Maharashtra is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, Gujarat and the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli to the northwest, Madhya Pradesh to the north and northeast, Chhattisgarh to the east, Karnataka to the south, Andhra Pradesh to the southeast and Goa to the southwest. The state covers an area of 307,731 km2 (118,816 sq mi) or 9.84% of the total geographical area of India. Mumbai, the capital city of the state, is India's largest city and the financial capital of the nation. Nagpur is the second (Winter) capital of the state. Marathi is the state's official language.
Maharashtra is the world's second most populous first-level administrative country sub-division. Were it a nation in its own right, Maharashtra would be the world's twelfth most populous country ahead of Philippines.In the 16th century, the Marathas rose under the leadership of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj against the Mughals, who ruled a large part of India. By 1760, Maratha power had reached its zenith with a territory of over 250 million acres (1 million km²) or one-third of the Indian sub-continent. After the Third Anglo-Maratha War, the empire ended and most of Maharashtra became part of Bombay State under a British Raj. After Indian independence, Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti demanded unification of all Marathi-speaking regions under one state. At that time, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was of the opinion that linguistic reorganisation of states should be done on a "One state – One language" principle and not on a "One language – One state" principle. He submitted a memorandum to the reorganisation commission stating that a "single