CHINSURA, a town of British India, on the Hooghly river, 24m. above Calcutta, formerly the principal Dutch settlement in Bengal. The Dutch erected a fortified factory here in 1656. In a British force under Col. Forde was attacked by the gar rison of Chinsura on its march to Chandernagore, but in less than half an hour the Dutch were entirely routed. Chinsura was taken by the British in 1781 on the outbreak of war with Holland and restored to the Dutch in 1783. Again, in 1795, during the Napoleonic wars, the settlement was occupied by a British gar rison. At the peace of 1814 it was a second time restored to the Dutch. It was among the cessions in India made by the king of the Netherlands in 1825 in exchange for the British possessions in Sumatra. The Dutch church, commissioner's house, and ceme tery (extended since 1825) are memorials of Dutch rule. Chin sura is included in the Hooghly-Chinsura municipality (pop. 32,634), and contains the Hooghly college.