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Michael Topping
Michael Topping (1747–1796) was the Chief Marine Surveyor of Fort St. George in Chennai (then Madras) responsible for founding the oldest modern technical school outside Europe. The Survey School was completed on 17 May 1794, with an initial intake of eight students. In 1858 it became the Civil Engineering School and the College of Engineering in 1861. Topping was also the first full-time modern professional surveyor of India having surveyed the seas off the Coromandel Coast, India's south-east coast. Topping came to Madras in 1785 as a marine surveyor aboard the East India Ship Walpole. On the suggestion of Alexander Dalrymple, he conducted a triangulation survey of the Coromandel Coast from Madras to Masulipatnam in 1788, making us of a sextant. Topping suggested that this triangulation could be done across India, however this approach was only taken up much later by William Lambton. Topping was appointed from 1794 to survey water reservoirs and in order to conduct his "t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort St
A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae (famous for the huge stone blocks of its 'cyclopean' walls). A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or English fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most populous city in the country and forms the fourth-most populous urban agglomeration. The Greater Chennai Corporation is the civic body responsible for the city; it is the oldest city corporation of India, established in 1688—the second oldest in the world after London. The city of Chennai is coterminous with Chennai district, which together with the adjoining suburbs constitutes the Chennai Metropolitan Area, the 36th-largest urban area in the world by population and one of the largest metropolitan economies of India. The traditional and de facto gateway of South India, Chennai is among the most-visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. Comprising the westernmost peninsulas of Eurasia, it shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with both Africa and Asia. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south and Asia to the east. Europe is commonly considered to be Boundaries between the continents of Earth#Asia and Europe, separated from Asia by the drainage divide, watershed of the Ural Mountains, the Ural (river), Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Greater Caucasus, the Black Sea and the waterways of the Turkish Straits. "Europe" (pp. 68–69); "Asia" (pp. 90–91): "A commonly accepted division between Asia and E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guindy Engineering College
The College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) is a public engineering college in Chennai, India and is Asia's oldest technical institution, founded in 1794. It is also the oldest technical institution to be established outside Europe. History Due to the growing need for surveyors by the East India Company, the 'School of Survey' was established in a building near Fort St. George on the suggestion of Michael Topping in 1794. This school was one of the first of its kind in the country and it started out with 8 students. It became the Civil Engineering School in 1858 and was renamed College of Engineering in 1859, with the inclusion of a mechanical engineering course. The college was shifted for a short period to Kalasa Mahal, Chepauk, before settling at its present location in 1920 as College of Engineering, Guindy. College of Engineering, Guindy is one of the first institutes in India to offer degrees in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunication, highway engi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coromandel Coast
The Coromandel Coast is the southeastern coastal region of the Indian subcontinent, bounded by the Utkal Plains to the north, the Bay of Bengal to the east, the Kaveri delta to the south, and the Eastern Ghats to the west, extending over an area of about 22,800 square kilometres. The coast has an average elevation of 80 metres and is backed by the Eastern Ghats, a chain of low lying and flat-topped hills. In historical Muslim sources from the 12th century onward, the Coromandel Coast was called Maʿbar. Etymology The land of the Chola dynasty was called ''Cholamandalam'' (சோழ மண்டலம்) in Tamil, translated as ''The realm of the Cholas'', from which the Portuguese derived the name ''Coromandel''.''The Land of the Tamulians and Its Missions'', by Eduard Raimund Baierlein, James Dunning BakerSouth Indian Coins – Page 61 by T. Desikachari – Coins, Indic – 1984Indian History – Page 112''Annals of Oriental Research'' – Page 1 by University of Madras ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north; and Bangladesh and Myanmar to the east. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand, Myanmar, and Indonesia. Modern humans arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa no later than 55,000 years ago., "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by modern humans originating in Africa. ... Coalescence dates for most non-European populations average to between 73–55 ka.", "Modern human beings—''Homo sapiens''—originated in Africa. Then, int ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Dalrymple
