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129-476: "Kalakuta" was a mockery of a prison cell named "Calcutta" that Fela inhabited. The name was originally derived from the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta dungeon in India . Before the attack on Fela's home, he made a record called Zombie , about the Nigerian military regime. In the song, soldiers are called zombies for obeying orders blindly. One of the lines of the song, in West African Pidgin English , says, "Zombie no go walk unless you tell am to walk". Fela

258-531: A Crown Colony in 1867. In 1877, the North Western Provinces were finally separated from Bengal and merged with Oudh. Thus, by 1877, the Bengal Presidency included only modern-day Bihar , Jharkhand , Orissa and Bengal . In 1905, the first partition of Bengal resulted in the short-lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam which existed alongside the Bengal Presidency. In 1912, the province

387-524: A "Major Port" of British India. Chittagong's port was used by Allied Forces of World War II during the Burma Campaign . The Port of Calcutta was the largest seaport of British India. The port was constructed by the British East India Company. It was one of the busiest ports in the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Calcutta was a major trading port with links to ports across

516-534: A BPML government under Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin as prime minister was formed. Nazimuddin's tenure coincided with the Bengal famine of 1943. His government was replaced by Governor's rule . After the end of World War II, elections were held in 1946 in which the BPML won an overwhelming majority of 113 seats in the 250-seat assembly. A government under Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was formed. Prime Minister Suhrawardy continued with

645-564: A cell he and his fellow passengers were put into by police in Bellagio, Italy as "...the Black Hole of Calcutta on a small scale." Later, in chapter 54 of his Following the Equator (1897), he visits Calcutta and describes the history of the place, quoting an excerpt from Holwell. He also mentions the destruction of the site: "the mention of Calcutta infallibly brings up the Black Hole...and yet within

774-540: A decade of Maratha raids , through bands of Bargir-giri light cavalry, directed to pillage the territory, between 1741 and 1751. In 1742 the Company chooses to spend Rs. 25  thousand on the construction of a 3 km Maratha ditch around Calcutta, to protect its facilities from the raiders. The Nawab of Bengal later signed a peace treaty with the Marathas in 1751, and ceded Orrisa and paid Rs. 1.2 million annually as

903-797: A division of the Bengal Presidency) were separated from the Presidency and merged with the Nagpur Province to created the Central Provinces . In 1871, Ajmer and Merwara which were also administered as a part of the North-Western Provinces were separated from the Presidency to form the Ajmer-Merwara Province . In 1874, Assam was separated from Bengal. In 1862, Burma became a separate province. The Straits Settlements became

1032-857: A founder of the BPML who later broke away to form the Krishak Praja Party, was elected as parliamentary leader and prime minister. Huq pursued a policy of Hindu–Muslim unity . His cabinet included leading Hindu and Muslim figures, including Nalini Ranjan Sarkar (finance), Bijoy Prasad Singha Roy (revenue), Maharaja Srish Chandra Nandy (communications and public works), Prasanna Deb Raikut (forest and excise), Mukunda Behari Mallick (cooperative credit and rural indebtedness), Sir Khwaja Nazimuddin (home), Nawab Khwaja Habibullah (agriculture and industry), Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy (commerce and labour), Nawab Musharraf Hussain (judicial and legislative affairs), and Syed Nausher Ali (public health and local self-government). Huq promoted financial and land reforms with

1161-402: A larger room. He went away, but returned saying it was impossible. The bribe was then doubled, and he made a second attempt with a like result; the nawab was asleep, and no one dared wake him. By nine o'clock several had died, and many more were delirious. A frantic cry for water now became general, and one of the guards, more compassionate than his fellows, caused some water to be brought to

1290-410: A lieutenant-governor, and that Assam Province would be reconstituted under a chief commissioner. On 21 March 1912 Thomas Gibson-Carmichael was appointed governor of Bengal. On 22 March the provinces of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and Assam were constituted. The Government of India Act 1919 increased the number of nominated and elected members of the legislative council from 50 to 125, and the franchise

1419-545: A mad Brahmin in the Black Hole made a stone because he wanted revenge. The stone causes one to have insane thoughts and hallucinations. In The Other Side of Morning by Stephen Goss (2022), the events of the Black Hole of Calcutta are described from the perspective of John Holwell. The book is the story of Holwell's life leading up to the incident. The Black Hole of Calcutta is also mentioned in Chapter IV of Sara Jane Lippincott's book titled "History of my Pets," in reference to

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1548-508: A museum. The Kalakuta Republic Museum officially opened on October 15, 2012, in commemoration of Fela's 74th birthday. It contains displays of Fela's clothing, instruments and artwork, as well as a restaurant and hotel. See also: List of schools in Lagos See also: List of hospitals in Lagos See also: List of festivals in Lagos See also: Architecture of Lagos Black Hole of Calcutta The Black Hole of Calcutta

1677-644: A nominal entity under the dual government of the two lieutenant-governors at Agra and Calcutta. The 1887, the Agra Division was separated from the Presidency and merged with the Oudh province, ending the dual government. In 1912, the governor was restored. In the early 20th century, Bengal emerged as a hotbed of the Indian independence movement and the Bengali Renaissance , as well as education, politics, law, science and

1806-638: A partial list of notable colleges, universities and learned societies in the Bengal Presidency. Mughal Bengal was a major exporter of raw silk, cotton, and rice. With its proto-industrial economy, Bengal contributed to the first Industrial Revolution in Britain (particularly in textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution ). After 1757, the British placed Bengal under company rule (which led to Bengali deindustrialization ). Other European powers in

1935-417: A pet toad (named Phibby) she had left locked in the cabin of a wooden ship. The poor toad was later found suffocated as a result. Upon telling her sympathetic father, he compared the unfortunate blunder to the Black Hole of Calcutta. The Black Hole of Calcutta is referenced early in the film Albert R.N. , a 1953 British film dealing with a German prisoner-of-war camp for allied naval officers. There's also

2064-482: A reference in the 1987 film Hiding Out, where the protagonist's aunt criticizes her teenage son's messy room by comparing it to the Black Hole. It is mentioned in the 1988 animated film [Scooby Doo and the reluctant werewolf] as a month long stay there for the winner of the monster road race. It is also referenced in the 1991 film The Addams Family as one of the locations visited by Gomez and Morticia Addams during their second honeymoon. Jeremy Clarkson refers to

