Scribd
Upload
301 views16 pages

Establishment of Madras

The document summarizes the founding and history of Madras (now Chennai), India. It discusses that: 1) Madras was founded in 1639 by the East India Company, which obtained land from the local ruler to establish a trading post and fort. 2) Over time, Madras grew to become the administrative and commercial capital of British-controlled southern India. 3) Under British company rule from 1801-1858, Madras expanded further through successful military campaigns and treaties with local rulers.

Uploaded by

William Stains
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
301 views16 pages

Establishment of Madras

The document summarizes the founding and history of Madras (now Chennai), India. It discusses that: 1) Madras was founded in 1639 by the East India Company, which obtained land from the local ruler to establish a trading post and fort. 2) Over time, Madras grew to become the administrative and commercial capital of British-controlled southern India. 3) Under British company rule from 1801-1858, Madras expanded further through successful military campaigns and treaties with local rulers.

Uploaded by

William Stains
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 16

presentation

Founding of Madras
 Madras founded by the East India Company. On 22 August
1639, English official Francis Day obtained a grant of a 3-
mile-long strip of land for the East India Company from
the local ruler, Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka, the Nayaka of
Wandiwash. This land was a fishing village called
Madraspatnam.
 Armenian and Portuguese traders were living in the San
Thome area of what is now present-day Chennai before the
arrival of the British in 1639. Madras was the shortened
name of the fishing village Madraspatnam, where the
British East India Company built a fort and factory (trading
post) in 1639–40.

 At that time, the weaving of cotton fabrics was a local


industry, and the English invited the weavers and native
merchants to settle near the fort. By 1652 the factory of Fort
St. George was recognized as a presidency (an
administrative unit governed by a president), and between
1668 and 1749 the company expanded its control.
 About 1801, by which time the last of the local rulers
had been shorn of his powers, the English had become
masters of southern India, and Madras had become
their administrative and commercial capital. The
government of Tamil Nadu officially changed the
name of the city to Chennai in 1996.

 Madras's primacy in maritime trade made it a


contentious city among the European colonial powers.
The French East India Company (Compagnie des
Indes Orientales), founded in 1664, set up its
headquarters a decade later at Pondicherry, about 85
miles (137 kilometers) south of Madras on the
Coromandal coast.
Expansion of Madras
 In 1684, Fort St Georg Black Town where the 'natives'
lived. The White Town was confined inside the walls of
Fort St. George and the Black Town outside of it. The
Black Town later came to be known as George Town

 During this period, the Presidency was significantly


expanded and reached an extent which continued into
the early 19th century.
 During the early years of the Madras Presidency, the
English were repeatedly attacked by the Mughals,
the Marathas and the Nawabs of Golkonda and
the Carnatic region.

 In September 1774, by Pitt's India Act, passed by


the Parliament of Great Britain to unify and regulate
the administration of the territories of the East India
Company, the President of Madras was made
subordinate to the Governor-General of India based in
Calcutta.
 In September 1746, Fort St George was captured by the
French, who ruled Madras as a part of French
India until 1749, when Madras was handed back to the
British under the terms of the Treaty of Aix-la-
Chappelle of the previous year.

 In 1801, the Nawab of Arcot, Azim-ud-Daula signed


the Carnatic Treaty bringing the Carnatic region under
British rule. In return, Azim-ud-Daula was entitled to
one-fifth of the total revenue of the state and the
honour of a 21-gun salute.
During the company rule
 From 1801 until 1858, Madras was a part of British India
and was ruled by the British East India Company. The
last quarter of the 18th century was a period of rapid
expansion.

 Successful wars against Tipu Sultan (1782–99),


Maruthu Pandyar, Velu Thampi, Polygars and the
coastal regions of the island Ceylon added vast areas of
land and contributed to the exponential growth of the
Presidency.
 Newly conquered regions in Ceylon formed part of the
Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798. The system
of subsidiary alliances originated by Lord
Wellesley as Governor-General of India (1798–1805) also
brought many princely states into the area militarily
subordinate to the Governor of Fort St George.

 Newly conquered regions in Ceylon formed part of the


Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798. The system
of subsidiary alliances originated by Lord
Wellesley as Governor-General of India (1798–1805) also
brought many princely states into the area militarily
subordinate to the Governor of Fort St George.
 he period also witnessed a number of rebellions
starting with the 1806 Vellore Mutiny. The rebellion of
Velu Thambi and Paliath Achan and the Poligar
Wars were other notable insurrections against the
British rule, but the Madras Presidency remained
relatively undisturbed by the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.

 The Madras Presidency annexed the kingdom


of Mysore in 1831 on allegations of
maladministration and restored it to Chamaraja
Wodeyar (1881–94), the grandson and heir of the
deposed Mummadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar (1799–1868)
in 1881.
 Thanjavur was annexed in 1855, following the death
of Shivaji II (1832–1855) who left no male heir.
Thank you

You might also like