The
bazaar is named after
Edoardo Tiretta, an Italian immigrant from
Venice, who was a land surveyor and owner in the area during late 18th-century. During the time of
Warren Hastings, the first governor-general of
Bengal, a businessman by the name of Tong Achew established a sugar mill, along with a sugar plantation at Achipur, from Calcutta, on the bank of the
Hooghly River near the town of
Budge Budge. A temple and the grave of Tong Achew still remain and are visited by many Chinese Indians, who arrive from the city to celebrate
Chinese New Year. A certain C. Alabaster mentions in 1849 that Cantonese carpenters congregated in the Bow Bazar Street area. As late as 2006,
Bow Bazar is still noted for carpentry, but few of the workers or owners are now Indians of Chinese origin. According to Alabaster, there were lard manufacturers and shoemakers in addition to carpenters. Running tanneries and working with leather were traditionally not considered "respectable" professions among
upper-caste Hindus, and work was relegated to the so-called "lower caste"
muchis and
chamars. Nevertheless, there was a significant demand for high quality leather goods in
colonial India, which Chinese Indians were able to fulfill. Alabaster also mentions "licensed"
opium dens, run by "native Chinese" and a "
Cheena Bazaar", where "
contraband" was readily available. Opium, however, was not illegal until after
India's Independence from Great Britain in 1947. Immigration continued freely through the turn of the century and during
World War I partly due to political upheavals in China, including the
First and
Second Opium Wars, the
First Sino-Japanese War and the
Yihetuan Movement. Around the time of the First World War, the first Chinese-owned tanneries sprang up. ==Transport==