2193-564: A reference to the Black Hole of Calcutta when describing the Anglo-Indian district in London (Chapter LX). Swami Vivekananda makes a mention of the Black Hole of Calcutta in connection with describing Holwell 's journey to Murshidabad . When discussing deep unconsciousness in her book How to be Human , Ruby Wax describes this as: "It's like the black hole of Calcutta of our souls." In Hellblazer : Event Horizon , John Constantine says that

2322-534: A republic. Nigerian tabloids carried lurid but unverified tales of girls lured to the compound and corrupted by Fela's band members. During the attack at the Kalakuta Republic by the Nigerian Armed Forces , Fela's mother Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Thomas was thrown from a window of the second floor. She died after being in a coma for about eight weeks. Fela failed in his initial plan to commemorate

2451-513: A result, Abdul Wasek Mia of Nawabganj thana, a student leader of that time, led the removal of the monument from Dalhousie Square in July 1940. The monument was re-erected in the graveyard of St John's Church in Calcutta , where it remains. The 'Black Hole' itself, being merely the guardroom in the old Fort William, disappeared shortly after the incident when the fort itself was taken down to be replaced by

2580-675: A separate meeting and resolved to partition the province and join the Indian union. Most East Bengali legislators favored an undivided Bengal. The Bengal Assembly was divided into the West Bengal Legislative Assembly and East Bengal Legislative Assembly during the Partition of British India. English common law was applied to Bengal. Local legislation was enacted by the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. Case law

2709-467: A supreme government of India at Calcutta with the office of governor-general of India replacing the governor-general of Fort William. The Act also created for the establishment of a new Presidency of Agra with its own Governor-in-council from the ceded and conquered territories of the Presidency of Fort William and also sought to separate the functions of the Presidency of Fort William from the government of India and governor-general of India in council. This

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2838-414: Is in the graveyard of (Anglican) St. John's Church, Calcutta. Holwell had erected a tablet on the site of the 'Black Hole' to commemorate the victims but, at some point (the precise date is uncertain), it disappeared. Lord Curzon , on becoming Viceroy in 1899, noticed that there was nothing to mark the spot and commissioned a new monument, mentioning the prior existence of Holwell's; it was erected in 1901 at

2967-512: Is mentioned for the suffocating properties of Carbonic-Oxide ( Carbon Monoxide ) upon the British soldiers imprisoned in that dungeon. Eugene O'Neill , in Long Day's Journey into Night , Act 4, Jamie says, "Can't expect us to live in the Black Hole of Calcutta." Patrick O'Brian in The Mauritius Command (1977) compared Jack Aubrey's house to the black hole of Calcutta "except that whereas

3096-660: The chauth . The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of chauth for the preceding years. In June 1756 the company's factories at Cossimbazar and Calcutta were besieged and captured by the forces of the Nawab of Bengal, with the company's goods, treasure and weapons seized. Calcutta being renamed Alinagar in honour of the Siraj ud-Daulah's predecessor. A Company force, led by Watson and Robert Clive , recaptured Fort William in January 1757, with

3225-557: The Bengal Duars to the British. The British expedition to Tibet took place between 1903 and 1904. It resulted in the Treaty of Lhasa which acknowledged Qing China 's supremacy over Tibet. The United States of America began sending envoys to Fort William in the 18th century. President George Washington nominated Benjamin Joy as the first Consul to Fort William on 19 November 1792. The nomination

3354-633: The Bengal Legislative Assembly becoming the largest provincial assembly in India in 1937. The office of the Prime Minister of Bengal was established as part of growing provincial autonomy. After the 1946 election, rising Hindu-Muslim divisions across India forced the Bengal Assembly to decide on partition, despite calls for a United Bengal . The Partition of British India in 1947 resulted in

3483-495: The Bengal Province , was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule and later a province of India . At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and Southeast Asia. Bengal proper covered the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal (present-day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal ). Calcutta , the city which grew around Fort William ,

3612-521: The Government of India Act 1858 . The head of state became the British monarch , who was also given the title of Emperor of India / Empress of India . The monarch was represented through a viceroy. The Viceroy of India was based in the Bengal Presidency until 1911. The Secretary of State for India was also an important official. The Bengal Civil Service managed the provincial government. Modern scholars decry

3741-591: The Hawk's Nest Tunnel tragedy and referenced to Marcantonio's speech to compare the silicate tunnels to the Black Holes of Calcutta, writing "This is the place. Away from this my life I am indeed Adam unparadiz'd. Some fools call this the Black Hole of Calcutta. I don't know how they ever get to Congress." Thomas Pynchon refers to the Black Hole of Calcutta in the historical novel Mason & Dixon (1997). The character Charles Mason spends much time on Saint Helena with

3870-741: The Rajputana Agency . Other agencies covered the Chota Nagpur Tributary States and the Orissa Tributary States . Agents were also appointed to deal with tribal chiefs, such as the three tribal kings in the Chittagong Hill Tracts . At the time of the partition of India in 1947, the jurisdiction of the Bengal States Agency included Cooch Behar State and Hill Tipperah . Bengal was strategically important for

3999-1012: The Rajshahi Public Library (1884), the Comilla Birchandra Library (1885), the Shah Makhdum Institute Public Library, Rajshahi (1891), the Noakhali Town Hall Public Library (1896), the Prize Memorial Library, Sylhet (1897), the Chittagong Municipality Public Library (1904) and the Varendra Research Library (1910). In 1925, the Great Bengal Library Association was established. Europeans played an important role in modernizing

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4128-471: The second partition of Bengal on religious grounds into East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh) and West Bengal . In 1599, a Royal Charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I to allow the creation of a trading company in London for the purposes of trade with the East Indies. The governance of the company was placed in the hands of a governor and a 24-member Court of Directors. The corporation became known as

4257-466: The suzerainty of the British Crown in India. Initially, the Bengal Presidency managed the British government's relations with most princely states in the northern subcontinent, extending from Jammu and Kashmir in the north to Manipur in the northeast. An Agency was often formed to be the liaison between the government and the princely states. The largest of these agencies under Bengal once included

4386-517: The tributary states of Odisha and Chhota Nagpur were not part of Bengal, but British relations with them were managed by its government. The Indian Councils Act 1909 expanded the legislative councils of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam provinces to include up to 50 nominated and elected members, in addition to three ex officio members from the executive council. Bengal's legislative council included 22 nominated members, of which not more than 17 could be officials, and two nominated experts. Of

