HISTORY OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT IN KOLKATA

KOLKATA-THE LAND OF GODDESS KALI

Calcutta, Bengali Kalikata, is the capital city of West

Bengal, in India (after 1912). It was the former capital
(1772 -1912) of British India. The city boasts being the
nation's largest metropolitan in area.

Calcutta is located on the eastern bank of the Hooghly

River, an arm of the Ganges, about 96 miles (154 km)
upstream from its mouth at the head of the Bay of
Bengal.

This river port is the most important urban center of eastern India.

Although Calcutta is favorably located for trade, its low, swampy, hot, and humid riverbank location is
not ideal for human habitation. Eastward from the river the land slopes away to marshes and
swamplands. Similar topography on the western bank has confined the metropolitan area to a strip 3 to
5 miles (5-8 km) wide on either bank, although reclamation projects have expanded the limits of usable
land to the east, south, and west of the central city.

KOLKATA 1690
In the year 1690. Job charnock, a company
agent and chief of English factory established
the important center for trade and commerce
in sutanuti village on the eastern banks of the
river Hooghly.
This was the origin 0f the city of Calcutta.
During this time the villages by connected by a
route from chitpur in the north to the kalighat
temple that was built in the 15th century, in the
south. The English bought gobindapur, kalikata and sutanuti villages to establish their
settlement.

KOLKATA 1757
The first major step they had taken in the procell is to shift the Bengalis from the area around
the present Dalhousie square to further north because of the strategic location to build the fort
for their security.
The battle of Plessey in 1757 was in a way a turning point for the growth of Calcutta. The
supremacy of English in Bengal was established.
It was transforming itself from purely garrison town to an administrative cum culture center.

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 HISTORY OF HUMAN SETTLEMENT IN KOLKATA

KOLKATA 1852-1900
The British decided to shift the capital from
Calcutta to Delhi in order to control their territory more from a
central position of the empire.
The capital got shifted in 1912 ad, and soon the British
government set up the improvement trust for the settlement of
living condition in the city.
The only directions for Calcuttas growth were east and south.
North was already, congested and west was the river.

The urban settlement of Kolkata can be defined in to three definite regions, which can be broadly
distinguished according to history, socio-economic culture, and architectural character.

NORTH KOLKATA: neighborhoods of elite Bengalis, crafts men, artisans and traders.

CENTRAL KOLKATA: the business district developed by the British with palatial structures used as
residences for British officers.

SOUTH KOLKATA: neighborhoods of upper middle class Bengalis.

IMPACT OF HOWRAH BRIDGE ON KOLKATA

The twin cities of Calcutta (re-named as Kolkata in the year 2001), and Howrah, were separated by the
River Hooghly, and shared a common historical linkage towards the eventual construction of the
Rabindra Setu, more commonly known as Howrah bridge. While Kolkata, from a small sleeping hamlet
of artisans and mercantile community eventually developed , as a commercial hub of a modern
metropolitan city , Howrah (virtually the store house of raw material resources) became its industrial
satellite.

Howrah Bridge vehemently increased connectivity of Kolkata with other parts of West Bengal and India.
Road traffic became easier in many portions of the city leading to the improvement of economic and
social factors. The bridge themselves provided employment opportunities to a widespread percentage
of population.

The Howrah Bridge serves as the gateway to Kolkata, connecting it to the Howrah Station, which is one
of the four intercity train stations serving Howrah and Kolkata. As such, it carries the near entirety of the
traffic to and from the station, taking its average daily traffic close to nearly 1.5 million pedestrians and
1 million vehicles. In 1946 a census was taken to take a count of the daily traffic, it amounted to 27,400
vehicles.

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