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Kolkata
- Where is Kolkata located in India?
- What is the significance of Kolkata in India's history?
- What river flows through Kolkata and why is it important?
- What languages are commonly spoken in Kolkata?
- What are some famous cultural festivals celebrated in Kolkata?
- How has colonial history influenced Kolkata's architecture?
- What are the main economic activities and industries in Kolkata?
- How does Kolkata contribute to India's cultural heritage?
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Kolkata, city, capital ofWest Bengal state, and former capital (1772–1911) of BritishIndia. It is one of India’s largest cities and one of its major ports. The city is centred on the east bank of theHugli (Hooghly) River, once the main channel of theGanges (Ganga) River, about 96 miles (154 km) upstream from the head of theBay of Bengal; there the port city developed as a point of transshipment from water to land and from river to sea. A city ofcommerce, transport, and manufacture, Kolkata is the dominant urban centre of eastern India.
The city’s former name, Calcutta, is an Anglicized version of theBengali name Kalikata. According to some, Kalikata is derived from the Bengali word Kalikshetra, meaning “Ground of (the goddess) Kali.” Some say the city’s name derives from the location of its original settlement on the bank of a canal (khal). A third opinion traces it to the Bengali words for lime (calcium oxide;kali) and burnt shell (kata), since the area was noted for the manufacture of shell lime. In 2001 the government of West Bengal officially changed the name of the city to Kolkata. Area city, 40 square miles (104 square km); urban agglom., 533 square miles (1,380 square km). Pop. (2011) 4,486,679; urban agglom., 14,057,991.
Character of the city
Fashioned by the colonial British in the manner of a grand European capital—yet now set in one of the poorest and most overpopulated regions of India—Kolkata has grown into a city of sharp contrasts and contradictions. Kolkata has had toassimilate strong European influences and overcome the limitations of its coloniallegacy in order to find its own unique identity. In the process it created an amalgam of East and West that found its expression in the life and works of the 19th-century Bengali elite and its most noteworthy figure, the poet and mysticRabindranath Tagore.
This large and vibrant Indian city thrives amid seemingly insurmountable economic, social, and political problems. Its citizens exhibit a great joie de vivre that is demonstrated in a penchant for art andculture and a high level ofintellectual vitality and political awareness. Crowds throng to Kolkata’s book fairs, art exhibitions, and concerts, and there is a lively trading of polemics on walls, which has led to Kolkata being dubbed the “city of posters.”
Yet for all of Kolkata’s vitality, many of the city’s residents live in some of the worst conditions, far removed from the culturalmilieu. The city’s energy nevertheless penetrates even to the poorest areas, as a large number of Kolkatans sincerely support the efforts of those who minister to the underprivileged. In short, Kolkata remains anenigma to many Indians as well as to foreigners. It continues to puzzle newcomers and to arouse anabidingnostalgia in the minds of those who have lived there.
Landscape
City site
The location of the city appears to have been originally selected partly because of its easily defensible position and partly because of its favourable trading location. The low, swampy, hot, and humid riverbank otherwise has little to recommend it. Its maximum elevation is about 30 feet (9 metres) abovesea level. Eastward from the river the land slopes away to marshes and swamplands. Similartopography on the west bank of the river has confined themetropolitan area largely to a strip 3 to 5 miles (5 to 8 km) wide on either bank of the river. Reclamation of the Salt Lake area on the northeastern fringe of the city, however, demonstrated that the spatial expansion of the city isfeasible, and further reclamation projects have been undertaken to the east, south, and west of the central area.
Suburbs of Kolkata includeHaora (Howrah) on the west bank,Baranagar to the north,South Dum Dum to the northeast, Behala to the south, and Garden Reach in the southwest. The whole urban complex is held together by close socioeconomic ties.
- Bengali:
- Kalikata
- Formerly:
- Calcutta
Climate
Kolkata has a subtropical climate with a seasonal regime ofmonsoons (rain-bearing winds). It is warm year-round, with average high temperatures ranging from about 80 °F (27 °C) in December and January to nearly 100 °F (38 °C) in April and May. The average annual rainfall is about 64 inches (1,625 mm). Most of this falls from June to September, the period of the monsoon. These months are very humid and sometimessultry. During October and November the rainfall dwindles. The winter months, from about the end of November to the end of February, are pleasant and rainless; fogs and mists occasionally reduce visibility in the early morning hours at this season, as also do thick blankets of smog in the evenings. The atmospheric pollution has greatly increased since the early 1950s. Factories, motor vehicles, and thermal-generating stations, which burn coal, are primary causes of this pollution, but monsoon winds act as cleansing agents by bringing in fresh air masses and also hastening the removal ofwater pollution.