Prior to the establishment of British Calcutta, there were three pre-existing Bengali villages in the area: Suttanutte (or Sutanati), Gobindpore (or Govindapur, which consisted of residencial areas) and Kalikata. It seems likely that both 'Calcutta' (English) and 'Kolkata' (Bengali) were derived from 'Kalikata'. Kolkata's history is intimately related to the British East India Company, which first arrived in 1690, and to British India, of which Calcutta became the capital in 1772 and remained so until 1912. The Englishman, Job Charnock, is traditionally credited with founding the city, although this notion has been challenged in recent years.

The Battle of Plassey, fought between Bengal's then ruler, Siraj Ud Daulah and British East India Company is an important part of Kolkata's history and also, British rule in India. The battle was started by an attack on Fort William at Kolkata by Daulah due to various provocations by the British. The armies of Daulah occupied the fort, immediately after which the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta incident occurred (20 June 1756). On 2 January 1757, Calcutta, briefly renamed Alinagur following Daulah's siege, was retaken by a British force under Sir Robert Clive who encountered minimal resistance during the assault. This marked the transition from trading to military conquest for the British presence in India

In the early 19th century, Kolkata was often described as a "city of palaces" and many travelogues of this period praise the city for its beauty. It was a vibrant commercial and administrative centre in British India. In 1870, Wilhelm Siemens successfully demonstrated the exchange of telegrams from London to Calcutta that took only an hour. India's first newspaper - Hickey's Bengal Gazette - was also established here.

Kolkata became the centre of activity in the early stages of the Indian independence movement and revolutionary terrorist activities, which partly prompted the British to move the nation's capital to New Delhi. The Indian National Association, the first political organization founded in British India was founded in Kolkata on July 26th 1876.In 1883 (two years before the Indian National Congress was established) the first National Conference to demand specific political concessions for Indians was held at Calcutta's Albert Hall, presided over by Ramtanu Lahiri, a pioneer nationalist and a distinguished educationist.

In December 1942 and January 1943 the city's port was bombed by the Japanese. Also in 1943 the city fell victim to a severe famine. In 1946, it suffered an outbreak of violence between Hindus and Muslims, initiated by the Direct Action Day, which claimed over 2,000 lives. Despite such challenges, Kolkata remained in the forefront of Indian prosperity up to independence and for some more years afterwards before the population pressure on infrastructure and political disturbances led to a gradual decline. Following India's independence, it became the capital of the state of West Bengal

In 1971, following West Pakistan's government crackdown, most of Awamie League members fled East Pakistan and set up a government-in-exile from Kolkata. Right before the Bangladesh liberation war in 1971, Kolkata saw a massive migration from East Pakistan leading to a deterioration of civic services. A violent Marxist-Maoist movement known as the Naxal movement (after Naxalbari, the place where it first started) in the 1970s left the city badly bruised. The city's recovery process gathered steam after India's liberalisation in the early nineties. On January 1, 2001, the municipal government decided to change Calcutta to Kolkata and passed the law legalising the name on July 30, 2001.

	Classifieds
	•	History of Kolkata
	•	Climate of Kolkata
	•	Culture of Kolkata

	Bengali Home
	•	Bengali Rasana
	•	Bengali Utsav
	•	Entertainment
	•	Home Equity Loans & Rates
	•	Free Credit Reports