4515-806: The zamindars . In 1854, four major public libraries were opened, including the Bogra Woodburn Library, the Rangpur Public Library, the Jessore Institute Public Library and the Barisal Public Library. Northbrook Hall was established in 1882 in honor of Governor-General Lord Northbrook . Other libraries built include the Victoria Public Library, Natore (1901), the Sirajganj Public Library (1882),

4644-507: The 18 elected members, three were elected by municipalities, five by district and local boards, two by landowners, four by Muslims, two by the tea interest, one by the jute interest, and one by the Commissioners of the Port of Chittagong . The partition of Bengal proved highly controversial, as it resulted in a largely Hindu West Bengal and a largely Muslim East. Serious popular agitation followed

4773-695: The 26 elected members, one was elected by the Corporation of Calcutta , six by municipalities, six by district boards, one by the University of Calcutta , five by landholders, four by Muslims, two by the Bengal Chamber of Commerce, and one by the Calcutta Trades Association. Eastern Bengal and Assam's legislative council included 22 nominated members, of which not more than 17 be officials and one representing Indian commerce, and two nominated experts. Of

4902-471: The Armenian Pogose School . Each district of Bengal had a district school , which were the leading secondary institutions. Due to Calcutta being the colonial capital, the city had a large concentration of educational institutions. It was followed by Dacca, which served as a provincial capital between 1905 and 1912. Libraries were established in each district of Bengal by the colonial government and

5031-733: The Bengal Agricultural Debtors' Act (1938), The Money Lenders' Act (1938), and the Bengal Tenancy (Amendment) Act (1938). He introduced the Primary Education Bill to make primary education free and compulsory. He established schools such as the Lady Brabourne College . In 1941, Prime Minister Huq joined the Viceroy's Defence Council in support of Allied war efforts. In a letter to Governor John Herbert , Huq called for

5160-623: The Bengal Civil Service continued to operate in the three lieutenant governorships, however they were under the control of the government of India rather than the Bengal government. The Bengal Civil Service was merged into the Indian Civil Service later along with the other two civil services and the Bengal Army was finally amalgamated into the new Indian Army in 1904–5, after a lengthy struggle over its reform between Lord Kitchener ,

5289-592: The Bengali language. The first book on Bengali grammar was compiled by a Portuguese missionary. English was the official language. The use of Persian as an official language was discontinued by Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the President of the Council of India in Council on 20 November 1837. However, Persian continued to be taught in some institutions. Several institutions had Sanskrit and Arabic faculties. The following includes

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5418-449: The Black Hole prison exclusive of sixty-nine, consisting of Dutch and British sergeants, corporals, soldiers, topazes, militia, whites, and Portuguese, (whose names I am unacquainted with), making on the whole one hundred and twenty-three persons." Holwell's list of the victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta: Of Counsel – E. Eyre, Esqr., Wm. Baillie, Esqr., the Rev. Jervas Bellamy. Gentlemen in

5547-850: The British Cabinet meeting also hoped that Bengal would remain united. British Prime Minister Clement Attlee informed the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom on 2 June 1947 that there was a "distinct possibility that Bengal might decide against partition and against joining either India or Pakistan". On 6 July 1947, the Sylhet referendum gave a mandate for the District of Sylhet to be re-united into Bengal. However, Hindu nationalist leaders in West Bengal and conservative East Bengali Muslim leaders were against

5676-423: The British Empire. Its local hinterland spanned beyond Bengal to include north and northeast India, the Himalayan kingdoms and Tibet. The Bay of Bengal became one of the busiest shipping hubs in the world, rivaling the traffic of ports on the Atlantic . Calcutta was also an important naval base in World War II and was bombed by the Japanese. Chambers of commerce were established. The Bengal Chamber of Commerce

5805-416: The British Parliament enacted the Government of India Act 1833 abolishing the monopoly rights of the Company and converting it into a purely governing body holding its territories in India in trust of the Crown. The Act relieved the governor-in-councils of Bombay and Madras of their legislative duties and consolidated all legislative functions to the governor-general-in-council of India at Calcutta and created

5934-399: The Company defeated the Nawab of Bengal , who acted on Mughal sovereignty, at the Battle of Plassey and the Battle of Buxar , and Bengal came under British influence. In 1765, Emperor Shah Alam II granted revenue rights over Bengal to the Company and the judicial rights in 1793. After this, the Bengal province was later merged with the Presidency of Fort William but under the suzerainty of

6063-421: The Company rule period culminated in the Indian Mutiny in 1857. In 1858, the British government gained direct control of Indian administration. Bengal was plugged into the market-driven economy and trade networks of the British Empire . The Bengal Presidency had the largest gross domestic product in British India. The first British colonial banks in the Indian subcontinent were founded in Bengal. These included

6192-441: The Council of India in Council on 20 November 1837. The Calcutta High Court was set up in 1862. The building was designed on the model of Ypres Cloth Hall in Belgium. The Dacca High Court building was built during the early 20th century, with elements of a Roman pantheon . District courts were established in all district headquarters of the Bengal Presidency. At the district level, tax collectors and revenue officers acted with

6321-426: The Emperor until 1835. In 1836, the upper territories of the Bengal Presidency were organised into the Agra Division or North-Western Provinces and administered by a lieutenant-governor within the Presidency. The lower territories were organised into the Bengal Division and put in charge of lieutenant-governor as well in 1853. The office of the governor of the Presidency was abolished and the Presidency existed as only

6450-446: The English East India Company to establish a small trading post on the west coast of India. It was followed in 1611 by a factory on the Coromandel Coast in South India, and in 1612 the company joined other already established European trading companies to trade in the wealthy Bengal Subah in the east. However, the power of the Mughal Empire declined from 1707, as the Nawab of Bengal in Murshidabad became financially independent with

6579-412: The Fort-William garrison were either missing or dead, for reasons other than suffocation and shock . Busteed suggests that the many non-combatants present in the fort when it was captured make infeasible a precise number of people killed. Regarding responsibility for the maltreatment and the deaths in the Black Hole of Calcutta, Holwell said, "it was the result of revenge and resentment, in the breasts of

