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Gobindapur was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Calcutta in late 17th century. The other two villages were
Kalikata Kalikata was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Sutanuti. Job Charnock, an administrator with the British East India Company is tradit ...
and
Sutanuti Sutanuti was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Kalikata. See also * European colonies in India Colonial India was the part of t ...
.
Job Charnock Job Charnock (; –1692/1693) was an English administrator with the East India Company. He is commonly regarded as the founder of the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); however, this view is challenged, and in 2003 the Calcutta High Court de ...
, an administrator with the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
is traditionally credited with the honour of founding the city. While Kalikata and Sutanuti lost their identity as the city grew, Gobindapur was demolished for the construction of new Fort William.


The foundations

When the Portuguese first started to frequent Bengal, around the year 1530, the two great centres of trade were
Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
, which the Portuguese called Porto Grande or Great Haven, in the east and
Satgaon Saptagram (Bengali: সপ্তগ্রাম; colloquially called ''Satgaon'') was a major port, the chief city and sometimes capital of southern Bengal, in ancient and medieval times, the location presently being in the Hooghly district in t ...
, which the Portuguese called Porto Piqueno or Little Haven in the west. Tolly’s Nallah or Adi Ganga was then the outlet to the sea and ocean-going ships came up to around where Garden Reach is now, then the anchoring place for ships. Only country boats operated further up the river. Possibly the Saraswati river was another watery life line. It started drying up from the middle of the 16th century. The Portuguese built a new port at Hugli in 1580. There is another story regarding the foundation and naming of the village. Towards the end of the 16th century, the Indian merchant-princes of Port Piqueno were forced to seek another market for their trade. Most of them settled down in Hugli but four families of Basaks and one of Sheths, determined to profit by the growing prosperity of Betor, founded the village of Gobindapur, on the east bank of the river.'' Gobindaji'' was the family deity of the Sheths and Basaks, and so they named the village Gobindapur. In 1596, the place is mentioned as a district of the Sirkar (or government) of Satgaon, in the book '' Ain-e-Akbari'' by Abul Fazal, the prime minister of
Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
. As traders, the Portuguese were succeeded by the Dutch and finally the British.


English arrival

Job Charnock favoured Sutanuti as a settlement because of the security of the location. It was protected by the river on the west and by impassable marshes on the south and the east. Only the north-east had to be guarded. The three villages were part of the khas mahal or imperial jagir (an estate belonging to the
Mughal emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...
himself), whose zemindari rights were held by the
Sabarna Roy Choudhury Sabarna Roy Choudhury was a Zamindar family of Mughal Bengal. They controlled significant swathes of territory, including what would later become Kolkata, prior to the sale of zamindari rights in 1698 to the East India Company. Zamindari E ...
family of Barisha. On 10 November 1698, Job Charnock’s successor and son-in-law, Charles Eyere, acquired the land holding rights for the three villages from the Sabarna Roychoudhuris. The company paid regular rent to the Mughals for these villages till 1757. Within a short period Kolkata grew considerably.


New Fort William

Siraj ud-Daulah Mirza Muhammad Siraj-ud-Daulah ( fa, ; 1733 – 2 July 1757), commonly known as Siraj-ud-Daulah or Siraj ud-Daula, was the last independent Nawab of Bengal. The end of his reign marked the start of the rule of the East India Company over Beng ...
, the Nawab of Bengal, was alarmed by the growing prosperity and enhanced fortifications of Kolkata. In 1756, he decided to attack Kolkata and captured it. Gobindapur was fired by the English themselves. The English evacuees set up temporary quarters at Falta, downstream. What followed was a series of skirmishes finally leading to the
Battle of Plassey The Battle of Plassey was a decisive victory of the British East India Company over the Nawab of Bengal and his French allies on 23 June 1757, under the leadership of Robert Clive. The victory was made possible by the defection of Mir Jafar, ...
on 23 June 1757 and the establishment of British power in Bengal. One of the first things that the English embarked upon on their return to Kolkata was the construction of new Fort William. It commenced in 1758 and completed in 1773. The site chosen was in the heart of ‘populous flourishing’ village of Gobindapur. A portion of the ‘restitution money’ was spent in compensating the inhabitants who were given lands in other parts of the town notably in
Taltala Taltala (also spelt Taltola, archaic spelling Taltollah) is a neighbourhood in Central Kolkata, in Kolkata district in the Indian state of West Bengal. One of the oldest neighbourhoods of the metropolis, it has a police station on its own name. ...
,
Kumortuli Kumortuli (also spelt Kumartuli, or the archaic spelling ''Coomartolly'') is a traditional potters' quarter in northern Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The city is renowned for its sculpting prowess. It not only manufactures clay idols for various f ...
and
Shobhabazar Shobhabazar (also spelt Sovabazar; bn, শোভাবাজার) is a neighbourhood of North Kolkata, in Kolkata district, in the Indian state of West Bengal. History Sheths and Basaks, well-to-do traders at Saptagram, were among the first ...
.


References


See also

{{coord missing, West Bengal History of Kolkata Villages in Kolkata district