History of Kolkata facts for kids
Kolkata, once known as Calcutta, is a famous city in India with a long history. It was developed by the East India Company in the 1700s as a port city. For a long time, Kolkata was the capital of British India until 1911, when the capital moved to Delhi. In the 1800s, it grew to be the second most important city in the British Empire after London.
Kolkata is also known for its history of protests and movements, from the fight for India's freedom to later worker movements. It's often called the "Cultural Capital of India." Like many big cities, Kolkata has faced challenges with its rapid growth since the 1930s.
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Kolkata Before the British
For many centuries, from the 1300s to the 1700s, the area where Kolkata now stands was ruled by the Bengal Sultanate. Later, the powerful Mughal Empire took control of it in 1576.
How the British Started Trading in Bengal
The East India Company first came to Bengal to trade in the early 1600s. They wanted to set up trading posts, called "factories," to buy and sell goods. At first, they faced many challenges and were even forced out of Bengal several times by the Mughal rulers. But they always found a way to return.
In 1644, a British doctor named Gabriel Boughton successfully treated the Mughal Emperor's daughter for severe burns. As a reward, the Company was allowed to set up a factory in Pipili, Odisha. Later, they were also allowed to build factories in Balasore and Hooghly.
Around 1664, Shaista Khan became the governor of Bengal. The English asked the Emperor Aurangzeb for a special order, called a firman, to trade freely in Bengal forever. The Emperor agreed, which was a big deal for the Company. They even brought English soldiers to Bengal for the first time to protect their trade. However, the firman was not clear, and problems soon started between the English and the governor.
The English wanted to build a fort to protect their trade, but Shaista Khan refused. He also made them pay more taxes. This made the Company very angry. In 1685, they asked King James II of England for permission to use force against the Emperor's army. Admiral Nicholson was sent with ships to attack Chittagong and make it a fort city. Job Charnock, another Company agent, was ordered to join the fight.
However, things went wrong. Some ships ended up in Hooghly instead of Chittagong. A fight broke out, and the English ships fired cannons, burning many houses. A truce was made, but Shaista Khan soon ordered all English factories in Bengal to be closed.
Job Charnock decided it was too dangerous to stay in Hooghly. On December 20, 1686, he moved his people downstream to Sutanuti, a small village on the Hooghly River. They faced very tough conditions there, with many soldiers getting sick.
Eventually, Emperor Aurangzeb wanted to make peace with the Company because their ships were causing problems for pilgrims traveling to Mecca. So, a peace treaty was signed in 1687. The English were allowed to stay in Bengal, but only in a small town called Uluberia. Charnock didn't like Uluberia and wanted to return to Sutanuti.
After more back-and-forth, and another failed attempt to fight the Mughals, Emperor Aurangzeb finally allowed the Company to return to Bengal. He realized he was losing money from their trade.
In 1690, Job Charnock returned to Sutanuti with his soldiers. This marked the start of a new era for the Company in Bengal. The Emperor issued a new order allowing them to trade freely with very few taxes.
Job Charnock died in 1692. The English still wanted to build a fort. In 1695, when a local rebellion broke out, the English asked the governor for permission to protect their factories with their own armed guards. The governor agreed, and the English used this as an excuse to quickly build a fort. This fort, completed around 1701, was named Fort William after King William III of England. This was the first Fort William; a new one was built later.
Job Charnock had chosen Sutanuti because it was naturally protected by the Hooghly River and salt lakes. The British bought three villages – Sutanuti, Gobindapur, and Kalikata – from local landlords. The Mughal Emperor allowed the East India Company to trade freely for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.
Where Kolkata Got Its Name
The name Kolkata comes from an older name, Kolikata. People have different ideas about where the name came from:
- Many believe it came from the Hindu goddess Kali, meaning "the place of Kali."
- Some think it came from khal, meaning "canal," because of a canal near the original settlement.
- Another idea is that it came from kali (lime) and kata (burnt shell), as the area was known for making shell-lime.
- A funny story says that when Job Charnock asked a farmer the name of the area, the farmer misunderstood and said "Kal Kaata hoe chhilo" (meaning "I cut it yesterday," referring to his paddy harvest). Charnock thought that was the name of the place!
The city of Kolkata grew from three villages: Kalikata, Sutanuti, and Gobindapur. Over time, these villages merged. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the Company started rebuilding the city.
In 2003, the Calcutta High Court ruled that Job Charnock was not the "founder" of Kolkata. The court said the city had existed as a trading post long before the British arrived.
In 1690, the East India Company bought the three villages from the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family. They started developing the city. In 1727, a civil court was set up, and the city got its first mayor.
From British Rule to Independence
The three villages that became Calcutta came under the British East India Company in 1690. Some historians say the city truly began when Fort William was built in 1698.
From 1772 to 1911, Calcutta was the capital of British India. After 1911, it remained the capital of Bengal until India became independent in 1947. Since then, Kolkata has been the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal.
When Calcutta Fell to Siraj ud-Daula
In 1756, a war called the Seven Years' War began. The British in Calcutta started fixing their old fort because they were rivals with the French. This angered the new ruler of Bengal, Siraj Ud Daulah, who saw it as a threat. He attacked and captured Calcutta on June 20, 1756. The British governor and many officials escaped, leaving others behind.
This event is known as the Siege of Calcutta. After his victory, Siraj ud-Daula renamed Calcutta to Alinagar. However, the British, led by Robert Clive and Watson, quickly recaptured Calcutta on January 2, 1757. Siraj ud-Daula tried to attack again but signed the Treaty of Alinagar with the East India Company, allowing them to build a fort.