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6708-881: The General Bank of Bengal and Bihar (1733); Bank of Hindostan (1770), Bank of Bengal (1784); and the General Bank of India (1786). Other banks in Bengal included the Bank of Calcutta (1806), Union Bank (1829); Government Savings Bank (1833); The Bank of Mirzapore ( c.  1835 ); Dacca Bank (1846); Kurigram Bank (1887), Kumarkhali Bank (1896), Mahaluxmi Bank, Chittagong (1910), Dinajpur Bank (1914), Comilla Banking Corporation (1914), Bengal Central Bank (1918), and Comilla Union Bank (1922). Loan offices were established in Faridpur (1865), Bogra (1872), Barisal (1873), Mymensingh (1873), Nasirabad (1875), Jessore (1876), Munshiganj (1876), Dacca (1878), Sylhet (1881), Pabna (1882), Kishoreganj (1883), Noakhali (1885), Khulna (1887), Madaripur (1887), Tangail (1887), Nilphamari (1894) and Rangpur (1894). The earliest records of securities dealings are

6837-435: The Himalayan regions of Nepal, Tibet , Bhutan and Sikkim. The Anglo-Nepalese War between the East India Company and the Kingdom of Nepal was concluded with the Treaty of Sugauli , which ended Gorkha territorial expansion. The Treaty of Titalia was signed in 1817 between the HEIC and the Kingdom of Sikkim to establish British hegemony over Sikkim. The Bhutan War in the 1860s saw the Kingdom of Bhutan lose control of

6966-399: The Hole was hot, dry, and airless", Aubrey's cottage "let in draughts from all sides". In Chapter VII of Pearl S. Buck 's biography of her father, Fighting Angel (1936), she compares the brutality of China's 1899-1901 Boxer Rebellion (which she and her family survived while living in China) to that of the Black Hole of Calcutta: "The story of the Boxer Rebellion  ... remains, like

7095-452: The Hole, and that 43 died there. Some historians put the figure even lower, to about 18 dead, while questioning the veracity of Holwell's account itself. 22°34′24″N 88°20′53″E  /  22.573357°N 88.347979°E  / 22.573357; 88.347979 Fort William was established to protect the East India Company 's trade in the city of Calcutta , the principal city of the Bengal Presidency . In 1756 India, there existed

7224-420: The Honourable East India Company (HEIC). It became the most powerful corporation of its time, with control over half of world trade . Edmund Burke described the company as "a state in the guise of a merchant". It was described as a "state within a state", and even "an empire within an empire". The company was given a monopoly for British trade in the Indian Ocean. In 1608, Mughal Emperor Jahangir allowed

7353-415: The Indian and Home governments, and this led to the decision being reversed in 1911. At the Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911, Emperor George V announced the transfer of the seat of the government of India from Calcutta to Delhi, the reunification of the five predominantly Bengali-speaking divisions into a unified province of Bengal under a governor, the creation of a new province of Bihar and Orissa under

7482-538: The Indo-Burmah Petroleum Company, Orient Airways , Shaw Wallace , Carew & Co , Aditya Birla Group , Tata Group , Balmer Lawrie , Biecco Lawrie , Braithwaite, Burn & Jessop Construction Company , Braithwaite & Co. , Bridge and Roof Company , Britannia Industries , Burn Standard Company and Andrew Yule and Company . Some of these enterprises were nationalized after the Partition of India. Agricultural products included rice, sugarcane and vegetables. The main cash crops were jute and tea. The jute trade

7611-421: The Nawab, Siraj ud-Daulah, agreeing the Treaty of Alinagar , reestablishing the company's right to trade in Bengal, and fortify Fort William. In parallel Robert Clive conspired with Jagat Seth, Omichand and Mir Jafar to install the latter on the musnud of Bengal, a plan that they would implement in June 1757. The East India Company's victories at the Battle of Plassey (1757) and the Battle of Buxar (against

7740-426: The Nawabs of Bengal and Oudh in 1764) led to the abolition of local rule (Nizamat) in Bengal in 1793. The Company gradually began to formally expand its territories across India and Southeast Asia. By the mid-19th century, the East India Company had become the paramount political and military power in the Indian subcontinent . Its territory was held in trust for the British Crown . The company also issued coins in

7869-436: The Private Matter (2003). The Black Hole is also compared with the evil miasma of Calcutta as a whole in Dan Simmons's novel The Song of Kali . Stephen King makes a reference to the Black Hole of Calcutta in his 1983 novel Christine , and his 2004 novel Song of Susannah . In Chapter V of King Solomon's Mines by H. Rider Haggard (1885) the Black Hole of Calcutta is mentioned: "This gave us some slight shelter from

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7998-577: The Service – Messrs. Jenks, Revely, Law, Coales, Valicourt, Jeb, Torriano, E. Page, S. Page, Grub, Street, Harod, P. Johnstone, Ballard, N. Drake, Carse, Knapton, Gosling, Robert Byng, Dod, Dalrymple, V. Ament Theme. Military Captains – Clayton, Buchanan, Witherington. Lieutenants – Bishop, Ifays, Blagg, Simson, Bellamy. Ensigns – Paccard, Scot, Hastings, C. Wedderburn, Dumbleton. Sergeants, &c. – Sergeant-Major Abraham, Quartermaster Cartwright, Sergeant Bleau (these were sergeants of militia). Sea Captains – Hunt, Osburne, Purnell (survived

8127-421: The State, to such an extent that the people will rise up and demand a Called Session of the Legislature of this State in order that legislation may be enacted whereby this organized hell and "Black Hole of Calcutta" will be in the course of a few months only a ghastly memory in the minds of the people. Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal , later

8256-587: The adoption of the Lahore Resolution in 1940. He envisaged Bengal as one of the "independent states" outlined by the resolution. The first Huq cabinet dissolved after the BPML withdrew from his government. Huq then formed a second coalition with the Hindu Mahasabha led by Syama Prasad Mukherjee . This cabinet was known as the Shyama-Huq Coalition. The cabinet included Nawab Bahabur Khwaja Habibullah, Khan Bahadur Abdul Karim, Khan Bahadur Hashem Ali Khan, Shamsuddin Ahmed, Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Santosh Kumar Bose and Upendranath Barman. Huq's government fell in 1943 and

