Calcutta in the 18th Century- Impressions of Travellers

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Mr. P. Thankappan Nair who has compiled Calcutta in the 18th Century: Impression of Travellers, has now fallen in love with Calcutta after deserting Indology and Anthropology. Beginning with Job Charnock, the Father of Calcutta, whom he has rescued from scandal-mongers and myth-makers, he had an excursion into British social life in Old Calcutta. A solution has been found out by him about the mystery surrounding the name Calcutta. His interest in Old Calcutta is sustained and he now parades fifteen foreigners who came here to discover Charnock's City, but the city, like its founder, has some charisma which is not easy to unravel.

CALCUTTA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: Impressions of Travellers, contains excerpts from 15 visitors' accounts to this metropolis in its infancy. Calcutta, before becoming the 'City of Palaces' in the 18th century, was dubbed a 'Ditch' and its denizens 'Ditchers', as the English settlement was bounded and butted by the Mahratta Ditch.

Job Charnock, the founder of Calcutta, had lived for about 35 years in different parts of Bengal. On his return from Madras, after the rupture with the Mogul Faujdar at Hooghly in 1686, he selected the marshy swamp, Sutanati, for the future seat of the East India Company's tradings operations in Eastern India, as he was far away from the prying eyes of the Dutch and French, who were all upstream at Hooghly. They were at his mercy as he was in a position to cut off their shipping.

The history of Colonial Calcutta dates from August 24, 1690. The zamindari rights of Sutanati, together with that of Kalkatch and Govindpur which adjoined it, were acquired from the Savarna Raychaudhuries of Barisha in 1698 for Rs. 1300. Sutanati, Kalkatah and Govindpur together grew into Calcutta in course of time. The Company's officials lived in thatched houses in Calcutta till Fort William was constructed. The Fort was begun in 1697 and was almost finished in 1708- The security afforded by the Fort to the life and property attracted natives and other European nationals from the nearby foreign settlements to Calcutta.

St. Anne's Church was consecrated on 5th June 1708. Fort William and the English Church were the landmarks of Calcutta during the first decade of the 18th century. We have accounts of the infant British settlement during this period from three visitors, namely, (1) Capt. Alexander Hamilton, (2) Father Matteo Ripa and (3) John Burnell. Capt. Hamilton's account was the staple of early historians and chroniclers of Calcutta. Father Ripa's account was inaccessible till it was translated by Fr. Hosten and published in 1914.