The British established the Government College University in Lahore, of present-day Pakistan in 1864. * The story began when the Bengal Nawab, Siraj ud-Daulah, succeeded his maternal grandfather as Nawab of Bengal in April 1756 at the age of 23 and became angry with the British merchants of the East Indian Company. This came to be known as the Maratha Ditch. Until recently, it was believed that Job Charnock, an agent of the East India Company, had founded this city. Meanwhile, the Third Carnatic War was starting in the south. His residence in Hooghly was secured with soldiers obtained from Madras. The farmer misunderstood due to language problems and thought that he was referring as to when he harvested his paddy. By this time Aurangzeb was camping at Visapur and was much aware of the fact that he was losing revenues from the Company trade and the Company ships could cause him much trouble by stopping the pilgrimage to Mecca since they controlled the sea-route. By 1696, when a rebellion broke out in the nearby district of Burdwan, the Mughal provincial administration had become friendly to the growing settlement. The site was apparently carefully selected, being protected by the Hugli (Hooghly) River on the west, a creek to the north, and salt lakes to the east. The Calcutta High Court ruled in 2003[7] that Job Charnock, the Englishman generally believed to be the founder of the Calcutta, is not the founder of the city and that hence Kolkata has no birthday. This is the first time English soldiers came on the soil of Bengal. This movement is sometimes also called the Indian Mutiny, although recent evidence goes against using this name and suggests "The Revolt of 1857" as a better and less controversial choice. According to Indian Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, India was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world — and then the British showed up. Poverty existed in India before the British, thanks in part to constant war, food shortages, and the caste system, but in general Indian society took care of everyone. Calcutta did not become the capital of British India until 1772, when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad, the provincial Mughal capital. At the same time, the Company were desperate to open negotiations with the Emperor after they left Bengal and Mr. Child was sent to him. In 1698 the English obtained letters patent that granted them the privilege of purchasing the zamindari right (the right of revenue collection; in effect, the ownership) of the three villages. Join now. The British Raj (/ r ɑː dʒ /; from rāj, literally, "rule" in Sanskrit and Hindustani) was the rule by the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent from 1858 to 1947. See also. However a truce was again obtained between Mr. Charnock and the local Foujidar, and the English were allowed to put saltpetre on board their ships. Shaista Khan was appointed as the governor of Bengal in around 1664 by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and was relieved upon his request in around 1682. Ask your question. In 1971, the war between India and Pakistan led to another massive influx of refugees from the former East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and their settling in Calcutta massively strained its already damaged infrastructure.[26][27]. How did the empire become so wildly successful at expanding? At this time their ships in Bengal required extensive repairs and the remainder of their fleet were considered in danger. The institution was initially affiliated with the University of Calcutta for examination. Siraj ud-Daula escaped but was later caught and killed by Miran, the son of Mir Jafar. In anticipation of a war with the French, who had a trading settlement in Chandemagore, the British began to fortify Calcutta. The Changing Face of Calcutta: An Architectural Approach. And, for good measure, he got parliamentary approval to bestow the new title ‘Empress of India’ upon Queen Victoria in 1876. [24][25]) Clive seized on this plan to get rid of two enemies at once. Calcutta became plagued by power outages, labor unrest, disappearing industry, and violence from the Naxalite movement. The investment in Bengal soared, the Bengal residency was separated from Madras and Mr. Hedges was appointed as the chief officer to oversee trade in Bengal. Peace treaty was again offered by the governor at the end of December 1686 but it was mainly to buy out time for attack and by February 1687 a large troop of Shaista Khan's army arrived at Hooghly to drive the Company out of Bengal. This culture was fostered in its wake by the Zamindari system, the Dayabhaga System the Hindu Joint Family System, the Mitakshara System, the Muslim Zenana System, the Protestant spirit of free capitalist enterprise, the Mughal-inspired feudal system and the Nautch. The history of Kolkata as a British settlement, known to the British as Calcutta, dates from the establishment of a trading post there by Job Charnock, an agent of the English East India Company, in 1690. The company’s control over Bengal was effectively consolidated in the 1770s when Warren Hastings brought the nawab’s administrative offices to Calcutta (now Kolkata) under his oversight. ... which had long been under British … [22] Kolkata received millions of refugees from what became East Pakistan without receiving substantial assistance from the central government. [citation needed] After the death of Ranjit Singh in 1839, lawlessness prevailed in Punjab. There was a strong suspicion that the charges had been invented by Hastings, and that he had put pressure on the judges to pass sentence of death. When the Mughal officials, not wishing to lose what they had gained from the English company’s commerce, permitted Charnock to return once more, he chose Calcutta as the seat of his operations. In examining why the British never colonized Nepal, it is imperative to first clarify the nature of British rule in the subcontinent, and how it varied from preexisting state formations like that of the Gorkhas. Among early nationalist leaders, the most prominent were Sri Aurobindo, Indira devi Chaudhurani, Bipin Chandra Pal. In 1985 Rajiv Gandhi referred to Calcutta as a "dying city" because of the social and political traumas. Moreover, before the coming of the English, three local villages—Sutanati, Kalikata, and Gobindapore, which were later to become parts of Calcutta—had been chosen as places to settle by Indian merchants who had migrated from the silted-up port of Satgaon, farther upstream. There is a long chain of events behind the arrival of the East India Company