Bangalore district was a former administrative district of the Indian state of Karnataka, with the city of Bangalore (Bengaluru) as its headquarters. The district existed in its earlier form during the Mysore State period and continued after the reorganisation of states in 1956. In 1986, the Government of Karnataka bifurcated it into Bangalore Urban district and Bangalore Rural district to enable more focused administration of the rapidly urbanising metropolitan area and the surrounding rural taluks.
| Name | Bangalore district |
|---|---|
| Country | India |
| State | Karnataka (formerly Mysore State) |
| Headquarters | Bangalore (Bengaluru) |
| Status | Former district |
| Bifurcated in | 1986 |
| Successor districts | Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural |
| Region | South Karnataka, Bayaluseeme (plains) |
The district lay on the southern Deccan plateau in the Bayaluseeme region of Karnataka. It encompassed both the urban core of Bangalore city and an extensive rural hinterland that included taluks such as Anekal, Devanahalli, Doddaballapur, Hosakote, Magadi, Nelamangala, Channapatna, Kanakapura and Ramanagaram. The terrain was characterised by gently rolling plains, granite outcrops, and tank-fed agricultural land typical of the Cauvery–Arkavathi watershed.
Historically, the area was part of the Kingdom of Mysore under the Wadiyar dynasty and, briefly, under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. After 1799 it came under the indirect rule of the British through the princely state of Mysore. Following the integration of Mysore State into the Indian Union and the linguistic reorganisation of states under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Bangalore district became one of the principal districts of the enlarged Mysore State, which was renamed Karnataka in 1973.
By the 1980s the rapid expansion of Bangalore city, driven by public-sector enterprises such as Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Indian Telephone Industries (ITI), and the growing presence of research institutions including the Indian Institute of Science, made the combined district unwieldy. In 1986 the Government of Karnataka split the district into two:
In 2007, Bangalore Rural district was further reorganised, with several taluks carved out to form the new Ramanagara district.
The former Bangalore district covered the area that has since become one of India's foremost technology, aerospace, and education hubs. The transformation of the region into the "Silicon Valley of India" took place largely in the territories of its two successor districts, particularly through the growth of Electronics City, Whitefield, and the International Tech Park. The administrative reorganisation in 1986 is often cited as an early recognition of Bangalore's distinctive urban–rural divide and the need for differentiated governance.