Indore is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and has campuses of both the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management. Located on the southern edge of Malwa Plateau, at an average altitude of 553 meters above sea level, it has the highest elevation among major cities of Central India. The city is 190 km west of the state capital of Bhopal. Indore had a census-estimated 2011 population of 2,994,397 and 3,570,295. The city is distributed over a land area of just 530 square kilometres, making Indore the most densely populated major city in the central province.
Indore traces its roots to its 16th-century founding as a trading hub between the Deccan and Delhi. The city and its surroundings came under Maratha Empire on 18 May 1724 after Peshwa Baji Rao I assumed the full control of Malwa. During the days of the British Raj, Indore State was a 19 Gun Salute princely state ruled by the Maratha Holkar dynasty, until they acceded to the Union of India.