asia after Japan where electricity was introduced.
6. Narendra Modi’s government is preparing to reopen this mine. It is said that even today there is a lot of gold in Kolar.
7. Thousands of people used to work in KGF Bharat Gold Mines Limited. In the year 2001, this government company had stopped excavation. The reason for this was that there was less gold and the cost of digging was getting higher.
8. Asia’s first hydro electric power station was established at Shivanasamudra, 131 km from KGF.
9. Kolar’s gold was looted a lot for many years including Gupta, Chola dynasties, Tipu Sultan to British.
10. In 1903, the British government built a lake at Betmangala to supply water to the KGF and surrounding villages. This artificial lake gradually became a picnic spot. Kolar Gold Fields was excavated for 121 years.
11. According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves of more than 600 tonnes, the 10th largest in the world. U.S has the highest gold reserves with 8,133.5 tonnes of total gold reserves, followed by Germany with 3,366.8 tonnes and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a holding of 2,451.8 tonnes. The weight of gold is measured in troy ounces (1 troy ounce = 31.1034768 grams), however its purity is measured in ‘carats’. 24 carat is pure gold with no other metals.
12. Gold-bearing minerals containing tellurium are called "tellurides".  Telluride ore is not suitable for direct cyanidation and is usually roasted before cyanide treatment to decompose gold telluride compounds.
13. According to the World Gold Council, India has gold reserves of more than 600 tonnes, the 10th largest in the world. U.S has the highest gold reserves with 8,133.5 tonnes of total gold reserves, followed by Germany with 3,366.8 tonnes and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a holding of 2,451.8 tonnes.
14. Kolar Gold Field, Hutti Gold Field and Ramgiri Gold Field are the most important gold fields.
15. The main mines at Kolar Gold Fields were; The Mysore Gold Mine, Champion Reef Mine, Nudydroog Mine, Ooregum Mine, Tank Block Mine, Balaghat Mine, Coromandel Mine, Nine Reefs Mine. 

Anglo-Mysore Wars

First Anglo-Mysore War (1767-69)

• In 1612, a Hindu kingdom under the Wodeyars emerged in the region of Mysore. Chikka Krishnaraja Wodeyar II ruled from 1734 to 1766.
• Haider Ali who was appointed as a soldier in the army of Wodeyars became the de-facto ruler of Mysore with his great administrative skills and military tactics.
  
  • During the second half of the 18^th century, Mysore emerged as a formidable power under his leadership.
• Mysore’s proximity with the French and Haidar Ali’s control over the rich trade of the Malabar coast threatened the political and commercial interests of the English and their control over Madras.
• The British, after their success in the Battle of Buxar with the nawab of Bengal, signed a treaty with the Nizam of Hyderabad persuading him to give them the Northern Circars for protecting the Nizam from Haidar Ali who already had disputes with the Marathas.
  
  • The Nizam of Hyderabad, the Marathas, and the English allied together against Haidar Ali.
    
    • Haider diplomatically turned the Marathas neutral and Nizam into his ally against Nawab of Arcot.

Course of War

• The war continued for a year-and-a-half without any conclusion.
• Haidar changed his strategy and suddenly appeared before the gates of Madras causing complete chaos and panic at Madras.
• This forced the English to conclude a treaty with Haidar on April 4, 1769 known as the Treaty of Madras.
  
  • The treaty provided for the exchange of prisoners and the conquered areas.
  • Haidar Ali was promised the help of the English in case he was attacked by any other power.

Second Anglo-Mysore War (1780-84)

• The British failed to adhere to the treaty of Madras when Mysore was attacked by the Maratha army in 1771.
  
  • Haider Ali accused them for breach of faith.
• Moreover, Haider Ali found the French more resourceful in terms of fulfilling the army requirements of guns, saltpetre and lead.
  
  • Consequently, he started importing French war materials to Mysore through Mahe, a French possession on the Malabar Coast.
• The increasing friendship between the two raised concern for the British.
  
