Claim: Gujarat has an area.

Gujarat -LRB- -LSB- , gUdZ@'raht -RSB- -LSB- ˈɡudʒ ɾaːt̪ -RSB- -RRB- is a state in Western India , It has an area of 196024 km2 with a coastline of 1600 km , most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula , and a population in excess of 60 million . The state is bordered by Rajasthan to the north , Maharashtra to the south , Madhya Pradesh to the east , and the Arabian Sea and the Pakistani province of Sindh to the west . Its capital city is Gandhinagar , while its largest city is Ahmedabad . Gujarat is home to the Gujarati-speaking people of India .   The state encompasses some sites of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization , such as Lothal and Dholavira . Lothal is believed to be one of the world 's first seaports . Gujarat 's coastal cities , chiefly Bharuch and Khambhat , served as ports and trading centres in the Maurya and Gupta empires , and during the succession of royal Saka dynasties from the Western Satraps era .   Gujarat was known to the ancient Greeks , and was familiar in other Western centres of civilisation through the end of the European Middle Ages . The oldest written record of Gujarat 's 2,000-year maritime history is documented in a Greek book titled The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea : Travel and Trade in the Indian Ocean by a Merchant of the First Century .