Hindu mythology has it that Lord Rama, the King of Ayodhya, made Nashik his home during his 14 years in exile. At the same place Lord Laxman, by the blessing of Lord Rama, cut off the nose of Shurpnakha and thus this place was named as "Nasik"(From Sanskrit word 'Nasika'). Several other references to the Ramayan era can be found in Nashik, which includes the Sita Gumpha caves, from where Sita, Lord Rama's wife, was abducted by Ravana. Nashik in 150 BC was believed to be the country's largest marketplace.

From 1487-1818, the city was under Mughal rule and was known as Gulshanabad (City of Gardens).
The city got its present name in 1818 when the Peshwas got control of the city. The Peshwa rule however, did not last long and the British captured Nashik in the very same year. In 1840, one of the first modern libraries of Maharashtra (then, the Presidency of Bombay) was founded at Nashik.
Some of the major events in history of Nashik in the 1860s are-

• 1840 : Sarvajanik Vachanalaya established. (Public Library)
• 1854 : Sharanpur Colony formed.
• 1861 : Deolali Cantonment formed.
• 1862 : Nashik Road railway station was built.
• 1864 : Nashik Municipality formed.
• 1869 : Nashik district formed.
• 1894 : Construction work for Victoria Bridge started.
• 1910 : Police Training School established.
• 1922 : Distillery started at Nashik Road.
• 1927 : Security Press formed at Nashik Road.
• 1941 : Artillery Center migrated to Nashik Road from Quetta in Pakistan.

Nashik also participated in the freedom struggle of India. On December 21, 1909, 17-year-old Anand Kanhere shot the Collector of Nashik, Jackson in a theatre named Vijayanand theatre, where he had gone to see a play Sharada. He died on the spot. The people involved in the incident, Anant Kanhere, Krishnaji Karve and Vinayak Ramchandra Deshpande were sentenced to death by hanging and were hanged soon after.

In 1914, social worker, Raosaheb Thorat founded the Nashik District Vidya Prasarak Samaj, the most prominent educational institute in Nashik.

In 1930, the Nashik Satyagraha was launched under the leadership of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar for the entry of Dalits in Kala Ram temple. In 1931, a meeting of the Bombay Province Charmkar Parishad was organised at Nashik to work out the Chambhars' position with regard to the Second Round Table Conference in which Babasaheb was going to participate. In 1932, Babasaheb organized his temple entry movement for the abolition of untouchability in Nashik.

Balkrishna Moonje, a close associate of Veer Sawarkar, established the Central Hindu Military Education Society at Nashik which created the Bhonsala Military School in 1937.

During the Partition of India in 1947, many Sindhi families migrated to Nashik

On October 31, 1955, the Government of India inaugarated a press at Nashik for printing government stationery.

Nashik is located in northern Maharashtra at 565m (1854 ft) from the mean sea level. The river Godavari originates from Trimbakeshwar (24 km from Nashik) and flows through various parts of the city. The river forms the northern boundary of the city in some areas and then flows through the old residential settlement in the city. Several small tributaries like the Nasardi and Waghadi merge with Godavari at Nashik. Nashik lies on western edge of the Deccan Plateau which is a volcanic formation. The soil here is primarily black which is favorable for agriculture. The total land area of the city (Municipal Limits) is about 259.13 km2 which makes it the third largest urban area of Maharashtra after Mumbai Metropolitan Region and the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Urban Region.

Nashik has pleasant climate for most time of the year except from March to mid-June. The period from June to September is the (South West) Monsoon Season. October is peculiarly hot and dry. Winter is between November and February. In 1914, social worker, Raosaheb Thorat founded the Nashik District Vidya Prasarak Samaj, the most prominent educational institute in Nashik.

