Ajmer is located in a picturesque valley surrounded by the hills of the Aravalli range. The strategic position of this city has led to its long and turbulent history. It was founded by Raja Ajai Pal Chauhan in the 7th century A.D, and the Chauhans ruled there till 1193 when Prithviraj Chauhan lost it to Mohammad Ghori.
The romantic saga of the valiant Prithviraj, immortalized by the poet Chand Bardai in his famous work, Prithviraj-raso, has seeped into the folklore of the region. The Chauhan king was a bitter enemy of Jai Chand of Kanauj. But he was also passionately in love with his enemy's daughter, Sanyogita. Jai Chand had placed a statue of Prithviraj Chauhan at the door of his palace, as a mocking insult to his dreaded foe. But Sanyogita confounded her father, when she garlanded the statue during her swayamvara ceremony. The ceremony, where she had to choose her husband by garlanding the man of her choice from all the assembled suitors like a flash of lightning, Prithviraj appeared and swept away his princess to his palace and into his heart.

After Prithviraj Chauhan lost Ajmer to Mohammad Ghori, it passed into the Delhi Sultanate. In the following centuries, Ajmer was witness to many battles,as the Rajputs, Mughals and Marathas vied to possess it. After the Mughals, Ajmer returned to the House of Jodhpur and later to the Marathas. The British annexed it, in 1818 A.D and brought it under their direct rule. Even the first contacts between the Mughals and the British occurred in Ajmer when Sir Thomas Roe met with Emperor Jehangir here in 1616. The British selected Ajmer as the site for Mayo College, a school opened in 1875 exclusively for Indian princes. Other Monuments which stand as reminders of Ajmer's colonial past are the Edward Memorial Hall, Ajmer Club and Jubilee Clock Tower.