While Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the largest of India’s cities and lies on the country’s western coast, Calcutta, which also has had an official name change to Kolkata in 2001, is the largest city on the East coast. Like much of the rest of the country, the name of the city expresses the diversity of its people. The new spelling is closer to the sound of the Bengali version, but it also is known by its Hindu name, Kalkatta.

Like other major metropolitan centers of India, the city encompasses more than 100 square miles and is home to millions of people. In fact, it is the third largest city in India behind Mumbai and Delhi. It also is the geographic match of the other two large cities with Mumbai on the west and Delhi in the central portion of the country. Also, where Mumbai is split up over seven islands and Delhi divided into three parts at the foot of the mountains, Kolkata is known for its bridges over the river Hoogli River, a tributary of the Ganges.

History

Like the rest of India, the region and Indian state of West Bengal, of which Kolkata is the capital, is known to have been inhabited dating back to the prehistoric period. Unlike India’s other largest cities, Kolkata was not a major population center until the days in British rule in the late 17th century. Like much of India, the city’s growth was tied to the British East India Company, which built a trading post and settlement called Fort William in the area in 1698.

While Delhi traditionally had been the seat of government for India during periods of local rule, the British made Calcutta its capital. Today, Kolkata has the distinction of being one of the centers and hotbeds of resistance to the British. The last independent regional governor fell to troops belonging to the East India Company in Bengal in the 18th century and it was the site of what is called the First Independence Movement of India in the 19th century.

Modern City

Today the city carries the nickname of the “city of palaces,” and its culture still owes a great deal to its growth during British rule. Until the 1980s, the city was the most populous in India and was known for its Baboo culture, a mix of English liberalism, European turn-of-the-century decadence, and Islamic conservatism.

In recent years it has been the political stronghold of the left wing, with a coalition of Communist and Marxist parties controlling the local government.