in Bengal, specifically Job Charnock in Sutanuti in 1690. When the Marathas from the southwest began incursions against the Mughals in the western districts of Bengal in 1742, the English obtained permission from ʿAlī Vardī Khan, the nawab (ruler) of Bengal, to dig an entrenchment in the northern and eastern part of the town to form a moat on the land side. Then he was ordered to proceed to Dhaka. There were three large villages along the east bank of the river Ganges, named, Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata. [14] Five years after this incident, in 1780, relations between Warren Hastings and Philip Francis deteriorated to such an extent that the two fought a duel in the grounds of Belvedere (now the National Library) on the road to the suburb of Alipore. The city was a colonial city developed by the British East India Company and then by the British Empire. Luck favored him because of an unexpected event. Enraged with this situation and determined to establish their authority, the company requested King James II in 1685 to permit the use of force against the Emperor's army to settle the matter. This area around Fort William—Calcutta—became the seat of the British province known as the Bengal Presidency. Shaista Khan allowed them to remain in Bengal, however to be limited only to Uluberia, a small town on the bank of river Hooghly south of Sutanuti, where they were allowed to make a port and do business from there, but their war ships were strictly not allowed to enter Hooghly. The Elgin Road residence of Subhas Chandra Bose in Calcutta was the place from where he escaped the British to reach Germany during the Second World War. A number of Europeans were imprisoned in a small lockup popularly known as the Black Hole of Calcutta, and many died. About the same time, the British Parliament began regulating the East India Company through successive India Acts , bringing Bengal under the indirect control of the British government. The Governor's troops did not bother them there since they knew the Company would not be able to survive long there. The fort was built on the bank of river Hooghly at Sutanuti with mortar brought from Madras, completed in ca 1701 and was called Fort William after King William III of England. Emperor Aurangzeb, enraged with the situation that the Company fortified Madras, occupied territory around it, captured Mughal ships, went into alliance with his enemy Sambhaji, he ordered his commanders everywhere in India to exterminate Company from the country and seize their properties anywhere to be found. Kolkata grew rapidly in the 19th century to become the second city of the British Indian Empire. The company bought opium from local traders and later directly from farmers, and sold it at auction in Calcutta. In 1772, Calcutta became the capital of British India, a decision made by Governor General Warren Hastings. Each had to be approved by the central government in New Delhi.. Many scholars in India and the West agree today that the British power depended upon excellent cooperation with Indian elites and that the British rule did not change the highly divisive caste … Capital of British India. Answer: It took almost 20 years for the British to plan and accomplish, under the architectural skills of Luytens and Baker. One of the primary reasons for this move was because Calcutta had proven to be a breeding ground for revolution against the British Empire’s rule over India. Intellectually indifferent, spiritually subdued and psychologically weak at that time, India had to adopt with the British authorities. Citing non-existent reasons, he attacked Murshidabad, having previously reached an agreement with Mir Jafar to install him on the musnud of Bengal. In the next year, Ibrahim Khan sent the order from the Emperor to Mr. Charnock which allowed unrestricted trade without paying any other taxes except the usual 3,000 rupees. Click here to get an answer to your question ️ Match the developments related to the Mexican american war with the nation responsible for them While the English were always looking for fortification of their factories in Bengal, Ibrahim Khan never allowed them to do so. At the time when Nicholson was ordered to proceed to Chittagong, Sir John Child was ordered to withdraw the company's establishment from Bombay, commence hostilities on the western coast, blockade Mughal harbors and attack their ships anywhere to be found. Trade with other nations also grew. There were many factors at play, and we will dive into some of the major ones below. These three villages were bought by the British from the local land lords. ", Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Learn how and when to remove this template message, "The illustrated history of the British empire in India and the East vol 3", "Job Charnock not Kolkata founder: HC Says city has no foundation day", "Kolkata: Heritage Tour: Religious Buildings: St. John's Church", "Remarks by U.S. Consul General Henry V. Jardine for the Bharat Chamber Of Commerce", Armenian College and Philanthropic Academy, Baranagore Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama High School, B. T. Road Government Sponsored H. S. School, Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Government College of Engineering and Ceramic Technology, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology, National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases, West Bengal University of Health Sciences, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Braithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction Company, Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Holy Rosary Cathedral (Portuguese Church), Kolkata Police Friendship Cup Football Tournament, Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Indian Botanic Garden, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=History_of_Kolkata&oldid=999429434, Articles with Bengali-language sources (bn), All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2012, All articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases, Articles with specifically marked weasel-worded phrases from August 2013, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2013, Articles needing additional references from August 2011, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, The name comes from the location of the original settlement beside a, The place was known for its manufacture of shell-lime, the name deriving from, The name came into being when Job Charnock asked a farmer the name of the area around Hooghly River. 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