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Question 52 of 73 · Arrival of Europeans & Expansion of British Rule
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The city of Calcutta (Kolkata) grew from three villages acquired by the English East India Company in 1698. These villages were:

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Answer: Option B — Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur

Detailed Solution

The city of Calcutta (Kolkata) grew from three villages: Sutanuti, Kalikata (Kalikota) and Gobindapur, which the English East India Company acquired in 1698.

How Calcutta was founded:

Job Charnock, an agent of the English East India Company, set up a trading settlement at Sutanuti on the Hugli river in 1690, after the Company's earlier conflicts with the Mughals.

In 1698, the Company obtained the zamindari (revenue rights) of the three villages of Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur from the local zamindars (the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family), with the permission of the Mughal governor, Prince Azim-ush-Shan.

The Company built a fort, named Fort William, after King William III.

The settlement grew rapidly into a major trading centre and city.

NCERT on Calcutta:

  • NCERT notes that Calcutta, like Madras and Bombay, grew from fishing and weaving villages into important colonial cities.
  • The British developed these cities as centres of trade, administration and power.

The growth of Calcutta:

  • It became the headquarters of the Bengal Presidency.
  • After Plassey (1757), a new Fort William was built, and the area around it (the Maidan) was cleared.
  • From 1773, Calcutta was the capital of British India, until the capital was moved to Delhi in the 20th century.
  • It became a major centre of education, culture, trade and the national movement.

The name:

  • In 2001, the name of the city was officially changed from Calcutta to Kolkata.
  • The name is believed to come from "Kalikata" (possibly linked with the goddess Kali and the Kalighat temple).

Debate on the founder:

In 2003, the Calcutta High Court ruled that Job Charnock should not be regarded as the founder of the city, as settlements existed there earlier; the court did not accept 24 August 1690 as the city's foundation date.

Other colonial cities:

Bombay grew from seven islands, including Colaba, Mahim and others.

Madras grew from villages such as Mylapore, Triplicane and Egmore, around Fort St. George.

Good to know

The other sets of names belong to Bombay, Madras and the European settlements on the Hugli.

Quick tip

Remember: Calcutta = three villages Sutanuti, Kalikata and Gobindapur (acquired 1698); Job Charnock's settlement at Sutanuti (1690); Fort William named after William III.

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Arrival of Europeans & Expansion of British Rule — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Arrival of Europeans & Expansion of British Rule, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers the arrival of the Portuguese, Dutch, English, Danes and French in India, the growth of the East India Company, and the battles, wars and treaties through which British power expanded, including the Battles of Plassey and Buxar, the Anglo-Mysore, Anglo-Maratha and Anglo-Sikh wars, and policies such as subsidiary alliance and the doctrine of lapse. Typical questions ask which battle was fought in which year and between whom, which treaty ended which war, and which Governor-General introduced a policy. For example, the Battle of Plassey (1757) was fought between Robert Clive and Siraj-ud-Daulah, and the Treaty of Allahabad (1765) gave the Company the diwani of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Practise the arrival of Europeans and expansion of British rule questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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