Kolhapur State

State of Kolhapur
1710–1949
Flag
State Emblem
Kolhapur State Map, 1912
StatusPrincipality within the Maratha Confederacy (1707–1818)
Protectorate of the East India Company (1818–1857)
Princely State of the India (1857–1947)
State of the Dominion of India (1947–1949)
CapitalKolhapur
Raja/Maharaja 
 1710–1714 (first)
Shivaji II
 1947–1949 (last)
Shahaji II
History 
 Established
1710
 Acceded to Dominion of India
1947
 Merged into Bombay State
1949
Area
19018,332 km2 (3,217 sq mi)
Population
 1901
865,000
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Maratha Confederacy
India
Today part ofMaharashtra, India

The Kolhapur State was a Maratha princely state of India, under the Deccan Division of the Bombay Presidency, and later the Deccan States Agency. It was considered the most important of the Maratha principalities with the others being Baroda State, Gwalior State and Indore State. Its rulers, of the Bhonsle dynasty, were entitled to a 19-gun salute – thus Kolhapur was also known as a 19-gun state. The state flag was a swallow-tailed saffron pennant.

Kolhapur State, together with its jagirs or feudatory vassal estates (including Ichalkaranji), covered an area of 3,165 square miles (8,200 km2). According to the 1901 census, the state population was 910,011, of which 54,373 resided in Kolhapur Town. In 1901, the state enjoyed an estimated revenue of £300,000.