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Image details : This coloured lithograph is taken from plate 3 of Sir Charles D'Oyly's 'Views of Calcutta and its Environs'. Garden Reach was a suburb of Calcutta where large 'garden houses' swept down to the river's edge, making an impressive view for travellers on their approach to the city. Shalimar, the domed building in the view, was the house of Colonel Robert Kyd, who founded Calcutta's Botanical Gardens in 1786. On the left is a dockyard begun in 1780 by Colonel Henry Watson and later acquired by Kyd's two sons, James and Alexander. Source : British Library

Thank you so much...

...This charming D'Oyly lithograph (above), showing all of the bustling activity upon the Hooghly, serves to provide something of the flavour of early 19th century Calcutta ~ a period of dramatic demographic and commercial expansion for the city. In an era in which we tend to think of global trade and multi-cultural urban landscapes as products of the modern world, the social and economic history of Calcutta is worthy of careful study. How much the population of Calcutta grew from its foundation in 1690 until about 1750 is a matter of some historical contention. Some estimates have suggested as many as 300,000 residents by that time ~ although such a large figure does not seem entirely credible ~ but modern reconstruction's still suggest a population in excess 120,000 people, while the much later, but officialy sanctioned 'Police Census' of 1837 records a figure of 229,561 (see breakdown below). Much of this population would have been temporary, or seasonal migrants but, even so, 18th century Calcutta was several times larger than any city in Britain other than London that had a population of 1.1 million in 1801 ~ while pre-industrial Birmingham, for example, contained only about 70,000 people in the same year. By 1793 'in its extent and in the number of its inhabitants Calcutta [was thought] inferior only to the first capitals of Europe'. The figures for the volume of Calcutta's seaborne trade are the most readily accessible and reliable indicators of the cities rapid rate of growth. In good years (ie. favourable winds) early in the 18th century the East India Company's Bengal exports ~ virtually all of which would have passed through Calcutta ~ were usually worth some £200,000 (roughly £15 million in modern terms). In the 1740s and 1750s they were generally worth more than £400,000 a year (£35 million), rising to over one million pounds by the 1770s (£65 million). The yearly average was £2.5 million by 1795 (£140 million) . By the end of the century Calcutta was attracting, on average, 130 British ships and 200 more from throughout Asia, every year ~ private trade exceeding 'Company' trade by 1800. Figures for exports by sea, of course, are only one indicator of economic activity, but taken with the estimates for population increase they indicate something of the quite astonishing pace of change during the first century of Calcutta's existence ~ from a rural backwater to a thriving metropolis. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Population of Calcutta by ethnicity/ religion ~ 1837 ( note the very cosmopolitan mix): Arabs ~ 351 Armenians ~ 636 Chinese ~ 362 British ~ 3138 Eurasians ~ 4746 French ~ 160 Hindus ~ 137,651 Jews ~ 307 ' Low Castes '~ 19,084 Muslims ~ 58,744 Portugese ~ 3190 ' Other ' ~ 1192 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOTAL : 229,651 * For these statistics and many, MANY more see : 'Calcutta in Urban History' by Dr Pradip Sinha (1978) & 'East Indian Fortunes: The British in Bengal in the Eighteenth Century' by PJ Marshall (1976)

Amazing to see 4 wheel carraiges, silk hats, pier and crane, and European sailing ships in Indian backgrop. Makes it real. Thanks for actively posting amazing things to this group!

Julian Craig : Most interesting note ! But I was intrigued by the fact that there were as many Portuguese as English in Calcutta at the time when this Census was taken...in a an essentially English dominated city. What could we read into this ?

RBSI ~ Re: The Portugese Community in Calcutta c.1837 It is important to keep in mind that Portugal had been the pioneering European nation in terms of colonial expansion into Asia... they had a presence on the Indian sub-continent a century or more before the British, French, Dutch et al... by the period in question Portugese influence had waned considerably but they remained a significant commercial power and a great deal of trade was conducted between various business interests in Calcutta and the Portugese colony at Macao on the Chinese mainland (it would not be until the 1840s that the British acquired their own port facilities at Hong Kong.) According to Geoffrey Moorhouse, in 1813 (the year that the E.I.C. lost its trading monopoly rights in India, largely under pressure from the British government and its desire to see 'free-trade' policies adopted internationally) of the 38 corporate managing houses established in Calcutta ( ie. the 'multi-national companies' of that time), 14 were Scottish owned, 10 English, 12 Armenian (a powerful lobby) and 2 Portugese. (See 'Calcutta',1971 p.60) Calcutta was a British 'dominated' city, as you say, in terms of whose hands the local civic authority and administration rested and who conducted the lion's share of the business that went on there ~ but Calcutta was also an international entrepot, it was not just a simple case of the British managing trade between India and Britain, trade patterns and ships flowed out of the Hooghly that reached all over Asia and beyond, under the flag of many different nations.

Julian Craig : I wonder if "Portuguese" refers rather to the indigent offspring of earlier generations of Portuguese merchant-adventurers and their native Bengali "bibis" or slaves? This group, who we might now call "Luso-Indians", may have been seen as distinct from the "Eurasians", who we might now call "Anglo-Indians". These "Portuguese were, at least nominally, Catholic, and also tended to inhabit separate areas of the city, i.e. Murgihatta, in the vacinity of the Portuguese Church. From the late 1750s onwards, it was to this community especially that the earliest missionaries to Bengal ministered. I wonder what you think? I find this topic very interesting.

... Mr Kiernander ~ I suspect, although I would not like to say for certain (and am by no strectch of the imagination an expert on this subject) , that you are probably correct... there would have been a ' drifting ' class of ' Portugese ' (and other European nationalities) that the British considered to be 'undesirable'... but, no doubt, could have found certain uses for ie. on the Calcutta dock-front, for some sort of fee, to help manning ships and off-loading goods and so on...

If you come across any more information please do pass is on. This is a very under-researched, though fascinating, period. Many thanks.

... Mr Kierander ~ The economic history of Calcutta in the 18/19th centuries is not "under-researched" in the least, and there is an extensive body of work available on the subject ~ although perhaps this is less apparent in India than it is Britain ? For a good 'starting point' I would refer you to the works of Professor of P.J. Marshall http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._J._Marshall The best ' social ' history of Calcutta during this period ( c.1780 - 1800) remains, of course : "Memoirs of William Hickey" edited by Alfred Spencer (1913)... many more 'modern' (abridged) versions are in circulation). Regards etc.

Very kind indeed, Mr. Craig!