The maximum temperature ever recorded in the city was 44.8 °C (108.3 °F) on 12 May 1960 in Nashik. The lowest temperature recorded was 0.6 °C (33.1 °F) on 7 January 1945 in Nashik. In 1930, the Nashik Satyagraha was launched under the leadership of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar for the entry of Dalits in Kala Ram temple. In 1931, a meeting of the Bombay Province Charmkar Parishad was organised at Nashik to work out the Chambhars' position with regard to the Second Round Table Conference in which Babasaheb was going to participate. In 1932, Babasaheb organized his temple entry movement for the abolition of untouchability in Nashik.

Nashik today is one of the fastest growing cities of India and has even been identified as a tier-2 metro. The city's economy is driven chiefly by the engineering and manufacturing industry (which has been around since the seventies) as well as the progressive agriculture in area surrounding the city. Auto majors such as Mahindra & Mahindra, BOSCH and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) such as VIP, Samsonite, CEAT etc. have their plants here and have spawned a huge network of auto component suppliers and engineering ancillary services. It is also a pharmaceutical hub with presence GlaxoSmithKline and Fem. In recent years, Nasik has also carved a niche for itself as India's "Napa Valley" and locally established wine brands such as "Sula" have attained international acclaim. Modern efforts are on to promote the growth of an export-oriented rose farming and wine industry in the district. Nashik is also deemed "the third most industrialised city of Maharashtra after Mumbai and Pune", mainly due to extensive industrial development in recent times. It is home to an important thermal power plant (Eklahare) and a National Treasury Printing Press (India Security Press at Nashik Road). There are five "Industrial Zones" in the Nashik area and its outskirts (Satpur, Ambad, Sinnar, Igatpuri and Dindori). Nashik has a number of sugar mills. It is also chief exporter of white onions and pomegranates.

Nashik is very famous for grapes, onions and tomatoes, all of which are grown in huge quantities. The wine culture is growing at an alarming speed for both growers and wine makers. Nashik was famous for its table grapes for a very long time. In early 1925, the Table Grape revolution was started by Shree Ramrao Jairamji Gaikwad, who is known to have been the first person to commercially grow table grapes, in Ojhar, a small town near Nashik. He is known as the Father of Indian grapes and revolutionised not only grape growing, but also other crop cultivation practices. Today, table grapes are being exported in great quantities to Europe, the Middle East and Asia. They are used to make raisins and juices. Nashik also exports a reasonable quantity of onions. Agriculture contributes greatly towards the Nashik's economy.

Nashik has transformed from a small pilgrimage town to a modern mid-sized city in the last two decades or so. The growth of industries brought about a major growth in population resulting into expansion of the footprint of the city into the hinterland and resulted into growth of suburbs along the periphery of the city. The natural benefits of geography and climate and abundant availability of water catalyzed this growth. The retail revolution in India also left an impact on Nashik with multiple medium and large sized retail malls opening up in the city after the year 2002. Stand-alone branded apparel stores and food chains followed the trend and have opened up outlets to cater to the growing urban population. Some of the other statistics are given below:

• The literacy rate in Nashik is 85.67%.
• People living below poverty line: 5.6%
• Literacy rate: 85.67%
• 1862 : Nashik Road railway station was built.
• Human Development Index(from 2001-2008):90.00%
• Infrastructure Development: 80%

Nashik is one of the major road junctions of India. The Mumbai-Agra national highway(NH3) runs through Nashik. Nashik is also connected to Pune with NH-50. Nashik is a major road junction of major state highways. It is well connected to Surat, Aurangabad, Mumbai, Pune, Ahmednagar, Dhule and many other cities. It has been seeing reasonable grown in terms of road infrastructure in the past few years or so. Map of Nashik Taluka The National Highway Number 3 (NH3) is being converted into a multi-lane tolled road.

The stretch from Mumbai to Bhiwandi is already a four-lane road. Work is in progress for the four-laning of the stretch between Bhiwandi and Gonde. This stretch passes through the Kasara Ghat Section (known as Thalghat traditionally). It is understood that the stretch between Gonde and Pimpalgaon Baswant (near Ozar Airport), which actually passes though Nashik city, is proposed to be a six-laned highway with multiple flyovers at key intersections. The work of the road beyond the one described above (Pimpalgaon Baswant to Dhule) is nearing completion. The NH50 to Pune is a traditional two-laned road up to Rajgurunagar (Pune District) and four laned further till Pune.

