Kolkata: An Overview and Its Historical Background

Kolkata, popularly known as the City of Joy or the Cultural Capital of India, was formerly called Calcutta until 2001. We would today take a plunge into the historical background of our beloved city.

To know of something in depth it is very important to know its background and history and so today we would be talking mainly about Kolkata’s beginning. The present day Kolkata is was circumscribed by three villages 1.Kalikata, 2.Sutanuti and 3.Gobindapur. While Kolkata was a fishing village, Sutanuti was a village infested by weavers of the riverside. This entire estate was in the Mughal Empire with the rights of taxation or the then system of Jagirdari being bestowed upon Sabarna RoyChowdury , a very prominent Zamindar of the age. With the arrival of the British East India Company in 1690 the control slowly began to settle into the hands of Job Charnock , an able administrator of the Company. The entire rights were officially shifted to the Company only in 1698. With the annexation of the power of this great city, the British built Fort William here in 1712 which served as the head quarter of their armed forces to protect the administration. The Battle of Buxar was followed by the Treaty of Allahabad and the rights of the taxation of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was officially shifted to the British and slowly in 1772 , the then Calcutta was declared as a PRESIDENCY CITY and made the capital of the British Empire . Under the governance of Richard Wellesley, the city got its maximum architectural development and it was throughout the 18th and the 19th century that the city was the centre of the Company’s opium trade, though in the early 1850’s the Company started investing hugely in communicational spheres as a result of the growing jute and textile industries. By the same time, Calcutta was typically divided into two distinct parts:
  • ·         White Town: Primarily Centered around Dalhousie and Chowringhee
  • ·         Black Town: establishments growing around North Calcutta mainly infested by Indians –typically Bengali’s.

The Bengal Renaissance emerged in the 19th Century and thus with the growing spree of intellect and cultural spree Bengal developed into being the hub of the Indian Socio Cultural Sophistication, hosting the first National Conference of the Indian National Congress in 1883 being presided over by W.C Bonnerjea. It was not until 1911 that the British realized that the city had become the revolutionary center of the Indian Independence Movement and moved their Capital Base from Kolkata to Delhi. Following this the City had faced huge attacks on it harbors during the World War II causing the massive Bengal Famine of 1943. The Naxalite Movement between 1960-1970’s brough huge blow to the city’s architecture and economy. In 1971 there took place the Bangladesh Liberation War. A massive influx of huge number of refugees from the then East Pakistan strained the City’s economy which got back its momentum after 1990s. During 1977 to 2011 Kolkata the capital of West Bengal , was under the governance of the  Left Front, under the domination of the Communist Party of India (CPM). Kolkata thus became the key base of Indian Communism as it was the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government. The Trinamool Congress defeated the CPM in the 2011 Legislative Assembly Election in 2011 and is in power since then.
This is a brief historical overview of this approximately 327year old City which, over the years has been through storms and sunshine and still holds her head high!

I would really be honored to have your valuable comments in the comment box below and if you want to know on anything related to this historical background please do mention that. We would be happy to develop something.


Thank you ! 
Hritamitra 

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