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CALCUTTA
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CALCUTTA , the See also:capital of See also:British See also:India and also of the See also:province of See also:Bengal. It is situated in 22° 34' N. and 88° 24' E., on the See also:left or See also:east See also:bank of the See also:Hugli, about 8o m. from the See also:sea. Including its suburbs it covers an See also:area of 27,267 acres, and contains a See also:population (1901) of 949,144. Calcutta and Bombay have See also:long contested the position of the premier See also:city of India in population and See also:trade; but during the See also:decade 1891-1901 the prevalence of See also:plague in Bombay gave a considerable See also:advantage to' Calcutta, which was comparatively See also:free from that disease. Calcutta lies only some 20 ft. above sea-level, and extends about 6 m. along the Hugli, and is bounded elsewhere by the Circular See also:Canal and the See also:Salt Lakes, and by suburbs which See also:form See also:separate municipalities. Fort See also: Government House, which is situated near the Maidan and See also:Eden Gardens, is the See also:residence of the See also:viceroy; it was built by Lord See also:Wellesley in 1799, and is a See also:fine See also:pile situated in grounds covering six acres, and modelled upon Kedleston Hall in See also:Derbyshire, one of the See also:Adam buildings. See also:Belvedere House, the See also:official residence of the See also:lieutenant-See also:governor of Bengal, is situated See also:close to the botanical gardens in Alipur, the See also:southern suburb of Calcutta. Facing the Maidan for a couple of See also:miles is the Chowringhee, one of the famous streets of the See also:world, once a See also:row of palatial residences, but now given up almost entirely to hotels, clubs and shops. See also:Commerce.—Calcutta owes its commercial prosperity to the fact that it is situated near the mouth of the two See also:great See also:river systems of the See also:Ganges and See also:Brahmaputra. It thus receives the produce of these fertile river valleys, while the See also:rivers afford a cheaper mode of See also:conveyance than any railway. In addition Calcutta is situated midway between See also:Europe and the Far East and thus forms a See also:meeting-place for the commerce and peoples of the Eastern and Western worlds. The See also:port of Calcutta is one of the busiest in the world, and the See also:banks of the Hugli See also:rival the port of See also:London in their show of See also:shipping. The See also:total number of arrivals and departures during 1904–1905 was 3027 vessels with an See also:average See also:tonnage of 3734. But though the city is such a busy commercial centre, most of its See also:industries are carried on outside municipal limits. See also:Howrah, on the opposite side of the Hugli, is the See also:terminus of three great railway systems, and also the headquarters of the jute See also:industry and other large factories. It is connected with Calcutta by an immense floating See also:bridge, 1530 ft. in length, which was constructed in 1874. Other See also:railways have their terminus at Sealdah, an eastern suburb. The docks See also:lie outside Calcutta, at Kidderpur, on the See also:south; and at Alipur are the zoological gardens, the residence of the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, cantonments for a native See also:infantry See also:regiment, the central See also:gaol and a government reformatory. The port of Calcutta stretches about 10 m. along the river. It is under the See also:control of a port See also:trust, whose See also:jurisdiction extends to the mouth of the Hugli and also over the floating bridge. New docks were opened in 1892, which cost upwards of two millions See also:sterling. The figures for the sea-See also:borne trade of Calcutta are included in those of Bengal. Its inland trade is carried on by country See also:boat, inland steamer, See also:rail and road, and amounted in 1904–1905 to about four and three See also:quarter millions sterling. More than See also:half the total is carried by the East Indian railway, which serves the See also:United Provinces. Country boats hold their own against inland steamers, especially in imports. See also:Municipality.—The municipal government of Calcutta was reconstituted by an See also:act of the Bengal legislature, passed in 1899• Previously, the governing See also:body consisted of seventy-five commissioners, of whom fifty were elected. Under the new See also:system modelled upon that of the Bombay municipality, this body, styled the See also:corporation, remains comparatively unaltered; but a large portion cf their See also:powers is transferred to a general See also:committee, composed of twelve members, of whom one-third are elected by the corporation, one-third by certain public bodies and one-third are nominated by the government. At the same See also:time, the authority of the chairman, as supreme executive officer, is considerably strengthened. The two most important See also:works undertaken by the old municipality were the See also:provision of a See also:supply of filtered See also:water and the construction of a See also:main drainage system. The water-supply is derived from the river
Hugli, about 16 m. above Calcutta, where there are large pumping-stations and settling-tanks. The drainage-system consists of underground sewers, which are discharged by a pumping-station into a natural depression to the eastward, called the Salt See also:Lake. Refuse is also removed to the Salt Lake by means of a municipal railway.
