The rent-roll of Akbar, the 16th century Mughal emperor, and the work of a Bengali poet, Bipradas Pipilai, of the late 15th century, both make mention of the citys early names being Kolikata, from which Kolkata/Calcutta derive. The name came into being when Job Charnock asked a farmer the name of the area around Hooghly River. The farmer misunderstood due to language problems and thought that he was referring as to when he harvested his paddy. He proudly replied Kal Kaata hoe chhilo meaning I cut it yesterday. Job Charnock thought that the name of the place is Calcutta . The area where the city is now located was originally inhabited by the people of three villages: Kalikata, Sutanuti and Gobindapur. However, the boundaries of the three villages gradually became less distinct, and before the battle of Plassey, the city could be divided into four different sub-areas: European Kolkata (Dihi Kolkata); a residential village with some sacred spots (Gobindapur); a traditional Indian market (Bazar Kalikata or Burrabazar); and a riverine mart concentrating on cloth trade (Sutanati). After the battle of Plassey in 1757, the British started rebuilding the city with the idea of making it the capital for their empire. The Calcutta High Court ruled in 2003[4] that Job Charnock, the Englishman generally believed to be the founder of the Calcutta, is not the founder of the city and that hence Kolkata has no birthday. The British East India Company chose the place for a trade settlement. In 1698, the East India Company bought three villages (Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur) from a local landlord family of Sabarna Roy Choudhury. The next year, the company began developing the city as a Presidency City. In 1727, on the order of King George I, a civil court was set up in the city. The Calcutta Municipal corporation (now renamed Kolkata Municipal Corporation) was formed and the city had its first mayor. Since then......
Posted on: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 04:48:45 +0000
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