  • Consequently the British tried to capture Mahe which was under Haider Ali’s protection.

Course of War

• Haidar Ali forged an alliance with the Marathas and the Nizam against the British.
  
  • He attacked the Carnatic and captured Arcot and defeated the English army under Colonel Baillie in 1781.
• In the meantime, the English (under Sir Eyre Coote) detached both the Marathas and the Nizam from Haidar’s side, but the undeterred Haidar faced the English boldly only to suffer a defeat at Porto Novo (present day Parangipettai, Tamil Nadu) in November 1781.
  
  • However, he regrouped his forces and defeated the English and captured their commander, Braithwaite.
• Haidar Ali died of cancer on December 7, 1782.
  
  • His son Tipu Sultan carried on the war for one year without any positive outcome.
• Fed up with an inconclusive war, both sides opted for peace, negotiating the Treaty of Mangalore (March, 1784) under which both the parties gave back the territories they had taken from each other.

Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790-92)

• The Treaty of Mangalore was not enough to resolve the conflicts between Tipu Sultan and the British.
  
  • Both were aiming to establish their own political supremacy over the Deccan.
• The Third Anglo-Mysore War began when Tipu attacked Travancore, an ally of the English and the only source of pepper for the East India Company.
  
  • Travancore had purchased Jalkottal and Cannanore from the Dutch in the Cochin state which was a feudatory of Tipu, he considered the act of Travancore as a violation of his sovereign rights.

Course of War

• The British sided with Travancore and attacked Mysore.
  
  • The Nizam and the Marathas who were jealous of Tipu’s growing power joined the British.
• In 1790, Tipu Sultan defeated the British army under General Meadows.
• In 1791, Lord Cornwallis took the leadership and at the head of a large army marched through Ambur and Vellore to Bangalore (captured in March 1791) and from there to Seringapatam.
  
  • Coimbatore fell to them, but they lost it again, and at last with the support of the Marathas and the Nizam, the British attacked Seringapatam for the second time.
  • Tipu offered serious opposition, but the odds were against him.
• The war was concluded with the Treaty of Seringapatam, 1792.
  
  • Under this treaty, nearly half of the Mysorean territory was taken over by the alliance of the British, Nizam and the Marathas.
    
    • Baramahal, Dindigul and Malabar went to the British, while the Marathas got the regions surrounding the Tungabhadra and its tributaries and the Nizam acquired the areas from Krishna to beyond the Pennar.
  • Besides, a war damage of three crore rupees was also taken from Tipu.
    
    • Half of the war indemnity was to be paid immediately while the rest was to be given in installments, for which Tipu’s two sons were taken as hostages by the English.
• The Third Anglo-Mysore War destroyed Tipu’s dominant position in the south and firmly established British supremacy there.

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War (1799)

• The period of 1792-99 was used by both the British and Tipu Sultan to recoup their losses.
  
  • Tipu fulfilled all the terms of the Treaty of Seringapatam and got his sons released.
• In 1796, when the Hindu ruler of the Wodeyar dynasty died, Tipu declared himself as the Sultan and decided to avenge his humiliating defeat in the previous war.
• In 1798, Lord Wellesley, an imperialist to the core, succeeded Sir John Shore as the new Governor General.
• Tipu’s growing friendship with the French raised concerns for Wellesley.
  
  • Aimed at annihilating Tipu’s independent existence, he forced him into submission through the system of Subsidiary Alliance.
• Tipu was accused of plotting against the British by sending emissaries to Arabia, Afghanistan and to the Isle of France (Mauritius) and Versailles, with treasonable intent. Tipu’s explanation did not satisfy Wellesley thus the fourth Anglo-Mysore war began.

Course of War

• The war began on April 17, 1799 and ended on May 4, 1799 with the fall of Seringapatam. Tipu was defeated first by British General Stuart and then by General Harris.
  
