Chennai , formerly Madras, City (pop., 2001: city, 4,343,645; metro. area, 6,560,242), capital of Tamil Nadu state, southern India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. Founded in 1639 by the British East India Company as a fort and trading post, it was known as Fort St. George and was used as a base for the company’s expansion in southern India. The city of St. Thomé, established by the Portuguese in the 16th century, was ceded to the British in 1749 and incorporated into it. The English made the city their administrative and commercial capital c. 1800. It is an industrial centre and the site of numerous educational and cultural institutions. It is traditionally considered the burial place of St. Thomas the Apostle.
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Tamil Nadu Summary
Tamil Nadu, state of India, located in the extreme south of the subcontinent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the east and south and by the states of Kerala to the west, Karnataka (formerly Mysore) to the northwest, and Andhra Pradesh to the north. Enclosed by Tamil Nadu along the
India Summary
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Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley Summary
Richard Colley Wellesley, Marquess Wellesley British statesman and government official. Wellesley, as governor of Madras (now Chennai) and governor-general of Bengal (both 1797–1805), greatly enlarged the British Empire in India and, as lord lieutenant of Ireland (1821–28, 1833–34), attempted to
Lord William Bentinck Summary
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