Kolkata's old name was Calcutta, an Anglicized version of the original Bengali name Kalikata, one of three villages (with Sutanuti and Gobindapur) that formed the city, with origins potentially linked to the goddess Kali or local industry. The name change from Calcutta to Kolkata officially occurred in 2001, reflecting a movement to embrace its Bengali roots and shed colonial history.
Later, Madras (the capital of Tamil Nadu) was officially renamed Chennai in 1996. The name of Calcutta, which was amongst the first cities to be settled by the British, was changed to Kolkata (reflecting the local Bengali pronunciation) in 2001.
Although the city's name has always been pronounced Kolkata or Kôlikata in Bengali, the anglicised form Calcutta was the official name until 2001, when it was changed to Kolkata in order to match Bengali pronunciation.
KOLKATA: In 2001, just after then Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced that the state capital `Calcutta' would be officially renamed `Kolkata', author Mahasveta Devi had welcomed the change.
HISTORY OF KOLKATA || HOW DO KOLKATA GOT IT'S NAME || MUST WATCH
Why is Kolkata called Dead city?
After independence, civil strife and communist rule saw Kolkata lose pace to other Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. In 1985 the prime minister Rajiv Ghandhi described Kolkata as a “dying” city.
In 1996, in keeping with the recent nationwide practice of Indianizing city names, the Government of Tamil Nadu, then represented by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, renamed the city to Chennai.
Reference no. The three villages that predated Calcutta were ruled by the Nawab of Bengal under Mughal suzerainty. After the Nawab granted the East India Company a trading license in 1690, the area was developed by the Company into Fort William.
The Maharashtra government officially changed the name from “Bombay” to “Mumbai” on 4 March 1995. The name Mumbai was chosen to honor Mumbadevi, the patron goddess of the Koli community, the city's original inhabitants.
In 2006, the Karnataka government decided to restore the city's original name. On November 1, 2014, Bangalore was officially renamed Bengaluru. The change was made to reflect the true Kannada heritage of the city.
Kolkata and Kunming have some similarities, and not just the first alphabets of their nomenclatures. While Kolkata is the commercial, education and cultural hub of eastern India, Kunming enjoys the same position in South-West China. Kunming, like Kolkata, is an important trade centre.
Kolkata earned its nickname 'The Black City' due to its historical association with the coal trade and the pervasive soot that filled the air, impacting both its landscape and the lives of its inhabitants. This moniker took root during the significant industrial development of the 19th century.
For years, the British had ruled from Calcutta, the commercial hub of India, which the East India Company, in the 18th century, had developed into a colonial city. Hardinge argued that the rising importance of the elected legislative bodies meant that Britain needed to find a more centrally located capital.
Kalikata was one of the three villages which were merged to form the city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) in India. The other two villages were Gobindapur and Sutanuti.
Mumbai (/mʊmˈbaɪ/ muum-BY; Marathi: Mumbaī, pronounced [ˈmumbəi]), also known as Bombay (/bɒmˈbeɪ/ bom-BAY; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra.
"Venkatanarasimharaju's city". Note: The longest one-word placename in India. "Upper end of throat-cut valley" ("hollow" may be more accurate than "valley").
1. Mumbai – The City That Builds Dreams and Defines Modern India. Mumbai stands as India's most progressive metropolitan hub. The city reflects ambition, speed, growth, innovation.
During the British Raj, until 1911, Calcutta was the capital of India. By the latter half of the 19th century, Shimla had become the summer capital. King George V proclaimed the transfer of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi at the climax of the 1911 Delhi Durbar on 12 December 1911.
On 14 January 1969, Madras state was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning "Tamil country". In 1965, agitations against the imposition of Hindi and in support of continuing English as a medium of communication arose which eventually led to English being retained as an official language of India alongside Hindi.
This day commemorates the historic resolution passed by Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on July 18, 1967, which officially renamed Madras State as Tamil Nadu.
