Chennaipattinam
was a popular trading center for spices and clothes for more than
2000 years. Portuguese and Dutch arrived here in the 16th century
followed by the British and French. In 1639, the British East India
Company established a settlement in the fishing village of Madraspattnam
which they leased from the local Nayaks.
A modern capital, with the appearance of a gracious garden city,
Chennai was once a group of villages set amidst palmfringed paddy
fields, until two English East India Company merchants, Francis
Day and Andrew Cogan, established a factory - cum - trading post
here. Completed on St George's Day, 23 April 1640, this fortified
settlement came to be known as Fort St George. Outside its walls
was George Town, the so-called "native town', whose crowded
lanes, each devoted to a particular trade, serviced the British
colonists. Colonial rule linked the various villages, including
the settlement founded in the 16th century by the Portuguese at
San Thome, the sacred site associated with St Thomas the Apostle.
Several centuries before the Europeans arrived, the great 7th-century
Pallava port was at Mylapore; its Kapalesvara Temple, along with
the Parthasarathi Temple at Triplicane, bear testimony to the city's
antiquity. Colonial rule marked the beginning of the city's growth
as a major commercial centre. Today, most of the large business
houses have their offices in George Town, while Fort St George is
the power centre of the Tamil Nadu state government. Extending across
172 sq km (66 sq miles), Chennai today is a dynamic mix of the old
and the new, its stately colonical structures juxtaposed with modern
high-rises. Its rich cultural heritage of Tamil literature, music
and dance is perpetuated in universities and performing arts centres.
It is also a highly political city, as can be seen from the many
gradiose memorials to politicians that line Marina Beach.
The city grew into modern city merging all neighbouring areas. In
the 19th century, the city became the seat of Madras Presidency,
the southern division of British Imperial India. After independence
in 1947, it became the capital of Madras State that was renamed
Tamil Nadu. Very recently Madras was renamed Chennai. |
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