8385-406: The arts . It was home to the largest city in India and the second-largest city in the British Empire . At its territorial height in the mid nineteenth century, the Bengal Presidency extended from the Khyber Pass to Singapore. In 1853, the Punjab was separated from the Presidency into a new province. In 1861, the Saugor and Nerbudda Territories of the North-Western Provinces (which was then

8514-423: The astronomer Nevil Maskelyne , the brother-in-law of Lord Robert Clive of India. Later in the story, Jeremiah Dixon visits New York City, and attends a secret "Broad-Way" production of the "musical drama", The Black Hole of Calcutta, or, the Peevish Wazir , "executed with such a fine respect for detail ...". Kenneth Tynan satirically refers to it in the long-running musical revue Oh! Calcutta! , which

8643-484: The bars, where Mr. Holwell and two or three others received it in their hats and passed it on to the men behind. In their impatience to secure it nearly all was spilled, and the little they drank seemed only to increase their thirst. Self-control was soon lost; those in remote parts of the room struggled to reach the window, and a fearful tumult ensued, in which the weakest were trampled or pressed to death. They raved, fought, prayed, blasphemed, and many then fell exhausted on

8772-702: The battle, the British commander ordered the surviving soldiers of the garrison to escape, yet left behind 146 soldiers under the civilian command of John Zephaniah Holwell , a senior bureaucrat of the East India Company who had been once a military surgeon . The desertions of Indian sepoys made the British defence of Fort William ineffective and it fell to the siege of Bengali forces on 20 June 1756. The surviving defenders who were captured and made prisoners of war numbered between 64 and 69, along with an unknown number of Anglo-Indian soldiers and civilians who earlier had been sheltered in Fort William. The British officers and merchants based in Kolkata were rounded up by

8901-400: The burning rays of the sun, but the atmosphere in that amateur grave can be better imagined than described. The Black Hole of Calcutta must have been a fool to it". In John Fante 's novel The Road to Los Angeles (1985), the main character Arturo Bandini recalls when seeing his place of work: "I thought about the Black Hole of Calcutta." In Vanity Fair , William Makepeace Thackeray makes

9030-401: The colonial system as bureaucratic authoritarianism. Established by Charter Act of 1833 , the Governor-General in Council was subordinate to the Court of Directors of the East India Company and the British Crown. The governor-general in council in Fort William enacted legislation, such as the prohibition of Persian as an official language under Act no. XXIX of 1837 passed by the president of

9159-413: The commander was then taken before the nawab , who expressed no regret for what had occurred, and gave no other sign of sympathy than ordering the Englishman a chair and a glass of water. Notwithstanding this indifference, Mr. Holwell and some others acquit him of any intention of causing the catastrophe and ascribe it to the malice of certain officers, but many think this opinion unfounded. Afterward, when

9288-785: The commander-in-chief, and Lord Curzon , the Viceroy. In 1830, the British Straits Settlements on the coast of the Malacca Straits was made a residency of the Presidency of Bengal in Calcutta. The area included the erstwhile Prince of Wales Island and Province Wellesley , as well as the ports of Malacca and Singapore. Under the administration of the East India Company, the Settlements were used as penal settlements for Indian civilian and military prisoners, earning them

9417-449: The confinement of more than two or three men at a time. There were only two windows, and a projecting veranda outside, and thick iron bars within impeded the ventilation, while fires, raging in different parts of the fort, suggested an atmosphere of further oppressiveness. The prisoners were packed so tightly that the door was difficult to close. One of the soldiers stationed in the veranda was offered 1,000 rupees to have them removed to

9546-482: The corner of Dalhousie Square (now B. B. D. Bagh ), which is said to be the site of the 'Black Hole'. At the apex of the Indian independence movement , the presence of this monument in Calcutta was turned into a nationalist cause célèbre . Nationalist leaders, including Subhas Chandra Bose , lobbied energetically for its removal. The Congress and the Muslim League joined forces in the anti-monument movement. As

9675-686: The direct rule of the British Crown. The partition of the large province of Bengal, which was decided upon by Lord Curzon, and Cayan Uddin Ahmet, the Chief Secretary of Bengal carried into execution in October 1905. The Chittagong , Dhaka and Rajshahi divisions, the Malda District and the States of Hill Tripura , Sylhet and Comilla were transferred from Bengal to a new province, Eastern Bengal and Assam ;

9804-593: The early 1960s compare such gravitationally collapsed objects to the prison. A minority opinion in the August 1910 report of the Penitentiary Investigating Committee of the State of Texas (USA) referred to the prison conditions in this way: I trust that this report will sufficiently arouse the people of Texas to the atrocities daily heaped upon this mass of thirty-six hundred breathing, human souls, wards of

9933-891: The emergence of a large educated middle class, most of the population did not have access to a proper education. Some of the leading schools included the Oriental Seminary in Calcutta, the St. Gregory's High School in Dacca, the Rajshahi Collegiate School in Rajshahi and the Chittagong Collegiate School in Chittagong. European missionaries, Hindu philanthropists and Muslim aristocrats were influential promoters of education. Ethnic minorities maintained their own institutions, such as

10062-675: The establishment of liberal arts colleges in many districts of Bengal. There were only two full-fledged universities in Bengal during British rule, including the University of Calcutta and the University of Dacca. Both universities were represented in the Bengal Legislative Assembly under the Government of India Act 1935. Primary education was mandatory under the Compulsory Education Acts. Despite significant advances and

10191-634: The existing Constituent Assembly of India. In another separate meeting of legislators from East Bengal, it was decided by 106 votes to 35 that the province should not be partitioned and 107 votes to 34 that East Bengal should join Pakistan in the event of partition. There was no vote held on the proposal for an independent United Bengal. Initially, Bengal was under the administration of the East India Company, which appointed chief agents/presidents/governors/lieutenant governors in Fort William. The governor of Bengal

10320-933: The five Hindi-speaking states of Chota Nagpur , namely Changbhakar , Korea , Surguja , Udaipur and Jashpur State , were transferred from Bengal to the Central Provinces; and Sambalpur State and the five Oriya states of Bamra , Rairakhol , Sonepur , Patna and Kalahandi were transferred from the Central Provinces to Bengal. The remaining province of Bengal then consisted of the thirty-three districts of Burdwan , Birbhum , Bankura , Midnapur , Hughli , Howrah , Twenty-four Parganas , Calcutta , Nadia , Murshidabad , Jessore , Khulna , Patna , Gaya , Shahabad , Saran , Champaran , Muzaffarpur , Darbhanga , Monghyr , Bhagalpur , Purnea , Santhal Parganas , Cuttack , Balasore , Angul and Kandhmal , Puri , Sambalpur , Singhbhum , Hazaribagh , Ranchi , Palamau , and Manbhum . The princely states of Sikkim and

