Pulicat Town
Pulicat Town, 1908
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.
Town in the Ponneri taluk of Chingleput District, Madras, situated in 13degree 25' N. and 80degree 19' E., on the southern extremity of an island which separates the sea from the PULICAT LAKE, 25 miles north of Madras city. Population (1901), 5,448. Pulicat was the site of the earliest settlement of the Dutch on the mainland of India. In 1609 they built a fort here and called it Geldria, and in 1619 the English obtained from the chiefs a permission to share in the pepper trade of Java. Later, it was the chief Dutch settlement on the Coro- mandel coast. It was taken by the English in 1781 ; restored in 1785 to Holland under the treaty of 1784, and again surrendered by the Dutch in 1795. In 1818 Pulicat was handed back to Holland by the East India Company under the Convention of the Allied Powers in 1814; in 1825 it was finally ceded to Great Britain by the treaty of March, 1824. The only relics of Dutch authority now remaining are the curious and elaborate tombs in their old cemetery, which are maintained at Government expense. The town was formerly a centre of trade with Penang and the Straits, but this has now ceased. It was also once a sanitarium much frequented by residents of Madras, but the prevalence of malarial fever put it out of favour. The place is now comparatively deserted, and is inhabited chiefly by the Muhammadan trading community of Labbais. The only trade now carried on is managed by these people. It consists chiefly of the export of woven cloth, dried fish, and prawns. The Hindus of the town are for the most part very poor and earn their livelihood by fishing and daily labour. The old Roman Catholic church here attracts large crowds from Madras and elsewhere to one of its annual feasts.