Siraj ud-Daula continued to plot against the British with the French. At the same time, some powerful Indian nobles were also plotting against Siraj ud-Daula because they didn't like his arrogance. They invited Clive to join their plans.
Clive saw this as a chance to get rid of two enemies. He attacked Murshidabad, having secretly agreed with Mir Jafar to make him the new ruler of Bengal. On June 23, 1757, the armies met at the Battle of Plassey. The British army was much smaller, with 800 European and 2,200 Indian soldiers, while the Nawab's army had 18,000 cavalry and 50,000 infantry. During the battle, Mir Jafar betrayed Siraj ud-Daula and led his troops away. Siraj ud-Daula's remaining army was defeated.
Siraj ud-Daula escaped but was later caught and killed. Mir Jafar became the new Nawab, and the British gained control of Bengal. In 1765, after winning another major battle, the Battle of Buxar, the British had no one left to stop their power in North India. This is how British rule began in India, with Calcutta playing a key role.
Calcutta also helped the British win other wars. When Madras fell to the French, the British could still direct their war efforts from Calcutta. They also used the wealth from Bengal to defeat the French.
British India
Churches
St. John's Church was one of the first public buildings built by the East India Company after Kolkata became the capital of Company rule in India. It was built between 1784 and 1787 and was modeled after a church in London. It is the third oldest church in the city.
Opium Trade
After taking control of Bengal in 1757, the British East India Company took over the production and sale of opium from India. They bought opium from farmers and sold it in Calcutta. Much of this opium was then secretly sent to China, which eventually led to the First Opium War (1839–1842).
Life in the 18th Century
In 1772, Calcutta became the capital of British India. The first newspaper in India, Hickey's Bengal Gazette, was printed in Calcutta in 1780. It gave a lot of information about the social life of the British and Indian people in the city.
In the 1700s, it was common for Europeans to marry local Indian women. This led to the growth of the Anglo-Indian community in the city. However, by the early 1800s, this became much less common due to increasing racial differences.
Calcutta's intellectual life got a big boost in 1784 with the creation of the Asiatic Society of Bengal by Sir William Jones. This society helped scholars, both British and Bengali, to study and translate old Indian texts, greatly increasing knowledge about India's culture and past.
Many Western-style schools and colleges were also started in Calcutta during this time, including Sanskrit College (1824), Calcutta Medical College (1835), and the University of Calcutta (1857).
The "Babu" Culture and Bengal Renaissance
During British rule, Calcutta was called "the second city of the British Empire" after London. It was also known as the "City of Palaces."
Calcutta was famous for its "Babu culture," which was a mix of British, European, and Indian traditions. This culture helped create the Bengal Renaissance, a period of new and modern thinking in Bengal in the 1800s, which then spread to the rest of India.
Growth of the City
In 1750, Calcutta had about 120,000 people. After 1757, it became the center of British control over Bengal and grew very quickly, especially in the textile industry. Trade with other countries also increased. For example, the first U.S. merchant ship arrived in Kolkata in 1787.
Even after being almost completely destroyed by a cyclone in 1864, Calcutta continued to grow. Over the next 150 years, its population grew from 117,000 to over a million people. Today, its metropolitan area has about 14.6 million people.
Kolkata's Role in India's Freedom Movement
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Historically, Calcutta was very important in the early stages of India's independence movement. One hundred years after the Battle of Plassey, a major revolt began near Calcutta. In the military barracks at Barrackpore, a soldier named Mangal Pandey started a large uprising that challenged British rule. This event is sometimes called the "Revolt of 1857."
In 1883, Surendranath Banerjea organized a national conference in Calcutta, which led to the creation of the Indian National Congress. Early leaders like Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee and Surendra Nath Banerjea from Calcutta inspired nationalist ideas.
Other groups focused on freedom or religious ideas also started, like the Hindu Mela. Revolutionary groups like the Jugantar and the Anushilan Samiti were formed, aiming to use force against the British. Important nationalist leaders included Sri Aurobindo and Bipin Chandra Pal. They were inspired by Swami Vivekananda. The famous song "Vande Mataram", which is now India's national song, was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in Bengal.
During World War II, Subhas Chandra Bose, a very important freedom fighter, escaped from his home in Calcutta to reach Germany. He later co-founded the Indian National Army to fight against the British in India. He is still highly respected in many Bengali homes today.
Muslims were also involved in the freedom movement. Fazl Huq from Calcutta tried to organize a peasant party to protest against the British and wealthy Indian landowners.
After India Became Independent
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When India was divided in 1947, there was a lot of violence. Many Muslims moved to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), and hundreds of thousands of Hindus came to Kolkata from there. Kolkata received millions of refugees, which put a huge strain on the city's resources.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Kolkata faced many problems: frequent power outages, labor strikes, industries closing down, and a violent Marxist movement called the Naxalites. These issues damaged the city's infrastructure and led to economic slowdown. Interestingly, West Bengal was ruled by a communist government for nearly three decades, which was the longest-running democratically elected communist government in the world.
In 1971, another war between India and Pakistan caused even more refugees to come to Calcutta, further stressing the city.
By the mid-1980s, Mumbai became India's most populated city, overtaking Calcutta. In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi even called Calcutta a "dying city" because of its many problems.
However, after economic reforms in India in the mid-1990s, Kolkata's economy started to recover. Since 2000, the information technology (IT) sector has helped boost the city's economy. The manufacturing sector has also grown. In 2001, the state government officially changed the city's name from Calcutta to Kolkata.
See also
- 2007 Kolkata riots
- British India
- French India