10449-533: The floor, where suffocation put an end to their torments. About 11 o'clock the prisoners began to drop off, fast. At length, at six in the morning, Siraj-ud-Daulah awoke and ordered the door to be opened. Of the 146 only 23, including Mr. Holwell [from whose narrative, published in the Annual Register and The Gentleman's Magazine for 1758, this account is partly derived], remained alive, and they were either stupefied or raving. Fresh air soon revived them, and

10578-433: The forces loyal to Siraj ud-Daulah and forced into a dungeon known as the "Black Hole". Holwell wrote about the events that occurred after the fall of Fort William. He met with Siraj-ud-Daulah, who assured him: "On the word of a soldier; that no harm should come to us". After seeking a place in the fort to confine the prisoners (including Holwell), at 8.00 p.m. , the jailers stripped the prisoners of their clothes and locked

10707-481: The government of India. New conquests in Punjab (1849), Burma (1826) and Oudh (1856) were constituted as Chief Commissioner's Provinces directly administered by the government of India. The Government of India Act 1853 finally allocated a lieutenant-governor to Bengal, which until now had been administered by the governor-general of India. The act also allocated lieutenant-governors to Punjab and Burma. The Bengal Army and

10836-631: The governor's council. The Government of India Act 1935 established the Bengal Legislative Assembly as the lower chamber of the Bengali legislature. It was a 250-seat assembly where most members were elected by either the General Electorate or the Muslim Electorate (under the Communal Award ). Other members were nominated. The separate electorate dividing Muslims from the general electorate was deeply controversial. The Prime Minister of Bengal

10965-404: The heat in his Lancia Montecarlo car as "like being in the Black Hole of Calcutta" during The Grand Tour : One For The Road. According to Hong-Yee Chiu , an astrophysicist at NASA , the Black Hole of Calcutta was the inspiration for the term black hole referring to objects resulting from the gravitational collapse of very heavy stars . He recalled hearing physicist Robert Dicke in

11094-766: The help of bankers such as the Jagat Seth . The Nawabs began entering into treaties with numerous European companies, including the French East India Company , the Dutch East India Company , and the Danish East India Company . The Mughal court in Delhi was weakened by Nader Shah 's invasion from Persia (1739) and Ahmed Shah Durrani 's invasion from Afghanistan (1761). While the Bengal Subah suffered

11223-744: The hinterland. In 1907, 20 firms were engaged in the jute trade of Narayanganj, including 18 European firms. Hindu merchants opened several cotton mills in the 1920s, including the Dhakeshwari Cotton Mill, the Chittaranjan Cotton Mill and the Laxmi Narayan Cotton Mill. Other goods traded in Narayanganj included timber, salt, textiles, oil, cotton, tobacco, pottery, seeds and betel nut. Raw goods were processed by factories in Calcutta, especially jute mills. The Port of Chittagong

11352-679: The loan securities of the British East India Company . In 1830, bourse activities in Calcutta were conducted in the open air under a tree. The Calcutta Stock Exchange was incorporated in 1908. Some of the leading companies in British Bengal included Messrs. Alexander and Co, Waldies , Martin Burn , M. M. Ispahani Limited , James Finlay and Co. , A K Khan & Company , the Calcutta Chemical Company , Bourne & Shepherd ,

11481-417: The lower Jemadars (sergeants), to whose custody we were delivered, for the number of their order killed during the siege." Concurring with Holwell, Wolpert said that Siraj-ud-Daulah did not order the imprisonment and was not informed of it. The physical description of the Black Hole of Calcutta corresponds with Holwell's point of view: The dungeon was a strongly barred room and it was not intended for

11610-439: The name of the nominal Mughal Emperor (who was exiled in 1857). Under Warren Hastings , the consolidation of British imperial rule over Bengal was solidified, with the conversion of a trade area into an occupied territory under a military-civil government, while the formation of a regularised system of legislation was brought in under John Shore . Acting through Lord Cornwallis , then governor-general, he ascertained and defined

11739-463: The narrator Shyama describes Ranga's house as 'the Black Hole of Calcutta' because of the large crowd that had gathered to see Ranga when he came home after completing his studies. If all the people had gone inside, the house would have become as crowded as the Black Hole of Calcutta. In the science-fiction novel Omega: The Last Days of the World (1894), by Camille Flammarion , the Black Hole of Calcutta

11868-568: The new Fort William which still stands today in the Maidan to the south of B.B.D. Bagh. The precise location of that guardroom is in an alleyway between the General Post Office and the adjacent building to the north, in the north west corner of B.B.D. Bagh. The memorial tablet which was once on the wall of that building beside the GPO can now be found in the nearby postal museum. "List of the smothered in

11997-632: The night; died on the morn), Messrs. Carey, Stephenson, Guy, Porter, W. Parker, Caulker, Bendall, Atkinson, Leech, &c., &c. The list of the men and women who survived their imprisonment in the Black Hole of Calcutta: Messrs. John Zephaniah Holwell, Court, Secretary Cooke, Lushington, Burdett, Ensign Walcott, Mrs. Carey, Captain Mills, Captain Dickson, Mr. Moran, John Meadows, and twelve military and militia (blacks & whites). Mark Twain , on Chapter 20 in his travelogue Innocents Abroad (1867), describes

12126-451: The one-year anniversary of the Kalakuta Republic sacking by marrying 27 of his back-up singers in a mass wedding ceremony at the office of his lawyer, Tunji Braithwaite. Two days later, on February 20, 1978, he secretly married the 27 women popularly known as "Queens" at the defunct Parisona Hotel along Ikorodu Road in Lagos. Fela said he would not have marital relationships with all of the women as

12255-546: The payment of a fixed land tax. This piece of legislation is known as the Permanent Settlement of the Land Revenue. It was designed to "introduce" ideas of property rights to India, and stimulate a market in land. The former aim misunderstood the nature of landholding in India, and the latter was an abject failure. The Cornwallis Code , while defining the rights of the proprietors, failed to give adequate recognition to

