colonial &imperial cities

7/26/2019 colonial &imperial cities

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CALCUTTA- colonial

city


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Like madras & Bombay, Calcutta was an early Britishoutpost.

The principles of urban design were used herestemming from 18thcentury

Being the capital of British ndia in the 18th

century,Calcutta!s rapid growth shows how the colonialistcon"erted three small "illages of #utanuttee,$obindapur and %alikata.rigin' (nglish established a center for

trade and commerce in the easternbanks of Hoogly riverBattle of plassey was a turning point inthe growth of Calcutta.

(arly period' (nglish east ndia

company established tradingpost )ughals opposed Charnlock!s

location at ri"er port of *oogly. Calcutta was the best location

because if its protected water

bodies, *oogly ri"er on north,west and east.


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Calcutta a port town emerged into a commercial city in the late 18th &early 1th century.

-s the economic, social, cultural and political centre of British power,this market city emerged as the colonial metropolis.


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)aor change by abandoningthe old ri"er front andoccupying the new front facingthe land/south of (splanade0

public buildings were onnorthern side of esplanade.

(astward spread wasine"itable, as there weredrains and canals. Later thecanals were co"ered to makeroads, as they becameinsanitary.

Tanks' all suares in Calcuttahad a tank /to sol"e thedrainage problem0


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$rowing wealth led to transformation of a trading settlement into a2ourishing town.

The urban fabric represented the contradiction between the rulers and the

ruled. t came to be di"ided into a 3white town3 with tree4lined a"enues,spacious bungalows,

5nlike most other British colonial

ndian cities, Calcutta had no

orderly patterned streets or the

baroue4styled urban landscape6

its streets sprawled irregularly from

7ort illiam.

There was also no esplanade in

front of the fort but there e9isted a

large park double 7ort illiam in

scale


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Black city "s white cit

The beginning of the 1thcentury saw whiteCalcutta

decked in stuccoed cotrtureof classical Baroue: withan emphasis on designingthe e9ternal facades ratherthan a full treatment of theinterior.

#tarting at the (splanade,this architectural schemefor the city3s front waspushed westward by theTown *all, with the$o"ernment *ouse

becoming the centre pieceof the arrangements.


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The great ;re

The


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n the course of 1thcentury London witnessed anunprecedented shift from rural to urban li"ing.

London in 18?? was compact River Thames4 herries were the ;rst ri"er ta9is.By 18>?s

these carried se"eral million passengers annually.

Railways4 The railway boom in 18?s and 18?s meant newroutes into LondonStreets4 Light horse4drawn cabs became fashionable amongrich Londoners

5rbanisation of London intensi;ed during the 1thcentury.

Life changed dramatically during the industrialre"olution.


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@espite the decline, and the de"astation caused by the war, the centurysaw the largest urban e9pansion in London!s history as people left thecrowded city centre for spacious suburban de"elopments.nterest in earlyD?th century and post4war architecture howe"er continues to grow.

Victorian perio!"#$%-"&'"(slums London arose initially asa result of rapid populationgrowth and industrialisation.They became notorious foro"ercrowding, unsanitary and

sualid li"ing conditions.

=opulation increase $rowth of the city Child labor

*ousing shortage #lums "er crowding =oor sanitary

conditions


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colonial &imperial cities

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