Factory Records: Calcutta

Diaries and consultations, 1690-1708 Copies of letters despatched, 1690-1705 Copies of letters received, 1690-1704

The 1680s saw an outbreak of hostilities between the Company factors in Bengal and the Mogul emperor, Aurangzeb. As a result, the emperor confiscated all the Company's factories in his dominions. The agent at Hugli, Job Charnock, retired 26 miles down the Hoogly river to Sutanati and re-established his factory there. The new settlement gradually extended to Kalikata (Calcutta) and Govindpur; in 1689 it was decided to make Calcutta the headquarters of the Company's Bengal factories. The settlement was chosen because it was at the highest point of the river that sea-going vessels could reach. In 1696 the Company was given permission to fortify the settlement and in 1698 it obtained the right to purchase the towns of Sutanati, Govindpur and Calcutta. Fort William was completed in 1702 and the settlement grew rapidly. In 1707 it was raised to the status of presidency. The records in this sub-series deal only with this early period of Calcutta's history. The town subsequently became famous when its capture by the Nawab of Bengal in 1756 set in train the events that led to the Company's new role as territorial administrator in India.

Unrestricted

See also Miscellaneous Factory Records (G/40/9, 14, 15) The diaries and consultations continue in the Bengal General Proceedings (P)