CChronica Maps

Kolkata: History, Former Names & Timeline

East India Company trading post on the Hooghly, capital of British India until 1911.

Map showing Kolkata in 1700Kolkata
Border map for 1700. See the world in 1700.

Explore Kolkata in the interactive map

Former names of Kolkata

FromNameNote
1690Calcutta
2001Kolkata

Timeline of Kolkata

YearEvent
1690Job Charnock founds a trading post
1756The Nawab of Bengal takes Calcutta (the "Black Hole" incident)
1772Becomes the seat of British rule in India
1911The capital moves to Delhi

Who ruled Kolkata

Derived from the border maps; each row runs until the next recorded border change.

PeriodState
500 BC–401 BCHindu kingdoms
400 BC–301 BCMagadha
300 BC–2 BCMauryan Empire
1 BC–199Hindu kingdoms
200–299Magadha
300–599Gupta Empire
600–699Shaskanka
700–1199Palas
1200–1299Rajput kingdoms
1300–1491Sultanate of Delhi
1492–1649Bengal
1650–1782Mughal Empire
1783–1799Bengal
1800–1814Bundelkhand
1815–1879British East India Company
1880–1944British Raj
1945–todayIndia

Battles and sites near Kolkata

Nearby cities