History of Chennai

Chennai  or Madras, as it was originally called, is the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Tamil Nadu is located on the Eastern or the Coramandel coast of India. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan  and the fifth most populous city of India.

Chennai was initially called as Chennapattinam which grew around the Fort St eorge  which was the headquarters of  the East India Company. It is said that Chennapattinam was named after Damarla Chennappa, the Nayaka of Kalahasthi from whom the British got the land from. There is amnother account which says that the area was amed after Chenna Kesava Perumal temple.

Madarasapattinam was a fishing village which was located to the north of the Fort St George.  The name is said to have origins in the Portuguese language.  It is widely believed that Madras was named by the British after they combined both Madarasapattinam and the Chennapattinam to make them one and thus Madras was born.

History of Madras / Chennai

The area  which houses Madras / chennai at present has seen many south indian dynasties, like Pallavas, Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas and the Vijayanagar. In the olden days it is said that Mylapore has been a port of the Pallavan Kingdom. The Portuguese built the Port and named it SaoThome , the present Santhome area, after the Christian Apostle Saint Thomas.  The Dutch also established themselves nearby in the Pulicat area.

In the year 1639, the East India Company bought some land in the coromandel coast to build a factory and the warehouse , within one year they started building the Fort St George. This Fort St George became the nucleus of the growing city . At present the fort houses the Assembly of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

The Fort was captured and plundered by the French in the 18th century but was regained by the East india company.  They fortified the wall  to withstand the attacks from the French as well as Hyder Ali, who was the sultan of Mysore at the time. By the end of 18th century the British had taken over most of Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh and Karnataka  and established Madras Presidency for which Madras city was the headquarters.

In the 19th century Madras was connected with Bombay and Calcutta through the Railway networks.  Madras has the distinction of being attacked by the Central powers in the first world war, as they raided the Indian Ocean shipping lanes.

In 1947 after India got independence Madras became the capital city of the Madras state  and later in 1969  the state was renamed as Tamil Nadu.  Then the  name of the capital city Madras was also changed to Chennai in the year 1996.