A Brief History Of Calcutta ( kolkatta)

A Brief History Of Calcutta

Writers Buildings in British era Howrah Bridge - old Old Court House Street Calcutta High Court Great Eastern Hotel Standard Chartered Bank The Statesman Office

• 1690 August, Job Charnok, an agent of East India Company (established 1600) settles in Calcutta.

• 1698 East India Co. bought three villages (Sutanuti, Kolkata, Gobindapur ) from local landlord Sabarna Chowdhury.

• 1699 East India Company started developing Calcutta as a Presidency city.

• 1715 British people completed building the Old Fort.

• 1717 The Mughal emperor Farrukh-siyar granted the East India Company freedom of trade in return for a yearly payment of 3,000 rupees.

• 1727 As per the order of King George I , a civil court was set up. The city corporation was established and Hallwell became the first mayor of the city.

• 1756 Siraj-ud-daulla attacks Calcutta and conquered. He changed the name of the city to Alinagar.

• 1757 23^rd June, British people ( under the leadership of Clive) defeated Siraj-id-daulla at Plassey. Calcutta was subsequently recaptured the.

• 1757 British first printed currency bill in Calcutta mint.

• 1765 Clive took Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Badsha Alam II ( Delhi) with an agreement of paying excises.

• 1772 Calcutta became the capital of British India when the first governor-general, Warren Hastings, transferred all important offices to the city from Murshidabad.

• 1780 James Hicky established a printing press and published first news paper, "The Bengal Gazzette".

• 1784 The first official news paper , "The Calcutta Gazzette", was published.

• 1784 Sir William Jones took initiative and established The Asiatic Society.

• 1801 Fort William College was established.

• 1804 The Governor House ( presently Raj Bhawan ) was built.

• 1818 First Bengali Magazine, "Digdarshan", was published from Sreerampur, with the help of David Hare.

• 1817 The Hindu College ( presently Presidency College ) was established with efforts of Rammohan Roy, David Hare and Radhakanta Dev. Initially started with 20 students.

• 1829 Rammohan Roy was successful in making 'satidaho' (a Hindu practice) banned by British General Bentinck.

• 1854 First Railways in India ( from Calcutta to Hooghly ).

• 1857 The University of Calcutta was established.

• 1873 First Tram car ( horse drawn ) in Calcutta.

• 1875 "The Statesman", leading English Daily newspaper, started.

• 1875 The Indian Museum was built.

• 1883 Surendra Nath Banerjee called for a National convention ( which led to the forming of Indian National Congress in 1885 at Bombay ).

• 1888 Indian Football Association established.

• 1896 First motor car appeared on city's street.

• 1902 First Electric tram car from Esplanade to Kidderepore.

• 1905 Lord Curzon, viceroy of India, tried to partition Bengal. There was a strong protest. And finally it was withdrawn.

• 1911 British moved the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi

• 1913 Rabindranath Tagore, the great philosopher, poet and writer received Nobel Prize in literature.

• 1921 King Edward VIII inaugurated the Victoria Memorial building.

• 1924 Chittaranjan Das, was elected as the first Indian mayor of the city of Calcutta.

• 1929 Agnes Gonxha Bejaxhiu (Mother Teresa), came to Calcutta to join Bengal Loreto mission.

• 1941 Tagore died.

• 1946 Communal riot killed thousands of people in and around the city.

• 1947 India gained independence. Bengal was partitioned, Calcutta became the capital city of the state of West Bengal in India. Dr. Prafulla Chandra Ghosh became the first Chief Minister of West Bengal, followed by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. Calcutta and surrounding places were flooded with people from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) as a result of the partition.

• 1977 Left Front led by CPI(M) Party won the state election and came into the power of the state Government. It is continuing in power for a record stretch of time.

• 1979 Mother Teresa was awarded Nobel Peace Prize.

• 1984 Metro Railway, the first underground railway in India, started from Tollygunge to Esplanade.

• 1989 Late Satyajit Ray, eminent film director received Legion d'Honour, the highest civilian award of France from President F. Mitterrand in Calcutta.

• 1992 Satyajit Ray received prestigious Oscar award for "Life Time Achievement" and "Bharat Ratna". He died in the same year.

• 1997 Mother Teresa died in Calcutta.

• 1998 Amartya Sen (grew up in Shantiniketan and studied at Calcutta) received Nobel Prize in Ecomonics

• 2001 Calcutta was officially renamed as 'Kolkata'.