In 1639, the English East India Company obtained a grant of land and set up a trading post on the south-eastern coast, which grew into the city of Madras, at:

In 1639, the English East India Company obtained a grant of a strip of land at Madraspatnam, on the Coromandel coast, and set up a trading post there, which grew into the city of Madras (now Chennai).

How it happened:

• Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, officials of the Company, obtained the grant from the local Nayaka chiefs (the Damarla brothers, who were subordinates of the Vijayanagara ruler).
• The Company built Fort St George there, completed around 1644, which became its main base on the east coast.
• A town grew around the fort, with a "White Town" for Europeans and a "Black Town" for Indians.

NCERT on Madras:

• NCERT notes that Madras, Calcutta and Bombay grew from fishing and weaving villages into important centres of trade and administration under the English.
• NCERT explains that Fort St George became the nucleus of the White Town, where most of the Europeans lived.
• The walls and bastions of the fort made it a separate enclosure.
• Outside the fort, the Black Town was laid out, with temples, bazaars and houses of Indian merchants and workers.
• Weavers, artisans and other workers came to settle in Madras.

The name:

• The origin of the name "Madras" is debated; it may come from "Madraspatnam" or "Madrasapattinam", the name of the fishing village.
• In 1996, the city was officially renamed Chennai, from "Chennapatnam", the name of a nearby town.

Importance:

• Madras became the headquarters of the Madras Presidency.
• Fort St George today houses the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and the Secretariat.
• St Mary's Church inside the fort (1680) is the oldest Anglican church in Asia.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Masulipatnam, Pulicat and Nagapattinam were other ports on the east coast.