The village In the seventeenth century or prior to it, the area now occupied by the
Maidan and
Esplanade was a tiger-infested jungle. At the eastern end of it was an old road, which had once been built by the
Sabarna Roy Choudhury family from
Barisha to
Halisahar. In that region were three small hamlets – Chowringhee, Birjee and Colimba.
Urbanisation The strengthening of British power, subsequent to their victory in the
Battle of Plassey was followed by the construction of the new
Fort William, in 1758. The European inhabitants of
Kalikata gradually forsook the narrow limits of the old palisades and moved to around the Maidan.
The neighbourhood Camac Street (renamed Abanindranath Tagore Sarani) running from
Park Street to Circular Road was named after William Camac, a senior merchant in the days of
Cornwallis and
Wellesley. Wood Street was named after Henry Wood. Free School Street (renamed
Mirza Ghalib Street), named after a Free School established there in 1786, was a bamboo jungle in 1780.
New names on
Chowringhee Road - The main stretch of Chowringhee Indian independence saw a rush to rename streets. The process has slowed as few streets are left to be renamed. Chowringhee Road was renamed after
Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India. Park Street was renamed after
Mother Teresa; Theatre Road after
William Shakespeare; and Harrington Street after the leader of the
Vietnam independence movement,
Ho Chi Minh. Camac Street has been renamed after the artist
Abanindranath Tagore. Russel Street was renamed after industrialist Anandi Lal Poddar. Free School Street was renamed after the Urdu/Persian poet
Mirza Ghalib. Kyd Street was renamed Dr. Md. Ishaque Road. Lindsay Street was renamed after
Nellie Sengupta. ==Geography==