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=Pulicat Town, 1908=

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This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
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[[Category:India|P]]
[[Category:Places|P]]
''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.