Pondichéry

Pondichéry (in English officially Puducherry, in the past Pondicherry, புதுவை or புதுச்சேர in Tamoul) is a city in the south-east of the India. The city is the capital of the Territoire of Pondichéry. Its intense port activity is related to its activity of weaving of the Coton. The population, in 2001, is of: 220,000 inhabitants.

French colonization

Pondichéry enters the history of France when the French Compagnie of the Eastern Indies buys in 1673 a coastal small village with the sultan of Bijapur. Pondichéry becomes thus the head of bridge of the commercial interests of France in India. It is however necessary to await 1685 so that François Martin, named " director of the Coast of Coromandel " , Pondichéry puts on the track of prosperity.

Unfortunately, the frictions with the Dutch established already well in the area and the death of Martin in 1706 slow down the urban development. It is necessary to await 1726 and the arrival of Lenoir so that the businesses begin again. The city is then directed by Dumas in 1735 and later by Joseph François Dupleix in 1742. It is under the mandate of the latter, and thanks to him, that Pondichéry knows its apogee. Thanks to its military victories against the British , it extends the territory around the city and in the south of India, and has many influence in the businesses princes and sovereigns of the area.

But the shareholders of the French Company of the Indies, concerned their commercial interests, indicator of an evil eye the ceaseless wars with the British and also influenced by information coming from England (information out of phase, because one needed 6 to 8 months for the transmission of the orders and reports/ratios by sea), decide to replace it. Dupleix leaves India on October 14th 1754 carrying with him its dreams of French India.

Its substitute, Godeheu, are charged to treat with the British. But peace does not last, and, in spite of the initial victories of Lally-Tollendal, Pondichéry is taken by the British on January 16th 1761 and shaven almost completely. France recovers its counter only in 1765, after the signature of the Traité of Paris (1763).

After two other English occupations, in 1778-1785 and 1793-1814, the French recover total control only in of it 1816, without never finding the glory of antan however there, with prohibition to have there fortification and garrison (police force only authorized). Since then, Pondichéry is not any more whereas one stopover towards Indo-China where the interest of France will be focused during the 19th century.

Since independence

In 1954, following negotiations with independent India, France makes the decision to yield the whole of its territories to India (the other cabins had been yielded much earlier). November 1st, 1954 takes place the transfer de facto . The treaty of transfer will be signed in 1956 and the French Parliament which had made have patience the Indian government until the end of the war of Algeria, will ratify it in August 1962 ( transfer of swears ). For one six months period, the inhabitants of the counters will have faculty to choose Indian or French nationality, according to their domiciliation at the time of the transfer and according to the methods of the treaty not very simple and always prone to controversy, or nothing to make (loss of the old nationality). Today, the town of Pondichéry is the capital of a territory of the Union, very burst, with its appendices of Karaikal of Tamoul language like the capital, to 200 km with the south, Mahé of Maléyâlam language, on the Malabar Coast to 600 km, the west and Yanaon of Télougou language, on the coast of Andhra, to 1100 km in the North-East. Chandernagor having voted since 1949 for integration in India now forms part of the great agglomeration of Calcutta (current name: Kolkata). Approximately ten thousand French live in Pondichéry which is the head office of important French Consulat also covering all the south of the Indian Union. One can still see traces of the French influence: consulate, the the Alliance Fran1caise, the French College, the French School of the Far East (EFEO), street names sometimes still registered in French, kepis of the police officers, the library Romain Roland, etc

But, the massive arrival of the inhabitants of other States of the Indian Union, the rapid economic transfer of this peaceful French city in dynamics Indian city and the induced real estate speculation nibble the French seal which at one time made the charm of these counters of India.

See too

Pondichéry under the Restoration.

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