It includes districts of Bagalkote, Bijapur, Gadag, Dharwad, Haveri, Belagavi, Bellary, Bidar, Kalaburagi, Koppal, Raichur, Vijayanagara, Yadgir and Uttara Kannada.

The RAF used the airport as a training site during World War II, providing support to the South East Asia Command.

The new terminal building was inaugurated by Civil aviation minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju on 14 September 2017.

[2] The airport is also home to an Indian Air Force station at which new recruits to the military receive basic training.

[3][better source needed] North Karnataka's history[4][5] and culture date back to prehistoric times.

The earliest Stone Age find in India was a hand ax at Lingasugur, in Raichur district.

Sangankal Hills in the Bellary district, which is known as the earliest village settlement of South India,[6] dates back to the Neolithic period.

Vibhuthihalli at Shahapur Taluk in the Yadgir district, an Archaeological Survey of India ancient astronomy site, was created with megalithic stones.

The stones, arranged in a square pattern with astronomical significance,[9] cover an area of 12 acres (4.9 ha).

Ashoka's stone edicts, found in the state, indicate that major parts of Northern Karnataka were under the Mauryas.

Hundreds of monuments built by the Chalukyas are found in the Malaprabha river basin (mainly in Aihole, Badami, Pattadakal and Mahakuta, in Karnataka).

He was primarily a vassal of the Western Chalukyas, but his successors enjoyed considerable independence and were well-placed in Goa and Konkan until the 14th century.

Later, the Kadambas paid nominal allegiance to the other major powers of the Deccan Plateau (such as the Yadavas and Hoysalas of Dorasamudra) and maintained their independence.

Architecture reached a high-water mark in the Dravidian style, the best examples of which are seen in the Kailash Temple at Ellora, the sculptures of Elephanta Caves in modern-day Maharashtra and the Kashivishvanatha and the Jain Narayana Temples at Pattadakal in modern North Karnataka (all of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites).

Scholars agree that the kings of the imperial dynasty in the eighth to tenth century made the Kannada language as important as Sanskrit.

It is located 40 km from the city of Manyakheta (modern Malkhed), on the banks of the Kagini River in Kalaburagi district.

Abdur Razzaq (the Persian ambassador) said, "The eye of the pupil has never seen a place like it and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world".

The region of North Karnataka, especially Belgaum, Dharwad and parts of Bagalkot, Bijapur and Gulbarga districts came under the influence of Shivaji and subsequently the Peshwas.

The following are the princely states of British India: North Karnataka has contributed to various styles of Indian architecture during the rule of the Kadamba, Badami Chalukyas, Western Chalukya, Rashtrakuta and Vijayanagara empires: Kannada is one of the oldest Dravidian languages, with an age of at least 2,000 years.

Varna (class) in Hinduism specialising as priests, teachers (Acharyaru) and protectors of sacred learning across generations are known as Brahmanaru.