Ross Island Penal Colony founded by British Raj
Geography
Ross Island (now known as Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island), one of the islands chosen for establishing the penal colony, is located near the entrance to the harbour at Port Blair in South Andamans. It is a small island which has a circumference of one mile (1.6 km) only. The penal colonies were initially located on Ross, Chatham and Viper Islands. Viper Island was meant for the most dangerous prisoners. By 1871, it included Perseverance Point, Hopetown, Command Point, Mount Harriet, South Point, Aberdeen, Haddo, Navy Bay and Port Mouat, twelve stations in all. Once called "Paris of the East" for its exciting social life and tropical forests, the island was devastated by the invading army of the Japanese and also by an earthquake which had struck the island in 1941, and it now appears more like a "jungle-clad Lost City."