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| Famine in Madras presidency, relief work.India.suchtimes.com |
Chennai (previously Madras), used to be called Chennapatnam (named after Chennappa Naiker) is not a city of great antiquity and is of recent origin. Founded by the East India company, the small town's boundaries and geographical limits changed
several times, as a result of invasions and destructions by surrounding
Hindu and Muslim powers. For instance, Golkonda forces under General
Mir
Jumla
took control of Madras in 1646, massacred or sold into slavery much
of the Christian European inhabitants and their allied Indian
communities, and brought Madras and its immediate surroundings under
his rule. However, the Fort and its surrounding walls remained under
British control. Over a period of time they slowly rebuilt their
colony with additional colonists despite another mass murder of
Europeans in Black Town by anti-colonialists of Golkonda. Later the
plague epidemic in the 1670s took a heavy toll on the population in that area. In 1674, the
expanded colony had a population of nearly 50,000, mostly British and
European colonists and was granted its own corporate charter, thereby
officially establishing the modern day city . Eventually, after
additional provocations from Golkonda rulers, the British pushed back
until they defeated him.
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| Chennapatnam (Chennai) 1785.Ft.st.George. India..columbia.edu |
After
the fall of Golkonda in 1687, the region came under the rule of the
Mughal Emperors of Delhi. Who granted new Charters and territorial
boundaries for the area and later Firmans
were issued granting the rights of English East India company in
Madras. This agreement put an end to the the local rulers to
attack the British. In the later part of the 17th century, Madras
steadily progressed during the period of the East India Company and
under many Governors. Although most of the original Portuguese,
Dutch, and British population had been killed
during the Golkonda period, under the Mogul protection, large
numbers of British and Anglo-American settlers arrived to replenish
these losses.
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