Porto Novo
Porto Novo, 1908
Town and port in the Chidambaram taluk of South Arcot District, Madras, situated in 11degree 30' N. and 79degree 46' E., at the mouth of the Vellar river. Population (1901), 13,712, more than a fourth of whom are Musalmans. It is known in Tamil as Parangi- pettai, or ' Europeans' town, and is one of the two ports of the District.
The Portuguese founded here, during the latter part of the sixteenth
century, the first European settlement on the Coromandel coast within the limits of the Gingee country. An English settlement was established in 1683. In 1780 the town was plundered by Haidar All, and in July of the following year was fought in its vicinity the famous battle between Sir Eyre Coote and Haidar, in which the former won a signal victory. The battle was one of the most decisive of all those fought with Haidar's troops, for had the British retreated the whole Carnatic would have been at Haidar's mercy. The place was twice captured by the French and was finally restored to the British in 1785.
Porto Novo is a Union under the Local Boards Act and contains a salt factory. It had once a considerable trade with Ceylon and Achin, but this has declined. The value of the exports and imports in 1903-4 was Rs. 12,50,000 and Rs. 59,000 respectively. The only special manufacture is a species of mat made from the leaves of the screw-pine. The Porto Novo ironworks attained much notoriety in the early years of the last century. Their melancholy history is referred to in the account of SOUTH ARCOT DISTRICT.
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