See also:Education.—The Calcutta University was constituted in 1857, as an examining body, on the See also:model of the university of London. The chief educational institutions are the Government See also:Presidency See also:College; three aided missionary colleges, and four unaided native colleges; the See also:Sanskrit College and the See also:Mahommedan Madrasah; the government medical college, the government See also:engineering college at See also:Sibpur, on the opposite bank of the Hugli, the government school of See also:art, high See also:schools for boys, the See also:Bethune College and high schools for girls.
Population.—The population of Calcutta in 1710 was estimated at 12,000, from which figure it See also:rose to about 117,000 in 1752. In the See also:census of 1831 it was 187,000, in 1839 it had become 229,000 and in 1901, 949,144. Thus in the See also:century between 18oi and 1901 it increased sixfold, while during the same See also:period London only increased fivefold. Out of the total population of See also:town and suburbs in 1901, 615,000 were See also:Hindus, 286,000 Mahommedans and 38,000 Christians.
See also:Climate and See also:Health.—The climate of the city was originally very unhealthy, but it has improved greatly of See also:recent years with modern sanitation and drainage. The climate is hot and See also:damp, but has a pleasant See also:cold See also:season from See also:November to See also: The mean See also:annual temperature is 790 F., with a range from 85° in the hot season and 83° in the rains to 72° in the cool season, a mean maximum of 102° in May and a mean minimum of 48° in January. Calcutta has been comparatively fortunate in escaping the plague. The disease manifested itself in a sporadic form in April 1898, but disappeared by See also:September of that See also:year. Many of the Marwari traders fled the city, and some trouble was experienced in shortage of labour in the factories and at the docks. The plague returned in 1899 and caused a heavy mortality during the See also:early months of the following year; but the population was not demoralized, nor was trade interfered with. A yet more serious outbreak occurred in the early months of 1901, the number of deaths being 7884. For three following years the totals were (1902–1903) 7284; (1903–1904) 8223; and (1904–1905) 4689; but these See also:numbers compared very favourably with the See also:condition of Bombay at the same time. See also:History.—The history of Calcutta practically See also:dates from the 24th of See also:August 1690, when it was founded by See also:Job See also:Charnock (q.v.)of the See also:English East India See also:Company. In 1596 it had obtained a brief entry as a See also:rent-paying See also:village in the survey of Bengal executed by command of the See also:emperor See also:Akbar. But it was not till ninety years later that it emerged into history. In 1686 the English merchants at Hugli under Charnock's leadership, finding themselves compelled to quit their factory in consequence of a rupture with the See also:Mogul authorities, retreated about 26 m. down the river to Sutanati, a village on the banks of the Hugli, now within the boundaries of Calcutta. They occupied Sutanati temporarily in See also:December 1686, again in November 1687 and permanently on the 24th of August 1690. It was thus only at the third See also:attempt that Charnock was able to obtain the future capital of India for his centre and the subsequent prosperity of Calcutta is due entirely to his tenacity of purpose. The new See also:settlement soon extended itself along the river bank to the then village of Kalikata, and by degrees the cluster of neighbouring hamlets See also:grew into the See also:present town. In x696 the English built the See also:original Fort William by permission of the See also:nawab, and in 1698 they formally See also:purchased the three villages of Sutanati, Kalikata and Govindpur from Prince Azim, son of the emperor See also:Aurangzeb.
