17571757–1911 · Kolkata (Calcutta)

Plassey and Calcutta, capital of British India

Aquatint of the East India Company's Writers' Buildings in Calcutta, with Holwell's obelisk in front — Archival image: Thomas Daniell and William Daniell. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Robert Clive's victory at Plassey in 1757 made the East India Company masters of Bengal, and from 1772 Calcutta was the seat of British government in India. Writers' Building, Government House and the Maidan grew around the new Fort William, and the city became the centre of the Bengal Renaissance. The capital moved to Delhi in 1911; the Victoria Memorial opened ten years later.

Sites

Site 1: BBD Bagh (Dalhousie Square) and Writers' BuildingCompany-era square ringed by the red-brick secretariat and colonial offices.Map ↗
Site 2: St John's Church1787 church with Job Charnock's mausoleum and the Black Hole memorial.Map ↗
Site 3: Victoria MemorialWhite marble memorial hall with galleries on the city's colonial history.Map ↗
Site 4: Plassey battlefield memorial, PalashiObelisk in fields by the Bhagirathi river, about four hours north.Map ↗

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