Kolkata is a huge, sprawling city, divided into north and south, both spread along the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, which divides it from the vast suburb of Howrah, located on the western bank. Howrah is where you'll be deposited if you arrive by train; the main station is close to the Howrah Bridge, which connects with the city proper. Just east and south of Howrah Bridge are Kolkata's commercial and tourist hubs, centered around B.B.D. Bagh, still known by its colonial name, Dalhousie Square, and the long stretch of road once known as Chowringhee (now Jawaharlal Nehru Rd.) that runs southward, alongside the Maidan, Kolkata's vast urban park. Many visitors base themselves around Chowringhee; nearby Sudder Street teems with budget accommodations, while Park Street has plenty of boutiques and fine restaurants.

History

Prior to the establishment of British Calcutta, there were three pre-existing Bengali villages in the area: Suttanutte (or Sutani) and Gobindpore (or Govindapur, which formed the nucleus of Calcutta) plus one village by the name of Kalikata, the least important of the three. It seems likely that both ‘Calcutta’ (English) and ‘Kolkata’ (Bengali) were derived from ‘Kalikata’. Kolkata’s history is intimately related to the British East India Company, which first arrived in 1690, and to British India, of which Calcutta became the capital in 1772 and remained so until 1912. \

The Englishman, Job Charnock, is traditionally credited with founding the city, although this notion has been challenged in recent years, mostly by Bengalis, who prefer to believe that the original three villages represented a preexisting settlement - chiefly Gobindpore. The city was occupied by a large Bengali force in 1756, immediately after which occured the infamous Black Hole of Calcutta incident. Calcutta, briefly renamed Alinagur, was quickly retaken the following year by a small British force under Sir Robert Clive. In the nineteenth century Calcutta was the centre of activity in the early stages of the national movement of independence. In 1943 the city suffered an acute famine and its port was bombed by the Japanese. In 1946 there was an outbreak of violence between Hindus and Muslims, which claimed over 2,000 lives.