Buses : MSRTC (State Run) Efficient and punctual buses are run by the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation to various cities, towns and villages around Nashik. They operate services from multiple bus terminals (New and old Central Bus Stand or CBS, Mela Sthanak, Mahamarg Bus Stand and Nimani Bus Stand) primarily based on geographic locations of the destinations. The new CBS (also known as Thakkar Bazaar) is the principal bus terminal from where one can get to travel to Mumbai, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, the Konkan Region, Aurangabad and so on. Semi-luxury buses are available to some of the important locations. Nashik to Pune is a special semi-luxury service which runs decently built buses at half-hour intervals from 5.30 in the morning to 12.30 in the midnight. The Mahamarg bus stand caters to services departing for Ahmednagar, Solapur, Kasara and Shirdi. Other bus stands cater to district level traffic to small towns and villages.

Private Buses : Several private bus operators run services with good quality buses (Air-conditioned buses in many cases) although to large cities around like Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Indore, Kolhapur etc.

Air conditioned Taxis : Popularly knows as cool cabs (blue and silver colored), these services are available to Mumbai, Thane, Shirdi, Pune and a few other locations. These serve as a good option in case of unplanned travel decisions and available round-the-clock at stipulated taxi-stands located conveniently in the city. Taxis could be hired fully or on seat-basis. One could walk up to the taxi stand or call for the taxi at desired location although at an additional cost..

Railways : Nashik Road Railway Station is an important railway station on the Mumbai-Kalyan-Manmad-Bhusaval (and further to Delhi or Kolkata) sector of the Central Railway] Division of Indian Railways which was the first ever electrified section in India. The railway station is about 11 km away from the city center (and hence called Nashik Road instead of Nashik). Most of the trains halt at Nashik Road station although generally for a short duration(2 to 5 minutes). Deolali is another station (about 10 minutes train travel towards Mumbai) which serves the population residing in the Deolali Cantonment Area and the adjoining towns like Bhagur etc. Interestingly, a horse-drawn tram used to ply between Nashik Road Station and the Nashik City between 1889 and 1933.[21] More than 50 trains pass through this station daily and it is thus connected to Mumbai, Aurangabad, Nanded, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Agra, Delhi, Nagpur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Jammu, Madgaon, Mangalore and so on. Although the station connects to most northern and eastern parts of the country, major passenger traffic is between Mumbai and Nashik. Fast-moving intercity trains like the Panchvati express and the Godavari Express connect this station to Mumbai. These trains originate from Manmad and principally cater the large number of business travelers from Manmad and Nashik to Mumbai and suburban area.

Airways : Kingfisher Airlines runs two daily flights to Mumbai from Nashik's Ozar Airport located at some 24 km from the city center. Deccan Airways also used to operate a flight to Mumbai from Ozar airport a couple of years ago which was later taken off due to lack of passengers. Nashik has another airport at Gandhinagar with a shorter runway and hence unfit for modern-day passenger aircrafts. The government run Vayudoot used a operate a service to Mumbai from this Gandhinagar Airport during the 1980s.

Intracity Travel : Nashik has been having a reasonably reliable and punctual bus based intra-city transport system which is operated by the state run MSRTC. The principal operating hub is at Panchvati. Other key city bus nodes are Nashik Road (Railway Station), Satpur, Central Bus Stand and Shalimar. Buses ply to almost all parts of the city. The MSRTC has been requesting the [Nashik Municipal Corporation] http://www.nashikcorporation.com/ to take over the bus service but that has not happened till date. Peculiarly painted Taxis (Black and Yellow) are available for point to point (unmetered) travel to destination within the city and to nearby tourist attraction like Trimbakeshwar and Someshwar or the Railway Station. Metered and unmetered auro-rikshaws ply in the city and are available with reasonable ease.