History of Ranthambore Tiger Reserve
The Mughal Emperor , Akbar invested it in 1569 the year after he took the fort at Chittor and conquered it in 40 days of warfare . The event was important enough to be commemorated with five magnificent miniatures paintings by the emperor’s renowned artist Miskina , Paras, khem Karan , Mukund , Shankar , and lal , in the emperial copy of Abul Faazl,s Akbar Nama the official chronicle of Akbar reign
The Kachawas rulers of the principality of Amer later know as the Jaipur State received the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve fort from Mughal and it remained with them till 1949 When Jaipur state was merged in to Rajasthan The forest around the fort know by the name of nearby town ship of Sawai Madhopur were the private hunting ground of maharajas of Jaipur Among the most famous of their hunting parties was organized for queen Elizabeth 2 and the Duke of Edinburg in1961 it was thanks to the desire to preserve game for sport that the forest and inhabitants first received protection and thus survived long enough to be rescued by Project Tiger.
In 1972 it was estimated that there were 1827 tigers in India of which Rajasthan had 74 and the number of tigers estimated in the Ranthambore National Park 60 Sq miles was 14 that year saw the launching of projects Tiger and this sanctuaries has become a national parks of the new projects Over the year the sanctuary has become a national park with a core area 158 SQ miles with a tiger population of 40 according to the 1986 census In 1984 an additional area of 40 SQ miles of adjoining forest was designated the Sawai Man Singh Sanctuary after the late maharaja of Jaipur.