Fast turning out to be the Detroit of India, for its rapid expansion of automobile manufacturing units and growing reputation of being the cultural capital, Chennai, turned 369.
CHENNAI: Fast turning out to be the Detroit of India, for its rapid expansion of automobile manufacturing units and growing reputation of being the cultural capital of the south, Chennai, the erstwhile Madras, turned 369 on Friday.
Befitting the historic occasion, Chennaities have drawn up a week-long birthday bash to celebrate the event.
On this day in 1639, British Administrator Francis Day is believed to have received the grant for construction of Madraspatam as it was referred then by the British. The deal was struck by Francis Day, his 'dubash' Beri Thimmappa and their superior Andrew Cogan, with the local Nayak rulers.
The original document relating to the grant of Fort ST George, a historic fort which acted for a while as the seat of power of the East India Company, was said to have been signed at Chandragiri fort in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.
Though several city historians brought out books on the history of the Southern metropolis, there was no unanimity about how the city was named Madras.
A Portuguese map of South India dated back to 1569, which was displayed at Clive Hall in Fort St George, did not mention Madras by name though it mentioned Milapur, present day Mylapore, famous for its temples
The Nayaks, who sold the land to British apparently wanted the city named after their father, Chennappanaikan from which the later version of Chennapattinam and the present version of Chennai is believed to have come about.
Out of the Fort, grew settlements around which villages came about and as time went by, they merged to form a single entity. The city which became prominent carrying the name of Madras was renamed as Chennai by the Karunanidhi government in 1997.
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