Fort St. George to Madras

This is a spin off from my previous blog.

The book basically made me realize one thing: Modern day Madras is a collection of villages that had existed for many centuries before the British came. The British got a land grant initially for a 2 mile land where they build Fort St George. Then they gradually acquired rights over the villages around them and aggregated them to a single city of Madras. This is pretty obvious when you think about Valluvar and Mylapore. But, I had not connected the dots. I went down a Gemini rabbit hole!





    WaveEraPrimary MethodKey Villages
    I1639Nayaka GrantMadraspatnam & Chennapatnam The original "Vada Chennai." Native "Black Town" (George Town) and Fort St. George. North of Modern day Marina Beach
    II1658–1708Leases & Mughal GiftsTriplicane, Egmore, Purasawalkam, TondiarpetCoovum river: Triplicane (South of Cooum) was rented first; others (North/West) were later gifted by the Mughals.
    III1749–1801Military Force & TreatiesMylapore, San Thome, Adyar, SaidapetAdyar river banks bank: Banks of the Adyar River. Captured from the Portuguese/French and later ceded by the Nawab of Carnatic.




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