Belgaum (Kannada ISO: Bēḷagāma, IPA: [beːɭɐɡaːmɐ]), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon[7]), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located in its northern part along the Western Ghats.

[11] Belgaum was founded in late 12th century AD by the Ratta dynasty, who shifted from nearby Saundatti.

A Ratta official named Bichiraja built Kamal Basadi, a Jain temple, dedicated to Neminatha in 1204, which came to be called Kamalabasti.

Pillars found inside Belgaum fort have Kannada inscriptions in Nagari scripts, one from 1199 by Ratta King Kartaveerya IV.

[13] The Belgaum fort was strengthened by the Adil Shah dynasty Sultans and they built the Safa Mosque.

Kitturu Chennamma (1778–1829) was the queen of the princely state of Kittur in Karnataka and in 1824 she led an unsuccessful armed rebellion against the British in response to the Doctrine of lapse.

Belgaum was chosen as the venue of the 39th session of the Indian National Congress in December 1924 under the presidency of Mahatma Gandhi.

The city served as a major military installation for the British Raj, primarily due to its proximity to Goa, which was then a Portuguese territory.

In 1961, the Indian government, under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, used military forces from Belgaum to end Portuguese rule of Goa.

Situated near the foothills of the Sahyadri mountain range (Western Ghats) at an altitude of about 779 m (2,556 ft), 100 km (62 mi) from the Arabian Sea with the Markandeya river flowing nearby, Belgaum exhibits swift and kaleidoscopic changes in topography, vegetation and climate.

Belgaum, currently a part of Karnataka and earlier the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, is claimed by Maharashtra on linguistic grounds.

Upon his return to Belgaum, Vijay More was served with several show-cause notices by the Government of Karnataka and later dissolved the council.

Maharashtra has asked to bring 865 disputed villages including Belgaum under centre's rule until Supreme court's final verdict.

Even though case is pending in supreme court, in 2019, Deputy CM of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar called for the incorporation of Belgaum along with Karwar and Nipani area in Maharashtra citing it was of dream of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, a statement reiterated by CM Uddhav Thackeray in January 2021.

[33] Belgaum is an important source of vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, fish, mining production, and wood (due to heavy rainfall, rivers and the abundance of water).

Trading in North Karnataka is mainly with Goa and Maharashtra along with major cities like Pune, Bangalore and Mangalore.

Rich deposits of Bauxite are found in Belgaum district and have led to the creation of the Indian aluminium-producing company Hindalco Industries of the Aditya Birla Group.

The report describes the work of the pastoralists who herd large numbers of sheep and goats (approx 1.4m in 2003) - some settled in communities and others operating nomadically.

Herein, Infantry Officers and Soldiers are trained in endurance, escape and evasion, guerrilla and commando warfare techniques and to live off the land.

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, ITBP, is building a full-fledged recreation and training centre in Belgaum at Halbhavi.

[39] Typical breakfast items include poori-bhaji, idli-dosa, uppit (upma), sheera, sabudana khichadi and sabuvada.

There are many prominent private bus companies providing services to all major destinations in Karnataka and surrounding states.

KSRTC operates 6463 schedules in a day covering an effective distance of 2374,000 km with a total fleet of 7599 buses.

Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), named after Bharat Ratna Sir M Visweshwariah, is located in Machhe in Belgaum.

The Karnatak University PG Centre was established at Belgaum in the year 1982, to provide an opportunity to develop access to the students for higher education hailing from North Karnataka Region.

In 1994 the PG centre was shifted to the present campus of 172 acres of land at Bhutramanahatti adjacent to the Pune-Bangalore National Highway – 4 NH 4, about 18 km from Belgaum.