The site thus chosen had an excellent anchorage and was defended by the river from the See also:Mahrattas, who harried the districts on the other side. ;' The fort, subsequently rebuilt on the See also:Vauban principle, and a See also:moat, designed to form a semicircle
See also:round the town, and to be connected at both ends with the river, but never completed, combined with the natural position of Calcutta to render it one of the safest places for trade in India during the expiring struggles of the Mogul See also:empire. It grew up without any fixed See also:plan, and with little regard to the sanitary arrangements required for a town. Some parts of it See also:lay below high-water See also:mark on the Hugli, and its See also:low level throughout rendered its drainage a most difficult problem. Until far on in the 18th century the malarial See also:jungle and paddy See also:fields closely hemmed in the See also:European mansions; the vast See also:plain (maiddn), now covered with gardens and promenades, was then a swamp during three months of each year; the spacious quadrangle known as See also:Wellington Square was built upon a filthy See also:creek. A See also:legend relates how one-See also:fourth of the European inhabitants perished in twelve months, and during seventy years the mortality was so great that the name of Calcutta, derived from the village of Kalikata, was identified by mariners with Golgotha, the place of a See also:skull.
The chief event in the history of Calcutta is the See also:sack of the town, and the See also:capture of Fort William in 1756, by Suraj-ud-Dowlah, the nawab of Bengal. The See also:majority of the English officials took See also:ship and fled to the mouth of the Hugli river. The Europeans, under See also: The prisoners, numbering 146 persons, were forced into the guard-room, a chamber measureing only 18 ft. by 14 ft. to in., with but two small windows, where they were left for the See also:night. It was the loth of June; the heat was intense; and next See also:morning only 23 were taken out alive, among them Holwell, who left an See also:account of the awful sufferings endured in the " Black Hole." The site of the Black Hole is now covered with a black marble slab, and the incident is commemorated by a monument erected by Lord Curzon in 1902. The Mahommedans retained See also:possession of Calcutta for about seven months, and during this brief period the name of the town was changed in official documents to Alinagar. In January 1957 the expedition despatched from See also:Madras, under the command of See also:Admiral See also:Watson and See also:Colonel See also:Clive, regained possession of the city. They found many of the houses of the English residents demolished and others damaged by See also:fire. The old See also: The restitution See also:money was divided among the sufferers by a committee of the most respectable inhabitants. Commerce rapidly revived and the ruined city was rebuilt. Modern Calcutta dates from 1757. The old fort was abandoned, and its site devoted to the See also:custom-house and other government offices. A new fort, the present Fort William, was begun by Clive a short distance See also:lower down the river, and is thus the second of that name. It was not finished till 1773, and is said to have cost two millions sterling. At this time also the maiddn, the park of Calcutta, was formed; and the healthiness of its position induced the European inhabitants gradually to shift their dwellings eastward, and to occupy what is now the Chowringhee quarter. Up to 1707, when Calcutta was first declared a presidency, it had been dependent upon the older English settlement at Madras. From 1707 to 1773 the presidencies were maintained on a footing of equality; but in the latter year the act of See also:parliament was passed, which provided that the presidency of Bengal should exercise a control over the other possessions of the Company; that the chief of that presidency should be styled governor-general; and that a supreme See also:court of judicature should be established at Calcutta. In the previous year, 1772, Warren Hastings had taken under the immediate management of the Company's servants the general See also:administration of Bengal, which had hitherto been left in the hands of the old Mahommedan officials, and had removed the See also:treasury from See also:Murshidabad to Calcutta. The latter town thus became the capital of Bengal and the seat of the supreme government in India. In 1834 the governor-general of Bengal was created governor-general of India, and was permitted to appoint a See also:deputy-governor to See also:manage the affairs of Lower Bengal during his occasional See also:absence. It was not until 1854 that a separate See also:head was appointed for Bengal, who, under the See also:style of lieutenant-governor, exercises the same powers in See also:civil matters as those vested in the See also:governors in See also:council of Madras or Bombay, although subject to closer supervision by the supreme government. Calcutta is thus at present the seat both of the supreme and the See also:local government, each with an See also:independent set of offices.. (See BENGAL.) See A. K. See also:Ray, A Short History of Calcutta (Indian Census, 1901); H. B. See also:Hyde, Parochial See also:Annals of Bengal (1901); K. Blechynden, Calcutta, Past and Present (1905); H. E. Busteed, Echoes from Old Calcutta (1897); G. W. See also:Forrest, Cities of India (19o3); C. R. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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