12384-500: The policy of power-sharing between Hindus and Muslims. He also advocated a plan for a Bengali sovereign state with a multiconfessionalist political system. The breakdown of Hindu-Muslim unity across India eventually upended Bengali power-sharing. Religious violence, including the Noakhali riots and Direct Action Day riots, contributed to the polarization. When the Bengal Assembly met to vote on Partition, most West Bengali legislators held

12513-480: The possibility of a battle with the military forces of the French East India Company , so the British reinforced the fort. Siraj ud-Daulah ordered the fortification construction to be stopped by the French and British, and the French complied while the British demurred. In consequence to that British indifference to his authority, Siraj ud-Daulah organised his army and laid siege to Fort William . In an effort to survive

12642-551: The power of magistrates . In 1829, magisterial power was given to all Collectors and Revenue Officers. The controversy regarding the lack of separation of powers continued until 1921. The British government began to appoint legislative councils under the Indian Councils Act 1861 . The Bengal Legislative Council was established in 1862. It was one of the largest and most important legislative councils in British India. Over

12771-712: The principle of dyarchy , whereby certain responsibilities such as agriculture, health, education, and local government, were transferred to elected ministers. However, the important portfolios like finance, police and irrigation were reserved with members of the governor's executive council. Some of the prominent ministers were Surendranath Banerjee (Local Self-government and Public Health 1921–1923), Sir Provash Chunder Mitter (Education 1921–1924, Local Self-government, Public Health, Agriculture and Public Works 1927–1928), Nawab Saiyid Nawab Ali Chaudhuri (Agriculture and Public Works) and A. K. Fazlul Huq (Education 1924). Bhupendra Nath Bose and Sir Abdur Rahim were executive members in

12900-512: The prison of Fort William was opened, the corpses of the dead men were thrown into a ditch. As prisoners of war, Holwell and three other men were transferred to Murshidabad . The remaining survivors of the Black Hole of Calcutta were freed the next morning on the orders of the Nawab, who learned only that morning of their sufferings. After news of Calcutta's capture was received by the British in Madras in August 1756, Lieutenant Colonel Robert Clive

13029-444: The prisoners in the fort's prison—"the black hole" in soldiers' slang—a small room that measured 14 by 18 feet (4.3 m × 5.5 m). The next morning, when the black hole was opened, at 6.00 a.m. , only about 23 of the prisoners remained alive. Historians offer different numbers of prisoners and casualties of war; Stanley Wolpert estimated that 64 people were imprisoned and 21 survived. D. L. Prior estimated that 43 men of

13158-411: The prospect. On 20 June 1947, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to vote on partition plans. At the preliminary joint session, the assembly decided by 126 votes to 90 that if it remained united it should join the new Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Later, a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal decided by 58 votes to 21 that the province should be partitioned and that West Bengal should join

13287-684: The region included the French East India Company , the Dutch East India Company , the Ostend Company and the Danish East India Company . Initially, the English East India Company promoted opium cultivation which caused the Opium Wars with Qing China . The East India Company's promotion of indigo farming caused the Indigo revolt . The British were much criticized for favoring textile imports and suppressing local muslin production. The chaos of

13416-407: The resurrection of a Bengal Army. He wrote "I want you to consent to the formation of a Bengali Army of a hundred thousand young Bengalis consisting of Hindu and Muslim youths on a fifty-fifty basis. There is an insistent demand for such a step being taken at once, and the people of Bengal will not be satisfied with any excuses. It is a national demand which must be immediately conceded". Huq supported

13545-431: The rights of the landholders over the soil. These landholders under the previous system had started, for the most part, as collectors of the revenues, and gradually acquired certain prescriptive rights as quasi-proprietors of the estates entrusted to them by the government. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis declared their rights perpetual, and gave over the land of Bengal to the previous quasi-proprietors or zamindars , on condition of

13674-522: The rights of the under-tenants and the cultivators. This remained a serious problem for the duration of British Rule, as throughout the Bengal Presidency ryots (peasants) found themselves oppressed by rack-renting landlords, who knew that every rupee they could squeeze from their tenants over and above the fixed revenue demanded from the government represented pure profit. Furthermore, the Permanent Settlement took no account of inflation, meaning that

13803-441: The step, partly on the grounds that this was part of a cynical policy of divide and rule, and partly that the Bengali population, the centre of whose interests and prosperity was Calcutta, would now be divided under two governments, instead of being concentrated and numerically dominant under the one, while the bulk would be in the new division. In 1906–1909 the unrest developed to a considerable extent, requiring special attention from

13932-524: The tabloids suggested, but had married them as they could not find employment after the recording studio had been burnt down. According to Fela, in Yoruba tradition, when a woman was in danger of being left destitute, it was the duty of a man in her community to marry her as a means of offering protection. In 2012, Babatunde Fashola , the Governor of Lagos, began an initiative to rebuild the compound and turn it into

14061-400: The tale of the Black Hole of Calcutta, one of the festering spots of history. If the number of people actually dead was small, as such numbers go in these days of wholesale death by accidents and wars, it was the manner of death ... that makes the heart shudder and condemn even while the mind can reason and weigh." Diana Gabaldon mentions briefly the incident in her novel Lord John and

14190-503: The time of men who still live, the Black Hole was torn down and thrown away as carelessly as if its bricks were common clay, not ingots of historic gold. There is no accounting for human beings." Muriel Rukeyser , in The Book of the Dead , originally published as a group of poems in U.S. 1: Poems (1938) , quotes from Vito Marcantonio 's speech "Dusty Death" (1936). Rukeyser was writing about

14319-644: The title of the "Botany Bays of India". The years 1852 and 1853 saw minor uprisings by convicts in Singapore and Penang. Upset with East India Company rule, in 1857 the European population of the Settlements sent a petition to the British Parliament asking for direct rule. In 1859, under the terms of the Queen's Proclamation issued by Queen Victoria, the Bengal Presidency, along with the rest of British India, came under

14448-458: The value of the revenue to government declined year by year, whilst the heavy burden on the peasantry grew no less. This was compounded in the early 19th century by compulsory schemes for the cultivation of opium and indigo , the former by the state, and the latter by British planters. Peasants were forced to grow a certain area of these crops, which were then purchased at below market rates for export. This added greatly to rural poverty. In 1833,

