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Black Hole of Calcutta
The Black Hole of Calcutta refers to a prison cell which was used to hold 146 mostly British prisoners captured after the Nawab of Bengal had taken over the city from the East India Company. Interred on 20 June 1756 in a tiny cell in Fort...
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Fort William, Calcutta
A view of Fort William, Calcutta in the 1750s when it was commanded by the British East India Company. The fort was captured by the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daulah, in June 1756. Captured British soldiers who had defended the fort were then...
Definition
Robert Clive
Robert Clive (1725-1774), also known as 'Clive of India' and Baron Clive of Plassey, masterminded the expansion of the East India Company in India. Best known for his victory at Plassey in Bengal in 1757, Clive's reputation suffered in his...
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Prison Guards Taunting the Black Hole of Calcutta Prisoners
An early 20th-century illustration showing guards taunting the inmates of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Following the capture of the East India Company's Fort William in June 1756, a number of soldiers and civilians were kept in this small...
Definition
Delhi Durbar
The Delhi Durbar was a spectacular public event held in India to commemorate the accession of a new British monarch to the title Empress or Emperor of India. Three Delhi Durbars were held: 1877, 1903, and 1911. The event involved military...
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The English and Dutch East India Companies' Invasions of India
In the early 17th century, the Dutch and English East India Companies turned their eyes towards India, as part of their grand schemes to develop extensive trade networks across the Indian and China Seas. They were faced with two significant...
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Warren Hastings
Warren Hastings (1732-1818) was appointed the Governor of Bengal by the British East India Company (EIC) in 1772 and became its first Governor-General in India from 1774 to 1785. Under his tenure, the EIC ruthlessly expanded its territory...
Definition
Indigo Revolt
The Indigo Revolt (aka Indigo Riots or Blue Mutiny) of 1859-60 in Bengal, India, involved indigo growers going on strike in protest at working conditions and pay. The subsequent violence was aimed at exploitative European plantation owners...
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Memorial Plaque to the Victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta
The memorial plaque from the 1902 monument commemorating the victims of the Black Hole of Calcutta incident in 1756. St John's Churchyard, Kolkata, India.
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The Black Hole of Calcutta
An c. 1762 illustration of the Black Hole of Calcutta, the infamous prison cell used to hold captured British soldiers in 1756. According to one survivor, 123 of 146 prisoners died of dehydration and heat exhaustion.