Hooghly district, with its headquarters
located at Chinsurah town, is within the Bardhaman Division of West
Bengal. The name "Hooghly" (or Hugli) is derived probably from the
`Hogla`, a tall reed, which grows in abundance on the riverbanks and in
the marshy lowlands. A fertile, low-lying alluvial tract, the district
is bounded by Bardhaman in the north, river Hooghly (Bhagirathi) on the
east and by Bankura and Medinipur on the north-west and south-west
respectively. The Damodar, Dwarakeswar and Rupnarayan are the other
important rivers in the district.
The earliest inhabitants of this region were tribes of fishermen and
boatmen, a fact borne out by the predominance of the Kaibarta and Bagdi
castes in the district today. In ancient times, this region was probably
a part of the Suhma Kingdom, mentioned in the great Indian epic,
Mahabharata. (In later eras, the name Suhma became synonymous with
southern Rarh.) By the 3rd century B.C.E, the territory was annexed to
the vast Mauryan empire and over the next 1600 years, it was occupied by
a succession of various rulers including the Guptas, king Shasanka of
Gour, emperor Harshavardhan, the rulers of the Ganga dynasty of Kalinga
and the Sena kings of Bengal until it eventually fell to Muslim rule at
the end of the 13th century.
It was during Muslim rule that the port town of Satgaon (Saptagram) came
into prominence. It became the seat of the local Muslim governors and
sea trade flourished. The maritime activity at this time finds mention
in medieval Bengali literature. The various versions of the Manasha
Mangal Kavya, written around the late 15th century, all speak of a
seafaring merchant, Chand Sadagar, who had sailed to Saptagram. Between
1520 and 1540, the great Vaisnav saint and disciple of Sri Chaitanya,
Nityananda lived in Saptagram. Saptagram is now in ruins but the
survival of the traditional boat-making centre at neighbouring Balagarh
is reminiscent of the once thriving riverine trade.
The 16th century saw the beginning of European settlements on the banks
of the Hooghly. For the next few centuries, the district witnessed the
rise and fall of European powers battling for monopoly in trade and
power. The Portuguese were the first to arrive in Bengal in 1535. They
began trade at Satgaon and in 1575, with the permission of the Mughal
emperor Akbar, they established a settlement at nearby Hooghly. With the
silting of the Saraswati river, on whose banks Satgaon stood, trade
here declined and by the late 16th century CE, Hooghly had supplanted
Satgaon as the more important commercial centre. By the end of the
century, both port towns were mainly occupied by the Portuguese
(Firinghees), with Hooghly (Ogouli, Ugolim), being in the sole
possession of the settlers.
The end of the 16th century also saw many
Portuguese degenerate into pirates and slave dealers. This incurred the
wrath of Emperor Shah Jahan, who laid siege on the settlers in 1632 and
carried off thousands of prisoners. However, the Christians among the
prisoners were allowed to return to Bengal and settle at Bandel, near
Hooghly. But the Portuguese could not regain the monopoly in commerce
that they had enjoyed so far. There was now competition from the Dutch
(who had already settled at Chinsurah) and later the British. In the
first half of the 18th century arrived the French, Danes, Prussians and
the Flemish – most of whom settled and built kothees (factories) along
the banks of the Hooghly. The French settlement was at Chandernagore
(Chandannagar) which remained under their control from 1696 till 1950
while the Danish settled at Serampur (Srirampur), which they called
Frederiksnagore, between 1755 and 1845.
The Portuguese legacy however remains, not only in the Bandel church
they rebuilt in 1660, but also in their language. Many Portuguese words
like chabi, balti, perek, alpin have come into the Bengali vocabulary.
The British East India Company built their first factory at Hooghly in
1651 and settled here, but increasing hostilities with the Nawab
eventually led them, under Job Charnock, to abandon the town and move
downriver to Sutanuti in 1686. The district (as part of the Bardhaman
zamindari) along with other Bengal zamindaris was finally ceded to the
British by the Nawab of Bengal Mir Kasim in 1760, after the Battle of
Plassey.
In 1795, for administrative purposes, Hooghly district was detached from
Bardhaman division and given separate magisterial charge and in 1822,
the Hooghly collectorate was separated from Bardhaman. In 1843, Howrah
district, which till now was under Hooghly’s judicial control, was
separated from Hooghly.
As a result of European presence, urban conditions prevailed along the
right bank of the Hooghly from very early on, while the rural hinterland
has long been famous for its fertility. Agricultural progress and
industrial development have made Hooghly one of the most prosperous and
economically developed districts of West Bengal after independence.
About 70% of the population derives their living from the agriculture
while at the same time, the district is an important industrial hub of
West Bengal. Against a backdrop of burgeoning urbanization, the district
is home to farmers, weavers, boat makers, craftsmen and artisans.
Fishing too is an important industry here.
Among the textile-based crafts that have been prevalent in the district
for many centuries are wooden block printing on cotton and silk at
Srirampur and
chikon embroidery. There is a rich tradition of
weaving handloom cotton textiles in Hooghly with Dhaniakhali, Srirampur,
Antpur, Haripal, Begumpur and Farasdanga (another name for
Chandannagar) being important centres.
According to the Census of 2011, Hooghly district has a total population
of 58,41,515; 68.81% of which lives in the rural areas. A major
portion of this population is the result of migration. With a history of
colonial rule, education has been part of the cultural ethos of this
district. This is reflected in the high literacy rate of the district.
In fact, literacy among the Scheduled Castes (59.04 %) is more than the
state average.
Hooghly is the birth-place of Sri Ramakrishna and Raja Rammohan Roy and
the primary working place of Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar and Rev. William
Carey, who established the first printing press in the 19th century
here. The famous Bengali writer, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, Ramnidhi
Gupta alias Nidhi Babu and the Kobial, Anthony Firinghee were also born
here.
The tribal population, the bulk of whose ancestors were immigrants,
celebrate their various festivals with their colourful and rhythmic
songs and dances. Folk performing arts are rare among the non-tribals in
Hooghly. A few performers struggle to keep the near extinct
Leto folk drama form alive. There are, however, many religious festivals that are celebrated in the district –
Jagaddhatri Puja and the over 600-year-old Rathajatra (chariot festival of Lord Jagannath) of Mahesh, being the most famous.
Probably due to the ravages of rivers and perhaps the iconoclastic zeal
of the Muslim rulers, Hindu relics are few in number and not of any
great age. Recent remains include the Shiva temple at Tarakeswar and the
Sakta temple of Hansheswari at Bansberia. Among other places of
interest are the 19th century Imambara built by Haji Mohammad Mohsin,
the 14th century mosque at Furfurah Sharif, the remnants of the Fort
Gustavus Church in the Dutch settlement at Chinsurah, the Bandel church
of the Portuguese, and of course the French city of Chandannagar, for
its architecture.