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тАв Cities had a key role in the economic system of empires. Coastal cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai were favoured. From here primary commodities could be easily exported and manufactured goods could be cheaply imported.
тАв Colonial cities were the prime link between the economic centre or core in Britain and periphery or margins in colonised India. Cities in this sense were the concrete expression of global capitalism.
тАв Calcutta exported jute to Dundee while Madras sent coffee, sugar, indigo dyes and cotton to Britain.
тАв Urbanisation in the colonial period saw the decline of some earlier urban centres and the emergence of new colonial cities. Kolkata was one of the first of such cities.
тАв In 1690, an English merchant named Job Charnock arranged to lease three villages (named Kolkata, Gobindapur, and Sutanuti) by the river Hugli in order to set up a trading post.
тАв In 1698, Fort William was established by the river for defensive purposes, and a large open area was cleared around the fort for military engagements. The fort and the open area (called Maidan) formed the core of the city that emerged rather rapidly.