French Occupation of Madras | Fort St George, Chennai

French Occupation of Madras | Fort St George, Chennai

Madras was the first stronghold of the British in India and the neighboring kichuri was the French headquarters but did you know that for 3 years between 1746 and 1749 Madras was ruled by the French funny thing is that the British never really want it back from them in

1746 a French naval Commander attacked Madras he defeated the British and brought Madras under French rule but by then England and France had already been fighting each other for a long time in Europe so in 1749 in a small German town called a Chappel England and France

Signed a treaty they agreed to exchange certain territories they had captured from each other and just like that Madras came back to the British they didn’t even have to fire a shot but the French occupation left a visible mark on the city’s landscape the British realized that the French were able to

Get so close to their fort by sneaking in through black town the local settlement that had come up just outside the fort walls so after the French left the British cleared a large stretch of that land there to create a clear line of sight boundary markers were installed

To Mark the edge of the White Town only one of those markers survives today and you can see that at Paris Corner much later in the 1890s when the French were no longer a threat The Madras High Court complex came up on that same stretch of Land

Did you know that Madras was under French rule for three years? The French seized the city from the British in 1746. What sign of this skirmish exists in the city today, and what story does it have to tell?

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ1PiHUsO5hXQLUucLFQsmw
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3njZ48-FDxLleBYaP0SZIg

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Image attributions-

1. Madras Map: By W. H. Allen and Co. – Pope, G. U. (1880), Text-book of Indian History: Geographical Notes, Genealogical Tables, Examination Questions, London: W. H. Allen & Co. Pp. vii, 574, 16 maps, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21849914
2. Fort St. George: By Jan Van Ryne (1712–60); Publisher: Robert Sayer – Old source New source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=300161
3. A View of Pondicherry: By Huquier, Jacques-Gabriel (1730-1805). Auteur du texte – Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=121160740
4. Admiral Mahe de La Bourdonnais: Par Charles Giron — musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, Domaine public, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16980288
5. Siege of Madras: By Nicolas Ozanne – wwart.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10435777
6. Surrender of Madras: By Jacques Francois Joseph Swebach-Desfointaines, 1769-1823 – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7014536
7. Battle of Fontenoy: By http://fr.muzeo.com/reproduction-oeuvre/fontenoy-1745-le-salut-avant-la-bataille/detaille-jean-baptiste-edouard, http://fr.muzeo.com/sites/default/files/styles/image_basse_def/public/oeuvres/peinture/moderne/fontenoy_1745_le_salut_avant85583.jpg?itok=eO4fZrj2 image, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8725071
8. Aachen: By Carschten, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15889617
9. Treaty of Peace: By France et Secrétariat d'Etat aux affaires étrangères (1589-1791) – BnF-Gallica, – (FR-BnF 33705660q), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93092827
10. Esplanade Road, Chennai: A view of Parry’s Corner – By The Hindu Archives
11. 1746 Map of Madras: By Unknown author – http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00maplinks/mughal/bellinmadras/bellinmadras.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47386789
12. Map of Madras Presidecy: By J. G. Bartholomew, Edinburgh – Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume 26, Atlas, Oxford University Press. 1908., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14183537
13. A view of the Esplanade: By Unknown author – http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1600_1699/madras/buildings/buildings.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124747870
14. Parry’s Corner: By The Hindu Archives
15. Madras High Court: By TuckDB – https://tuckdbpostcards.org/items/49032, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117024246
16. Madras High Court: By Yoga Balaji – From a Digital Camera (Nikon), CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11200059