Calcutta Harbour And Native Boats, 1912 Postcard
This is an old postcard of Calcutta Harbour with native boats, the postal cancellation date is 1912. Shown is a huge steamer ship docked with native boats and men close-by. A number of giant harbour cranes are also visible for the loading and unloading of cargo from the ships. The River Hooghly is a distributary arm of the Ganga.
Calcutta, now Kolkata was a mere village when, in 1690, Job Charnock founded a settlement there (although this is disputed). Six years later built Fort William on the banks of the river. To protect the interests of the East India Company of which Job Charnock was the administrator. This was the first fort, a second one that would later be built close-by in 1781, which was also named Fort William.
Reference from an old book- “Hooghly was the first foothold of Europeans in Calcutta. It was purchased by the Dutch, and a trading colony was founded, in 1625, sixty-one years before Job Charnock founded Calcutta. And seventy-three years before the Danes began their settlement at Serampore (also Serampur). This town had many masters, one after another, Dutch, Portuguese, French, and finally the British.
Who now possess it by right of purchase. In Akbar’s days when the Moghul empire reached the zenith of its glory, the Dutch colony of Hooghly excluded the British from the trade of the Ganges and then began hostilities. Which only ended when the English finally purchased or captured the fortifications and trading posts of their competitors in India…”
Read also Fort William, India. See post Calcutta Hooghly River Street Vendor – Old Photo 1947.
Did you know- the much coveted muslin cloth once a luxury fabric was the lure for the Europeans to arrive in Bengal.
From the collection- 1964 M. Suriyamoorthy Charcoal Art Abstract (#13)., 1948 Mumbai Great Cyclone – Two Old Newspaper Pages., Bombay North And Parel – Vintage Map 1955
