Shamli is a city, tehsil and a municipal board in Muzaffarnagar district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

It is located on the Delhi - Saharanpur highway. It is around 100 km from Delhi and 65 km from Saharanpur.

Shamli is also famous for its old sugar mill called Upper Doab Sugar Mill. It is big market place for 10s of villages around.

According to legend, Shamli is the place where Krishna took a night's halt while going for his last attempt of truce thus avoiding Mahabharata, hence was its previous name "Shyama vali”.

This small suburb is also famous for the Hanuman tilla, a temple of Hindu deity Hanuman, built by the great warrior Bhima.

The entire complex has around 20 temples devoted to various Hindu Gods and Goddesses. It is believed that Lord Hanuman stopped here while on his way to Dronagiri mountain to fetch Sanjeevani, a powerful life-restoring herb, for Lord Lakshmana.

Ruskin Bond's experience long time ago in this small town inspired him to write a story called "Time Stops at Shamli".

People belong to Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism and Christianity.However, majority of the population is either Hindu or Muslim.

The occupation of people predominantly include agriculture and business especially shops.

Due to its close vicinity to the capital Delhi (around 100 km), the living standard of people even in villages is considerably good.

Peace in shamli that used to be the talk of the day is now seeming reality. People are education conscious and value education a lot.

There is a convent school, St. Francis School, the best among the school spread in 20 km radie and almost all the rankers in different competitions are from this school.

Children are doing pretty good and have sought education in good institutions like IIT, IIMS, AIIMS etc.

There are many clubs where families socialize, like, Lions Club, Lioness club, Rotary club, etc. This town has almost seven movie theatres, Ajanta and Ashoka being the oldest existing theatres.

During the first struggle for freedom in 1857 a lot of action was in the District.

CHAUDHARY MOHAR SINGH of Shamli and SAIYED-PATHANS of Thanabhawan fought against the British and captured the Tehsil of Shamli.
But later on the British army showed its brutality and recaptured the area. A lot of freedom fighters were done to death by them and this attempt was failed.

The Jats are socially, economically and Politically the most dominant and influential people in and around Shamli.

According to The Imperial Gazetteer of India, 1901, 'The origin of the Jats has been constantly discussed, and in this connection we may quote the words of Mr. Miller,
the Settlement Officer: " Much ingenuity has been spent on the attempt to prove them to be Scythians; but, if physiognomy counts for anything, no one could doubt their Aryan origin.

Their tribes or subcastes are extremely nu¬merous; 650 have been taken account of in the census returns in this district alone.
With scarcely any exception, all the tribes state that they migrated to this district from the Panjab, Jhind, Hariana, Sirsa, Rohtak, and the places in which they locate their original home.
The great tribe of the ghatwalas how¬ever, who hold a chaurasi of villages in the west of the dis¬trict and in Meerut, invariably say that they come from Ghajni or Garh-Gajni, and it is generally supposed that the Afghan Ghazni is alluded to.
The other most important clan here is tho Balian with headquarters at Sisauli and Purbalian. The Saliklan, a powerful body, further south, have some repre¬sentatives in this district.
The Jats entered the district from the south-west and established themselves in its most fertile tracts. Avoiding the wastes and jungles near the Jumna, they took almost exclusive possession of the rich tract lying between Shamli and the southern border;
then crossing the Hindan they occupied the southern portion of pargana Baghra and the best estates of Shikarpur; but the force of the immigration had spent itself by this time, and across the Kali,
though Jats are still numerous, their communities are scattered amongst villages be¬longing to cultivators of other classes."
The parent village of the Ghatwalas is Lisarh. Shamli is an¬other large Jat centre, while the Jats between Shamli and the southern border hold what is known as a " bioni " or group of fifty-two villages.
The large Jat settlement in the north of the district lying between the Gujars and Chauhans of Chausiana on the west and the Pundirs of Muzaffarnagar on the east is composed of various tribes which have gradually coalesced.
There are also any jat occupying the upland ridge above the Ganges khadir. Most of the Jats in this district are known as Deswalas, who were the first of their clan to obtain a footing in these provinces.
The Jats are undoubtedly the best cultivators in the district, and to them are due the credit of introducing the present system of agriculture.
They are very hard workers, their toil continuing all the year round; there is scarcely any season in which some crop does not call for attention.
In character they are somewhat narrow-minded, and their self-reliance tends to exilusiveness and a spirit of excessive independence.
Further, there is a great want of cohesion among the Jat communities, and they are rapidly being broken up into very small fragments by partitions.
At the same time their superiority is manifested by the fact that the Jat villages can pay with ease revenues .
which would undoubt¬edly cause a break-down if the lands were held by other castes, while at the same time they maintain an equally high standard of comfort.'

Shamli is located at 29°27′N 77°19′E / 29.45°N 77.32°E / 29.45; 77.32[1]. It has an average elevation of 248 metres (813 feet).
The small city lies on the roads linking some major cities in this area, such as Delhi, Meerut,Karnal,Panipat, Baghpat , Baraut , Muzaffarnagar and Saharanpur.
It lies to the east of the Yamuna river flowing between the borders of two Indian states, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The area has a very fertile land called 'Doab' meaning "a place lying in the deltas of two rivers", i.e. The Ganga and The Yamuna . The area is a major center of sugar cultivation and hence an area which attracts the sugar industries.