In 1690, Job Charnok, an agent
of the East India Company chose this place for a British trade settlement.
The site was carefully selected, being protected by the Hooghly River on
the west, a creek to the north, and by salt lakes about two and a half
miles to the east. There were three large villages along the east bank
of the river Ganges, named, Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. These three
villages were bought by the British from local land lords. The Mughal emperor
granted East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment
of 3,000 rupees.
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What was Calcutta like before
the British came ?
It was just a village, the capital
city of Bengal was Murshidabad, around 60 miles north of Calcutta. In 1756,
Siraj-ud-daullah, nawab of Bengal, attacked the city and captured the fort.
Calcutta was recaptured in 1757 by Robert Clive when the British defeated
Siraj-ud-daullah on the battle field of Plassy. In 1772, Calcutta became
the capital of British India, and the first Governor General Warren Hastings
moved all important offices from Murshidabad to Calcutta. Till 1912, Calcutta
was the capital of India, when the British moved the capital city to Delhi.
In 1947, when India gained freedom and the country got partitioned between
India and Pakistan, Calcutta was included in the Indian part of Bengal,
West Bengal. Calcutta became the capital city of the state of West Bengal. |
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