14577-509: The years, the council's powers were gradually expanded from an advisory role to debating government policies and enacting legislation. Under the Government of India Act 1935 , the council became the upper chamber of the Bengali legislature. British India's Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1919, enacted in 1921, expanded the Bengal Legislative Council to 140 members to include more elected Indian members. The reforms also introduced

14706-844: Was a dungeon in Fort William, Calcutta , measuring 14 by 18 feet (4.3 m × 5.5 m), in which troops of Siraj-ud-Daulah , the Nawab of Bengal , held British prisoners of war on the night of 20 June 1756. John Zephaniah Holwell , one of the British prisoners and an employee of the East India Company , said that, after the fall of Fort William, the surviving British soldiers, Indian sepoys , and Indian civilians were imprisoned overnight in conditions so cramped that many people died from suffocation and heat exhaustion , and that 123 of 146 prisoners of war imprisoned there died. Some modern historians believe that 64 prisoners were sent into

14835-643: Was a member of the assembly. In the 1937 election , the Congress emerged as the single largest party but short of an absolute majority. The second-largest party was the Bengal Provincial Muslim League (BPML), followed closely in third place by the Krishak Praja Party (KPP). After negotiations between Congress and the KPP broke down, the BPML and KPP formed a coalition government. A. K. Fazlul Huq ,

14964-636: Was also an important source of law. Many laws enacted in British Bengal are still in use today, including the Indian Penal Code . In 1919, the Rowlatt Act extended wartime powers under the Defence of India Act 1915, including arbitrary arrests and trial without juries. Press freedom was muzzled by the Indian Press Act 1910. The Seditious Meetings Act 1908 curtailed freedom of assembly. Regulation III of 1818

15093-641: Was also considered draconian. King George V granted a royal amnesty to free political prisoners. Some draconian laws were repealed, including the Rowlatt Act. Despite being a common law jurisdiction, British India did not enjoy the same level of protection for civil liberties as in the United Kingdom. It was only after independence in 1947 and the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, that human rights were clearly enshrined in law. Princely states were autonomous principalities under

15222-498: Was central to the British Bengali economy. Bengal accounted for the bulk of the world's jute production and export. Raw jute was sourced from the hinterland of Eastern Bengal. The British government declared the Port of Narayanganj as a "Tax Free Port" in 1878. Rally Brothers & Co. was one of the earliest British companies in the jute business of Narayanganj. British firms used middlemen, called beparis , to source raw jute from

15351-410: Was concurrently the governor-general of India for many years. The East India Company maintained control with its private armies and administrative machinery. Nevertheless, the East India Company was a quasi-official entity, having received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I in 1600. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 caused the British government to assume direct control of India's administration under

15480-510: Was established in 1853. The Narayanganj Chamber of Commerce was set up in 1904. The textile trade of Bengal enriched many merchants. For example, Panam City in Sonargaon saw many townhouses built for wealthy textile merchants. Tea became a major export of Bengal. Northwestern Bengal became the center of Darjeeling tea cultivation in the foothills of the Himalayas. Darjeeling tea became one of

15609-451: Was expanded. Bihar and Orissa became separate provinces in 1936. Bengal remained in its 1912 boundaries until Independence in 1947, when it was again partitioned between the dominions of India and Pakistan. On 8 May 1947, Viceroy Earl Mountbatten cabled the British government with a partition plan that made an exception for Bengal. It was the only province that would be allowed to remain independent should it choose to do so. On 23 May,

15738-509: Was frustrated with the Nigerian army's rank and file that allowed corruption and intimidation of their communities by the corrupt and rich top brass, while blindly following orders to intimidate Nigerians. The song was popular in Nigeria, upsetting then-Head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo . The military was unhappy with Fela's constant criticism and said it was unseemly to have a republic within

15867-499: Was however never fully implemented and instead another Act of Parliament in 1835 created the North-Western Provinces with a lieutenant-governor at Agra and also provided for the creation of a similar arrangement with a lieutenant-governor of Bengal. All four provinces, i.e., North-Western Provinces, Bengal Presidency, Madras Presidency and Bombay Presidency were equal in status and independent of each other, subordinate only to

15996-536: Was merged back with the Bengal Presidency while Bihar and Orissa became a separate province. In 1862, the Bengal Legislative Council became the first legislature in British India with native representation, after a petition from the British Indian Association of Calcutta. As part of efforts towards home rule , the Government of India Act 1935 created a bicameral legislature , with

16125-467: Was played on Broadway for more than 7,000 performances. Edgar Allan Poe makes reference to the "stifling" of the prisoners in the introduction to " The Premature Burial " (1844). The Black Hole is mentioned in Looking Backward (1888) by Edward Bellamy as an example of the depravity of the past. In a story written by Indian author Masti Venkatesha Iyengar , "Rangana Maduve" ("Ranga's Marriage"),

16254-472: Was re-organized in 1887 under the Port Commissioners Act. Its busiest trade links were with British Burma , including the ports of Akyab and Rangoon ; and other Bengali ports, including Calcutta, Dhaka and Narayanganj. In the fiscal year 1889–90, Chittagong handled exports totalling 125,000 tons. The Strand Road was built beside the port. In 1928, the British government declared Chittagong as

16383-502: Was sent to retaliate against the Nawab. With his troops and local Indian allies, Clive recaptured Calcutta in January 1757, and defeated Siraj ud-Daulah at the Battle of Plassey , which resulted in Siraj being overthrown as Nawab of Bengal and executed. The Black Hole of Calcutta was later used as a warehouse. In memoriam of the dead, the British erected a 15-metre (50') high obelisk ; it now

16512-469: Was supported by the erstwhile Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and approved by the U. S. Senate on 21 November 1792. Benjamin Joy reached Calcutta in 1794. The HEIC did not recognize Joy as an official consul but allowed him to be a Commercial Agent. The American Consulate General was established during formal British rule. A consular agency for Chittagong was created in the 1860s. Many other countries also set up consulates in Calcutta. British rule saw

16641-477: Was the capital of the Bengal Presidency. For many years, the governor of Bengal was concurrently the governor-general of India and Calcutta was the capital of India until 1911. The Bengal Presidency emerged from trading posts established in the Bengal province during the reign of Emperor Jahangir in 1612. The East India Company (HEIC), a British monopoly with a Royal Charter, competed with other European companies to gain influence in Bengal. In 1757 and 1764,

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