Grand Trunk Road
The Grand Trunk Road (formerly known as Uttarapath, Sarak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sarak, and Long Walk) is one of Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For at least 2,500 years it has linked Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It runs roughly 3,655 km (2,271 mi) from Teknaf, Bangladesh on the border with Myanmar west to Kabul, Afghanistan, passing through Chittagong and Dhaka in Bangladesh, Kolkata, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Delhi, Amritsar in India, and Lahore, Gujrat, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar in Pakistan.
| Grand Trunk Road | |
|---|---|
| Uttarapath, Sadak-e-Azam, Shah Rah-e-Azam, Badshahi Sadak, Long Walk | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 3,655 km (2,271 mi) |
| Status | Currently functional |
| Existed | before 322 BCE–present |
| History | Mauryan, Sur, Mughal and British Empires |
| Time period | 16th century–present |
| Cultural significance | History of the Indian subcontinent and South Asian history |
| Known for | Trading |
| Major junctions | |
| East end | Teknaf, Bangladesh |
| West end | Kabul, Afghanistan |
| Location | |
| Major cities | Cox's Bazar, Chittagong, Feni, Comilla, Narayanganj, Dhaka, Rajshahi,Chandannagar,Kolkata, Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol, Dhanbad, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Agra, Mathura, Aligarh, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Sonipat, Panipat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Ambala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Lahore, Gujranwala, Pakistan |
The highway was built along an ancient route called Uttarapatha in the 3rd century BCE, extending it from the mouth of the Ganges to the north-western frontier of India. Further improvements to this road were made under Ashoka. The old route was re-aligned by Sher Shah Suri to Sonargaon and Rohtas. The Afghan end of the road was rebuilt under Mahmud Shah Durrani. The road was considerably rebuilt in the British period between 1833 and 1860.
Over the centuries, the road acted as one of the major trade routes in the region and facilitated both travel and postal communication. The Grand Trunk Road is still used for transportation in the present-day Indian subcontinent, where parts of the road have been widened and included in the national highway system.
The road coincides with the current N1, Feni (Chittagong to Dhaka), N4 & N405 (Dhaka to Sirajganj), N507 (Sirajganj to Natore) and N6 (Natore to Rajshahi towards Purnea in India; NH 12 (Purnea to Bakkhali), NH 27 (Purnea to Patna), NH 19 (Kolkata to Agra), NH 44 (Agra to Jalandhar via New Delhi, Panipat, Karnal, Ambala and Ludhiana) and NH 3 (Jalandhar to Attari, Amritsar in India towards Lahore in Pakistan) via Wagah; N-5 (Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Lalamusa, Kharian, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Peshawar and Khyber Pass towards Jalalabad in Afghanistan) in Pakistan and AH1 (Torkham-Jalalabad to Kabul) to Ghazni in Afghanistan.