CALCUTTA ("the ghaut or landing-place of Kali° from a famous shrine of this god dess), India, the capital of the presidency and province of Bengal, and until 1911 the capital i of British India, is situated on the left bank of the Hooghly (HUghli), a branch of the Ganges, about 80 miles from the Bay of Bengal. The Hooghly is navigable up to the city for vessels of 4,000 tons or drawing 26 feet; the naviga tion, however, on account of sand-banks which are continually changing their size and position, is dangerous. The river opposite the city varies in breadth from rather more than a quarter to three-quarters of a mile. The city may be said to occupy an area extending along the river for about five miles from north to south, and stretching eastward to a distance of nearly two miles in the south, narrowing in the north to about half a mile. The eastern boundary is nominally formed by what is known as the Circular road, the Lower Circular road form ing part of the southern boundary. Another eastern boundary on the north is the Circular Canal, which runs for some distance parallel to the Circular road. The southwestern portion of the area thus spoken of is formed by the Maidan, a great park stretching along the river bank for about one and three-quarter miles, with a breadth in the south of one and a half miles. This grassy and tree-studded area is one of the ornaments of Calcutta; it is inter sected by fine drives, and is partly occupied by public gardens, a cricket ground, race-course, etc., and partly by Fort William, which rises from the river bank. The fort was built in 1757-73, having been begun by Clive after the battle of Plassey, and is said to have cost about $10,000,000. Along the river bank there is a promenade and drive known as the Strand road, which has for the most part been re claimed from the river by successive embank ments. Along the east side of the Maidan runs Chauringhi road, which is lined with magnifi cent residences, and forms the front of the European fashionable residential quarter. Along the north side of the Maidan runs a road or street known as the Esplanade, on the north side of which are the old Government House and other public buildings. The Euro pean commercial quarter lies north of the Es planade, between it and another street called Canning street, having the river on the west. The centre of this area is occupied by Dal housie square (enclosing a large tank or ret ervoir), and here there are a number of public buildings including the post-office, telegraph office, custom house, Bengal secretariat, etc. The European retail trading quarter occupies a small area to the east of the above area. Everywhere outside of the. European quarters Calcutta is interspersed with bastis, or native hamlets of mud huts, which form great out lying suburbs. "The growth of the European quarters, and the municipal clearings de manded by improved sanitation, are pushing these mud hamlets outward in all directions, but especially toward the east. . . . They have given rise to the reproach that Calcutta, while a city of palaces in front, is one of pig styes in the rear." First among the public buildings is old Government House, the vice regal residence, situated, as already mentioned, on the Esplanade. It was built in 1799-1804, and with its grounds occupies six acres. Four wings extend toward the four points of the compass from a central mass which is crowned with a dome and approach from the north by a splendid flight of steps. The High Court, the town-hall, the Bank .of Bengal, the currency office, post-office, etc., are among the other pub lic buildings in this locality, while further to the north stands the mint, near the banks of the Hooghly. The chief of the Anglican churches in Calcutta is the cathedral of Saint Paul's, at the southeastern corner of the Mai den, a building in the "Indo-Gothic" style, with a tower and spire 201 feet high, consecrated in 1847. Saint John's Church, or the old ca thedral, is another important church, in the graveyard surrounding which is the tomb of Job Charnock, founder of Calcutta. The chief Presbyterian church is Saint Andrew's, or the Scotch Kirk, a handsome Grecian building with a spire. The Roman Catholics have a cathe dral and several other churches; and there are also places of worship for Greeks, Parsees and Hebrews. Hindu temples are numerous but uninteresting; among the Mohammedan mosques the only one of note is that which was built and endowed by Prince Ghulam Moham med, son of Tippoo Sultan. The religious, edu cational and benevolent institutions are numer ous. Various missionary and other religious bodies, British, European and American, are well represented. There are four government colleges—the Presidency College, the Sanskrit College, the Mohammedan College and the Bethune Girls' School. There are five colleges mainly supported by missionary efforts; besides several others, some of them under native man agement. Other educational institutions in cluck Calcutta Medical College, a government school of art, Campbell Vernacular Medical School and a school of engineering at Howrah, on the western side of the river. Besides these there is the Calcutta University, an examining and degree-conferring institution. Among the hospitals are the Medical College Hospital, the General Hospital, the Mayo Hospital (for na tives), and the Eden Hospital for women and children. The Martiniere (so named from its
