1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Basim

BASIM, a town of India, in the Akola district, Berar, 52 m. S.S.E. from Akola station of the Great Indian Peninsula railway. Pop. (1901) 13,823. Until 1905 it was the headquarters of the district of Basim, which had an area of 2949 sq. m.; but in that year the district was abolished, its component taluks being divided between the districts of Akola and Yeotmal. Its western portion, the Basim taluk, consists of a fertile tableland, about 1000 ft. above sea-level, sloping down westward and southward to the rich valley of the Penganga; its eastern portion, the taluks of Mangrul and Pasud, mainly of a succession of low hills covered with poor grass. In the Pasud taluk, however, there are wide stretches of woodland, while some of the peaks rise to a height of 2000 ft., the scenery (especially during the rains) being very beautiful. The climate of the locality is better than that of the other districts of Berar; the hot wind which blows during the day in the summer months being succeeded at night by a cool breeze. The principal crops are millet, wheat, other food grains, pulse, oilseeds and cotton; there is some manufacture of cotton-cloth and blankets, and there are ginning factories in the town. In 1901 the population was 353,410, showing a decrease of 11% in the decade, due to the famine of 1899–1900, which was severely felt in the district.