Chennai History

Pre-20th Century History

While the region around Chennai had been ruled by various South Indian kingdoms, notably the Pallava, the Chola, the Pandya, and Vijaynagar empires, the earliest settlers of Chennai are said to be the Portuguese who came here in the 1500s. However, the city as it exists today first came into being in the 1630s when it was selected as a trading centre for the East India Company. The name Madras was derived from the name 'Madraspatnam', the then existing name of the locality chosen by the British for a permanent settlement in 1639. However locals referred to the town as Chennapatnam or Chennapuri. A year later, the British built Fort St George, which became the administrative base for the new colonial city. In In 1746, Fort St George and Madras were captured by the French under General La Bourdonnais, the Governor of Mauritius, but the British would regain control of the city in 1749 through the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. By the late 18th century, having survived consequent attempts at invasion by the French and Hyder Ali, the Sultan of Mysore, the British established the Madras Presidency covering most of the region around Tamil Nadu, with Madras as its capital. The British developed Madras as an important administrative and naval base and an important trade centre.

Modern History

During World War I, Madras was the only Indian city to be attacked by the Central Powers when an oil depot was shelled by a German light cruiser. After India gained Independence in 1947, Madras became the capital of Madras state, and when the states were reorganized on a linguistic basis in 1956, it became the capital of Tamil Nadu. The city was the centre of the North-South divide over Hindi being the national language of the nation and from 1965 to 1967, Madras was an important base for anti-Hindi agitations in Tamil Nadu. In 1984, 33 people were killed by a bomb planted by the Tamil Eelam Army at the airport following ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and following the assassination of thirteen members of the Sri Lankan separatist group EPRLF. Political violence continued over the years with two Indian civilians killed by the rival LTTE in 1991. In August 1996, the city was renamed Chennai as the name Madras was perceived to be of Portuguese origin.

Recent History

Today, Chennai is a large commercial and industrial centre, and is the automobile capital of India. Around forty percent of the automobile industry operates from here and most of the nation s vehicles are manufactured here. Chennai has also become a major centre for outsourced jobs from the western world. The city is known for its sport venues and hosts India s only ATP event, the Chennai Open. In 2004, disaster struck Chennai when the Indian Ocean tsunami wreaked havoc over the shores of Marina Beach killing hundreds and permanently altering the shoreline. The city has taken some time to recover and is going back to normalcy.