AS I have already mentioned that Kolkata is the second love of my life , each time I visit any of its places I always have on my mind to know the history of the place as well as of the city. But whenever I try to do that I understand it’s a vast history and it will definitely take a lot of time and research.
Kolkata being an important place in the history of India has yet not received the place its worthy of. Though it can have lot of arguments but it’s purely my point of view.
Long long ago The Place (later named Calcutta) was inhabited by hunters and fisherman. The place was known as Kalikat which referred in Ain-i-akbari as mahal within the area of Satgaon (Saptagram), in this Satgaon the name of other gaons(villages) were Sutanuti, Betor. And all the places were not given the names by that time.
As we all know before the English there were Armenians and Portuguese Who had tried their lucks in trading at the place. But THEN Portuguese took over the place and in Betor they had created their business hub, which was nearby the present Garden Reach. Because of some issues they had to leave the place and move to Goa, before leaving for Goa they made sure no other traces could be found out in Betor.
Then Bysacks and Setts were the zaminder of the place and they were interested in trading after seeing the profit at Betor and they founded a village and they named it GOBINDAPUR on the name of their Local deity Gobinda-Thakur. And here comes origin of the post’s title.
They cleared out the jungle and then built houses for themselves, they opened towards the north side of Calcutta a place for selling of Clothes and probably the same place was named as Sutanuti Hut or The Cotton Bale Market then.
Since it’s the history and whatever I am telling you is completely based on the research that I have done by reading various research papers, there can be varieties of explanations and assumptions and I am bringing in front of you one of the bests and the apt of all.
Till now the English were not given the permission of trading in Bengal , Then Sultan Suja gave the permission that they could do their business in Bengal and they were restricted beyond Pipley, Balasore by paying an annual amount to the Nawab but the things changed when Aurangzeb came into the throne and Shayesta Khan was given the power of taking care Bengal and he had removed the restrictions and let The English enter Bengal, because of their personal relations got sour English were sent back.
Around 1690 they were again called back by the present Nawab and Charnock Founded Calcutta, the foundation day of Calcutta was filed in the history which was 20th of August, 1690.
During 1697 the Zamindarship of three places(Kalikat, Sutanuti and Gobindapur) was given to English, According to Walter Hamilton A forest existed to the Southward part of ChandPal Ghat( Which is now Called Babughat) and after winning the battle of Plassey, the forests were cleard and The New Fort William was built on its present site of Kolkata.
ESPLANADE : The Esplanade name was given to the northern portion of the Jungle and later there formed our present Maidan. In Old days, its stretched from Dharmatala (present Lenin Sarani) to Chandpal Ghat.
While Sutanuti developed as the places for the native inhabitants, it emerged as the Black Town, the Esplanade and Chowringhee emerged as The White Town.
Now Dharmatala has been renamed after Lenin as Lenin Sarani,but still the neighborhood upto Wellington Square Continues to be referred as Dharmatala.
Dharmatala is bounded to the North by Bowbazar, the south by Janbazar, the east by Taltala, the west by Maidan.
About Dharmatala there will be single post in my blog. Please stay connected for that.
Now when we have already discussed the history of Esplanade so far it would be really inappropriate to complete it without talking about the famous New Market. It has also its story to tell.
NEW MARKET: In 1871, a committee of Calcutta Corporation began to contemplate a market which would be under the ruling authority of Calcutta’s British Residents. Then the corporation purchased Lindsay Street and made plans to evacuate the old Fenwick’s bazaar which was located there and summoned an architect from The East India Company to design the Victorian gothic market complex which would take its place.
By 1874 people of all over the places get to know about Calcutta’s first Municipal Market and many retailers had come to open their shops at the place. Few of them were Ranken and Company(dressmakers), Cathberston and Harper (the shoe merchants), R.W.Newman or Thacker, the famous stationers and book dealers.
In the year 1903 the market was named after Sir Stuart Hogg who was the chairman of Calcutta Corporation then as SIR STUART HOGG MARKET, later it got shortened and now people call it Hogg Market and there are still few people who call it “hogg saheber market”.
If you visit now you will find verities of shops which are offering many things but there still you can get the vibe of the same old historical Hogg market.
Despite the tensions going on during World War –II, still the extension of the market was engineered and the historical Clock Tower was brought here and installed by 1630s, which is still here to welcome you in Esplanade or New market.
Florists were located near the front entrance and stalls selling fresh and preserved foods were placed towards the rear of the market. Beyond the vegetable stalls, fish sellers and butchers used to do their businesses and Exotic animals were also sold at the back of the Market.
If you visit now you can find the shops though may be their present places are slightly shifted. There are still few florist shops who are selling authentic and imported flowers.
At the very beginning of the market there were hardly any food stores available but there were still a few, To name it, the first and the best in confectionaries was Nahoum and Sons which was set up in the year 1902 to be précised and shockingly and fortunately it’s still there. If you visit anytime over here make sure you visit this shop to get the best of all brownies available and their famous rich fruit cake, macaroons and Marzipan. During Christmas it’s still remain crowded and in demand.
Then, during 1902 the second and the third place in confectionaries were taken respectively by The Imperial Confectioners and D.Gama.
Back then in Calcutta this place was also famous for Cheese, one is Kalimpong Cheese and the other one is Bandel Cheese which used to be made by the local people of Bandel.it was originated from Portuguese and its basically Surti Paneer but made of cow’s milk. It used to be available in two varieties, one was white and the other one was smoked brown.
So, this is it. Hopefully we’ll definitely come with an interesting topic as well as history again in the next post. For that you will have to stay connected with us.
You can write your views and suggestions directly to us by visiting the contact page, You can also send us emails at kolkatastrending672@gmail.com
We’ll meet soon through the upcoming post.
Source Courtesy :
- C.S .Lewis's Research Journal
- Wikipedia Thomas Daniel's Views of Kolkata
Picture Courtesy : Google
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