page_title: Chandannagar
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chandannagar / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The Capture of Chandernagore, March 1757 Lying ten miles up river from Calcutta, Chandernagore was the administrative centre of the French East India Company. The battle there was one of the many fought between the French and English on the sub-continent during the Seven Years War, 1759-63. It gave the East India Company effective control of Calcutta and the Bengal hinterland. Britain finished the war as the dominant European power in India, and was well-placed to take advantage of the weakening political and economic power of the Moghul Empire. Chandernagore’s capture after a ten-day bombardment by Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Clive and Rear-Admiral Watson was the first step in the British driving the French from Bengal. The French who escaped took shelter with the Nawab, whom Clive shortly afterwards defeated at Plassey. This ended the French influence in Bengal. This painting commemorates the event some 14 years later. It shows Watson’s ships, ‘Kent’, ‘Tiger’ and ‘Salisbury’ firing on the town and fort from an anchored position. The action is close to land and the buildings along the shoreline are clearly identifiable. The leading ship, the ‘Tiger’ is on the right of the picture, and in the centre is the ‘Kent’ with a couple of boats under her stern. It is flying Rear-Admiral Watson’s flag on the foremast and a red flag giving the signal to the ships to engage at the main. Both these ships are firing on the fort and on the far left the ‘Salisbury’ is also firing on the town. The effect of the smoke from the guns and fires can be seen blowing over the land to the right. It is signed and dated ‘D. Serres.1771’. The Capture of Chandernagore, March 1757
context_page_description: Chandannagar is a city in the Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is headquarter of the Chandannagore subdivision and is part of the area covered by the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority.
  Located on the western bank of Hooghly River, the town was a former French colony of India. The city has a unique culture due to the mixed Bengali culture and French culture, different from other cities in West Bengal. Indo-French architecture is seen in the colonial bungalows, most of which are in a dilapidated state. The town still retains some of its Francophone culture.
context_section_description: Chandannagar came into being during colonial times, proved conclusively by the fact that no mention of the town is found in medieval Bengali texts like Chandimangal and Manasamangal. Historians are of the opinion that the French created the town by amalgamating various smaller localities in the area. The three notable villages to be incorporated were Gondolpara to the South, Boro in the North and Khalisani to the West. The name "Chandernagor"can be first found in the letter dated 1696, intended for the officials of French East India Company, dispatched by Andre Boureau Deslandes and Palle, French officials posted in Chandernagore.
  The First Director of the French East India Company, Deslandes paid 40,000 coins to the Mughal subahdar in 1688 to gain control of the area and build a factory there. But the first Frenchman to possess any subsequent land holding in this area was Du Plessis who bought land of 13 Arpents at Boro Kishanganj, now located at North Chandannagar for Taka 401 in the year 1673–74.
  The prosperity of Chandannagar as a French colony started soon after. At this time the Company establishment consisted of 1 Director, and 5 members who formed a council, 15 merchants and shopkeepers, 2 notaries, 2 padres, 2 doctors and 1 Sutradhar. The army consisted of 130-foot soldiers, 20 among them were Indians. The Fort d'Orleans was constructed in the year 1696-97 and was better defended than its French and British counterparts. After the initial success the French trade languished due to the lax policy of its Directors.
  In 1730 Joseph François Dupleix was appointed governor of the city, during whose administration more than two thousand brick houses were erected in the town and a considerable maritime trade was carried on. The population of the city reached to be around a lakh at this time and the fledgling town of Calcutta was a poor cousin of Chandannagar. From Dupleix's time to 1756, Chandannagar was the main center for European commerce in Bengal. The city had thriving centres of trade involving opium, indigo, silk, rice, rope, sugar, etc. The fine clothes of Chandannagar were exported to Europe.
  One of the premier men of the town who made it big at this time was Indranarayan Chaudhari. He had arrived at the end of the seventeenth century from Jessore as an orphan sheltered at his maternal grandfather's house. He secured a job at the Company out of his own industriousness and then went on to gain a tremendous fortune being associated with the burgeoning trade of the Company. When the British seized his house after the sack of 1756, cash and jewelry worth 65 lakhs was secured from his house alone. Nandadulal Temple, a temple to Krishna established by him still houses the secret chamber in which he reportedly hid his immense fortune which was later recovered by Clive. Maharaj Krishna Chandra of Krishnanagar would often come to him to lend money.
  In 1756 war broke out between France and Great Britain, and Colonel Robert Clive of the British East India Company and Admiral Charles Watson of the British Navy bombarded and captured Chandannagar on 23 March 1757. The town's fortifications and many houses were demolished thereafter, and Chandannagar's importance as a commercial center was eclipsed by that of Calcutta situated down river. Chandernagore was restored to the French in 1763, but retaken by the British in 1794 in the Napoleonic Wars. The city was returned to France in 1816, along with a 3 sq mi (7.8 km²)  enclave of surrounding territory. It was governed as part of French India until 1950, under the political control of the governor-general in Pondicherry. By 1900 the town's former commercial importance was gone, and it was little more than a quiet suburb of Calcutta, with a population of 25,000 (1901). But it was noted for its clean wide thoroughfares, with many elegant residences along the riverbank.
  Like the other three French occupied colonies of India, Chandernagore was under Pondicherry's jurisdiction. There was only one Governor for the entire French India. He lived in the principal city of Pondicherry, fr
caption: The capture of the position of Chandernagore in 1757 by the Royal Navy
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