Kol

Kol, later known as Aligarh, was a fortified town in the Doab between the Ganges and the Yamuna. Its name appears in written sources from the twelfth century, when the surrounding country was held by Dor Rajputs. Qutb al-Din Aibak captured the region in 1194, and the chronicler Hasan Nizami counted Kol among the notable fortresses of Hindustan.

Under the Delhi Sultanate, Kol became an important economic centre, known among other things for distilled wine. The future sultan Balban erected a minaret there in the thirteenth century. Its fort was substantially rebuilt in the sixteenth century, and the town acquired several new names before becoming known as Aligarh in the eighteenth. During the Second Anglo-Maratha War, British forces captured the fort in 1803.