Alexander Dalrymple Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (24 July 1737 – 19 June 1808) was a Scotland, Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the Navy, Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita. He produced thousands of nautical charts, mapping a remarkable number of seas and oceans for the first time, and contributing significantly to the safety of shipping. His theories prompted a number of expeditions in search of this mythical land, until James Cook's second journey (1772–1775) led to the conclusion that, if it did exist, it was further south than the 65° line of latitude South. Life Dalrymple was born at Newhailes, near Edinburgh, the eleventh of fifteen children of Sir James Dalrymple, 2nd Baronet, Sir James Dalrymple and his wife, Lady Christian Hamilton, the daughter of the Earl of Haddington. He went to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lambton
Lieutenant-Colonel William Lambton, FRS (c. 1753 – 20 or 26 January 1823) was a British soldier, surveyor, and geographer who began a triangulation survey in 1800-1802 that was later called the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India. His initial survey was to measure the length of a degree of an arc of the meridian so as to establish the shape of the Earth and support a larger scale trigonometrical survey across the width of the peninsula of India between Madras and Mangalore. After triangulating across the peninsula, he continued surveys northwards for more than twenty years. He died during the course of the surveys in central India and is buried at Hinganghat in Wardha district of Maharashtra. He was succeeded by his assistant George Everest. Life Lambton was born around 1753 at Crosby Grange, near Northallerton, in North Yorkshire, the son of a farmer. He was extremely reserved about the details of his family. Even the year of birth is speculated on the basis of an incide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Petrie
William Petrie (1747 – 27 October 1816) was a British officer of the East India Company in Chennai (formerly Madras) during the 1780s, and was Governor of Prince of Wales Island (Penang Island) from 1812 to 1816. An amateur astronomer, Petrie helped found the first modern observatory outside Europe, the Madras Observatory. Life East India Company career The chronology of his advancement through the Honorable East India Company is as follows: * 1765 - Writer * 1771 - Factor * 1774 - Junior Merchant * 1776 - Senior Merchant; At Home * 1778 - In India * 1782 - At Home * 1790 - Member of the Council of the Governor * 1793 - At Home * 1800 - President of the Board of Revenue, and Member of the Council of the Governor * 1809 - Appointed Governor of the Prince of Wales Island * Died 27 October 1816, at Prince of Wales Island. Astronomy In 1786, Petrie set up a private observatory as a geographical and navigational aid in his residence in Egmore, Chennai, India,Cited by Raghu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Madras Observatory
The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory which had its origins in a private observatory set up by William Petrie in 1786 and later moved and managed by the British East India Company from 1792 in Madras (now known as Chennai). The main purpose for establishing it was to assist in navigation and mapping by recording the latitude and maintaining time standards. In later years the observatory also made observations on stars and geomagnetism. The observatory ran from around 1792 to 1931 and a major work was the production of a comprehensive catalogue of stars. History The observatory was established due to the efforts of William Petrie, an amateur astronomer who had a small private observatory at Egmore in Madras. Petrie's original observatory was established in 1786 and was made of iron and timber. In 1789, Petrie gifted his instruments to the Madras Government before retiring to England. Sir Charles Oakley accepted Petrie's plea to establish an official observatory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nungambakkam
Nungambakkam is a locality in downtown Chennai, India. The neighborhood abounds with multi-national commercial establishments, important government offices, foreign consulates, educational institutions, shopping malls, sporting facilities, tourist spots, star hotels, restaurants, and cultural centers. Nungambakkam is also a prime residential area in Chennai. The adjoining regions of Nungambakkam include Egmore, Chetpet, T. Nagar, Kodambakkam and Choolaimedu. History Nungambakkam is one of the oldest parts of Chennai. It formed the western limits of Madras until the 1960s, and it was part of Madras since the 18th century. According to K.V. Raman's ''The Early History of the Madras Region'', Nungambakkam features in an 11th-century copper plate pertaining to Rajendra Chola. According to the Chennai Corporation's records, Nungambakkam village, which was under a Mughal firman, was handed over to the British along with four other villages (Tiruvatiyoor, Kathiwakam, Vyasarpad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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