founder, General Martin, a Frenchman in the East India Company's service) is an important institution for the board and education of in digest Christian children. Elementary and other schools are increasing in numbers. The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir W. ,Jones m 1784 for the study of the languages, litera ture and antiquities of Asia. The Botanic Gar den occupies a large area. n the right bank of the river. Calcutta possesses a number of public monuments, most of them in or about the Maidan. Several governors-general are thus commemorated, as also Sir David Ochter lony and Sir James Outram, °the Bayard of the East," of whom there is an admirable equestrian statue by Foley. The city is lighted partly by gas, partly by electricity. There is an extensive system of tramways. The sanitation of Cal cutta, though vastly improved in recent years, is still defective, more especially in the sub urban districts, where the bastis or native huts are so numerous. The Calcutta Improvement Commission was formed in 1912 to aid in town planning and in the improvement of public health. One difficulty in the way is the site of the city itself, which is practically a dead level. An act which came into force in 1889 brought a large additional area under the municipal as and since then much has been done in the way of drainage, opening up of arterial streets, alignment of roads, etc. The water supply has also been greatly increased, and fil tered water from the Hooghly (there is a pump ing station at Palta, 16 miles above Calcutta) is now available at the daily rate of 36 gallons per head in the city, and over 15 in the suburbs, be sides a supply of unfiltered waterfor washing and other purposes. The mortality through out the entire municipality in 1912 was 28.1 per 1,000, a great improvement on former times, and the birth-rate 21.06 per 1,000. The death rate is far higher among the natives than i among the Europeans, and in the native quar ters cholera is said to be seldom absent. The healthiest months are July and August, which form part of the season of rains; the unhealthi est are November, December and January. The mean temperature is about 79°, the average rainfall a little over 66 inches. The port of Calcutta extends for about 10 miles along the river, and is under the management of a body of commissioners. Opposite the city it is crossed by a great pontoon bridge, which gives communication with Howrah for vehicles and foot passengers, and can be opened at one point to let vessels pass up or down. It cost $1,100,000. Besides the accommodation for shipping furnished by the river, there are also several docks. The trade is very large, Cal cutta being the commercial centre of India. There is a very extensive inland trade by the Ganges and its connections, as also by rail ways (the chief of which start from Howrah), while almost the whole foreign trade of this part of India is monopolized by Calcutta. In 1913-14 the gross tonnage of the shipping in ward and outward was over 6,926,817 tons; the total of exports and imports at the wet docks was about 4,800,000 tons. The total over-seas trade in merchandise during the fiscal year ended 31 March 1916, amounted to $452,786, 505. The year's imports were valued at $167, 666,650 and the exports at $285,119,855. The chief exports are opium,jute and jute goods, tea, grain and pulse, oilseeds, raw cotton, indigo, hides and skins, silk and silk goods, seeds, coal and coke, raw hemp, mica, etc. The most important imports are cotton goods, sugar, metals, machinery, oils, railway plant and roll ing stock, cutlery, salt and spices. The jute manufacture is extensively carried on, also that of cottons.
The first factory in Bengal of the East India Company, which was incorporated by royal charter in the year 1600, was established at Hooghly, 28 miles farther up the river, in 1644. Job Charnock, the company's agent, was driven out of this settlement in 1686, and the English then occupied part of the present site of Calcutta, which in 1689-90 became the head quarters of the commercial establishments of the company in Bengal. In 1700 the company acquired from Prince Azim, son of the Em peror Aurungzebe, the three villages of Suta nati, Kalikata (Calcutta) and Govindpore, for an annual rent of 1,195 rupees, and these formed the nucleus of the present city. The original Fort William, named after William III, was built in 1696, on a site considerably to the north of the present fort. Calcutta was taken and plundered by Suraj-ud-Dowlah in .1756, and retaken by Lord Clive in 1757. To the capture by Suraj-ud-Dowlah belongs the episode of the °Black Hole" (q.v.) of Cal cutta. When the British recovered possession much of the town was in ruins and had to be rebuilt, so that it may be said to date only from 1757. Clive built the new Fort William on the site of Govindpore, between 1757 and 1773. In 1773 Calcutta became the seat of Brit ish government for the whole of India, and so continued until 1911, when announcement was made, for political and climatic reasons, of a change of capital to the city of Delhi, the an cient seat of the Mogul empire. Pop. (1911) 896,067.