Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Unao

UNAO, a British district in the Lucknow division of Oudh, India, under the jurisdiction of the lieutenant-governor of the North-Western Provinces. The area of the district is 1768 square miles, and it is bounded on the N. by Hardoi, E. by Lucknow, S. by Rai Bareli, and W. by the Ganges. Unao is very flat, and has no features of particular interest. Rich and fertile tracts, studded with groves, alternate with stretches of waste land and plains of barren usar t the whole being intersected with small streams, the water from which is extensively used for irrigation. The Ganges is the only navigable river in the district. The temperature varies from about 75 to 103 in the hot weather, and from 46 to 79 in the cold season. The average annual rainfall is about 34 inches.

In 1881 the population was 899,069 (males 461,167, females 437,902); of these 830,342 were Hindus, 68,677 Mohammedans, and 49 Christians. Unao, the capital and administrative head quarters, 9 miles north-east of Cawnpore, had 9509 inhabitants. The cultivated area of Unao amounted in 1885-86 to 598,131 acres, and 289,356 acres were returned as cultivable. The principal crops are rice, wheat, and other food grains, cotton, sugar-cane, and in digo. The cultivation is mainly dependent on irrigation. The principal exports are grain of all kinds, gur, ghi, tobacco, and a little indigo and saltpetre; and the chief imports are piece goods, salt, iron, cotton, spices, &c. The gross revenue of the district in 1885-86 amounted to 183,083, the land yielding 144,914. During the mutiny of 1857-58 Unao was the scene of several severe engagements between General Havelock's little army and the rebels. On the death of Raja Jasa Sinh, one of the leading rebels, and the capture of his two sons, the whole family estates were confiscated, and the villages either restored to their former owners or given to other landholders for their loyalty.