  • Arthur Wellesley, the brother of Lord Wellesley, also participated in the war.
• The Marathas and the Nizam again helped the British as the Marathas had been promised half of the territory of Tipu and the Nizam had already signed the Subsidiary Alliance.
• Tipu Sultan died in the war and all his treasures were confiscated by the British.
• The British chose a boy from the earlier Hindu royal family of Mysore as the maharaja and also imposed the subsidiary alliance system on him.
• It had taken the English 32 years to subjugate Mysore. The threat of French revival in the Deccan was permanently eliminated.

Post War Scenario

• Lord Wellesley offered Soonda and Harponelly districts of Mysore Kingdom to the Marathas, which the latter refused.
• The Nizam was given the districts of Gooty and Gurramkonda.
• The British took possession of Kanara, Wayanad, Coimbatore, Dwaraporam and Seringapatam.
• The new state of Mysore was handed over to the old Hindu dynasty (Wodeyars) under a minor ruler Krishnaraja III, who accepted the subsidiary alliance. 

Tipu Sultan

• Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751),also known as the Tiger of Mysore,

• He was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India and a pioneer of rocket artillery.

• He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system and calendar, and a new land revenue system which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry.

• He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin.

• He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna.

• Tipu Sultan and his father used their French-trained army in alliance with the French in their struggle with the British, and in Mysore’s struggles with other surrounding powers, against the Marathas, Sira, and rulers of Malabar, Kodagu, Bednore, Carnatic, and Travancore.

• Tipu’s father, Hyder Ali, rose to power and Tipu succeeded him as the ruler of Mysore upon his father’s death in 1782.

• He won important victories against the British in the Second Anglo-Mysore War and negotiated the 1784 Treaty of Mangalore with them after his father died from cancer in December 1782 during the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

• Tipu’s conflicts with his neighbours included the Maratha–Mysore War which ended with the signing of the Treaty of Gajendragad.

• The treaty required that Tipu Sultan pay 4.8 million rupees as a one-time war cost to the Marathas, and an annual tribute of 1.2 million rupees in addition to returning all the territory captured by Hyder Ali.

• Tipu remained an implacable enemy of the British East India Company, sparking conflict with his attack on British-allied Travancore in 1789.

• In the Third Anglo-Mysore War, he was forced into the Treaty of Seringapatam, losing a number of previously conquered territories, including Malabar and Mangalore.

• He sent emissaries to foreign states, including the Ottoman Empire, Afghanistan, and France, in an attempt to rally opposition to the British.

• In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War, a combined force of British East India Company troops supported by the Marathas & the Nizam of Hyderabad defeated Tipu.

• He was killed on 4 May 1799 while defending his stronghold of Seringapatam.

Important Developments in Mysore Kingdom

• Mysore silk industry started growing due to the introduction of a new land revenue system.

• Administrative innovations were introduced during his rule.

• Calendar and a new coinage system were introduced.

• Fathul Mujahidin, a military manual, was commissioned during the rule of Tipu Sultan.

• Military weapon named Mysorean Rockets was successfully used against the British East India Company during the 1780s and 1790s. This technology came into the hands of the British which later on resulted in the development of Congreve rockets.

Wars and Battles

Tipu Sultan fought many battles and wars against the British East India Company, Marathas, rulers of Travancore, Carnatic, Malabar, Bednore, Kodagu.

• Tipu fought against the Marathas between 1775 and 1779.

• Tipu had signed a Peace treaty with the British in 1784.

• The British attacked Tipu Sultan, when the ruler of Travancore was attacked by the army of Tipu Sultan. The ruler of Travancore was the ally of the British.

• In 1792, Tipu signed the Treaty of Seringapatam (now known as Srirangapatna) and he lost half of his dominion to the British.

• Battle of Pollilur or Battle of Perambakam, took place on 10 September 1780 at Pollilur near Conjeevaram, the city of Kanchipuram in present-day Tamil Nadu state, India, as part of the Second Anglo-Mysore War.

• Tipu defeated Lt. Colonel William Baillie of the British East India Company in the Battle of Pollilur.