HOWRAH, a city and district of British India, in the Bur dwan division of Bengal. The city is situated opposite Calcutta, with which it is connected by a floating bridge. The municipal area is about I 1 sq.m. ; pop. (1931), 224,873. Since the population has been more than doubled, owing to the great indus trial development that has taken place. Howrah is the terminus of the East Indian and Bengal-Nagpur railways; also of two light railways which run to Amta and Sheakhala. Further, it is the centre of the jute-manufacturing industry, with many jute mills and presses.
The Royal Botanic Garden, first established in 1787, and the Bengal engineering college, which occupies the buildings of the bishop's college, originally a theological college founded in 1824, are in the suburb of Sibpur.
The DISTRICT of HOWRAH extends southwards down the right bank of the Hooghly to the confluence of the river Damodar. Its area is 53o sq.m. ; pop. (1931), 1,098,867. In addition to the two steam tramways and the East Indian railway, the district is crossed by the high-level canal to Midnapore, which communi cates with the Hooghly at Ulabaria. The district is densely popu lated (2,073 persons per square mile) ; though the manufacturing industries of Howrah extend beyond the city, a large portion is rural in character and there are marshy areas for which drainage schemes affecting 32o sq.m. have been constructed.