Jaisalmer State was a princely state during the British Raj and was entitled to a 15 gun salute.

As traditionally, the main source of income for the kingdom was levies on caravans the economy was heavily affected when Bombay emerged as a major port and sea trade replaced the traditional land routes. Maharawals Ranjit Singh and Bairi Sal Singh attempted to turn around the decline but the dramatic reduction in trade impoverished the kingdom. A severe drought and resulting famine from 1895 to 1900 during the reign of Maharawal Salivahan Singh only made matters worse by causing widespread loss of the livestock that the increasingly agriculturally based kingdom relied upon.

Maharawal Jawahir Singh’s (1914–49) attempts at modernization also failed to turn the kingdom’s economy around and it remained isolated and backwards compared with other areas of Rajasthan.

Jaysalmar  pronunciation (help·info) (Rajasthani: जैसलमेर), nicknamed "The Golden City", is a town in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It is located 575 kilometres (357 mi) west from the state capital Jaipur. It was once known as Jaisalmer state. The town stands on a ridge of yellowish sandstone, crowned by a fort, which contains the palace and several ornate Jain temples. Many of the houses and temples are finely sculptured. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert and has a population of about 78,000. It is the administrative headquarters of Jaisalmer District.

Jaisalmer is named after its founder Maharawal Jaisal Singh, a Rajput king in 1156 AD. "Jaisalmer" means "the Hill Fort of Jaisal". Jaisalmer is sometimes called the "Golden City of India" because the yellow sand and the yellow sandstone used in every architecture of the city gives a yellowish-golden tinge to the city and its surrounding area.

District JAISALMER is located within a rectangle lying between 26°.4’ –28°.23' North parallel and 69°.20'-72°.42' east meridians. It is the largest district of Rajasthan and one of the largest in the country. The breadth (East-West) of the district is 270 km and the length (North-South) is 186 km. On the present map, district Jaisalmer is bounded on the north by Bikaner, on the west & south-west by the Pakistani border, on the south by Barmer and Jodhpur, and on the east by Jodhpur and Bikaner Districts. The length of international border attached to District JAISALMER is 471 km.

Rajasthani people (Rajasthani: राजस्थानी समाज, Rajasthani Samaj; or राजस्थानी लोक, Rajasthani lok) are the native inhabitants of Rajasthan ("the land of colours") region of India. They form an ethnic group which is a result of assimilation of Scytho-Dravidian, Aryo-Dravidian, Indo-Aryan, Indo-Scythian, Indo-Greeks, Indo-Iranians and Austro-Asiatic ancestries. Although Rajasthanis are of several sub ethnic groups, the whole Rajasthani community is known as marwaris ("people from Marwar region of Rajasthan") throughout the Indian subcontinent. Their language Rajasthani is a part of the western group of Indo-Aryan languages. Well known Rajasthanis include Lakshmi Mittal, Birla Family, etc.

The first mention of word Rajasthan comes from the works of George Thomas (Military Memories) and James Tod (Annals). Rajasthan literally means a Land of Kingdoms. However, western Rajasthan with eastern Gujarat were part of "Gurjaratra" or Gurjarabhumi, land of Gurjars. The local dialects of the time use the expression Rājwār, the place or land of kings, later named by the British to Rajputana, land of Rajputs.