Roorkee (Rūṛkī) is a city in North India and a municipal corporation in the Haridwar district of the state of Uttarakhand (previously Uttaranchal), India. It is spread over a flat terrain under Sivalik Hills of Himalayas. The city is developed on the banks of Ganges Canal, its dominant feature, which flows from north-south through middle of the city. Roorkee is home to Asia's first engineering college Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, formerly known as Thomson College of Civil Engineering. Roorkee is also known for the Roorkee Cantonment, one of the country's oldest military establishments and the headquarters of Bengal Engineer Group since 1853. Roorkee has the distinction of being one of the endpoints of the first train journey in India (along with Piran Kaliyar) on 22 December 1851.