Pre-independence The territory of Greater 24 Parganas were under the
Satgaon (ancient Saptagram, now in Hoogly district) administration during the
Mughal era and later it was included in Hoogly chakla (district under post-Mughal Nawabi rule) during the rule of
Murshid Quli Khan. In 1757, after the
Battle of Plassey, Nawab
Mir Jafar conferred the Zamindari of 24 parganas and janglimahals (small administrative units) upon the
British East India Company. These Parganas are (O'Mally, L.S.S. (1914) Bengal District Gazetteers: 24 Parganas. Page 44): • Akbarpur • Amirpur • Asimabad • Balia • Baridhati • Basandhari • Birati • Calcutta • Dakshin Sagar • Garh • Hathiagarh • Ikhtiarpur • Kharijuri • Khaspur • Maidanmal or Mednimall • Magura • Mayda • Manpur • Murnagacha • Paika • Pechakul • Satal • Shahnagar • Shahpur • Uttar Pargana Since then, this entire territory is known as '24 Parganas'. In 1751, the Company assigned
John Zephaniah Holwell as
zemindar of the District. In 1759, after the
Bengali War of 1756–1757, the Company assigned it to
Lord Clive as a personal Jaghir (zamindari) and after his death it again came under the direct authority of the company. In 1793, during the rule of
Lord Cornwallis, entire
Sunderbans were in Twentyfour Parganas. In 1802, some parganas on the western banks of river Hoogly were included into it. These parganas were in
Nadia earlier. In 1814, a separate collectorate was established in Twenty-four Parganas. In 1817, Falta and
Baranagar and in 1820, some portions of Nadia's Balanda and Anwarpur were encompassed to it. In 1824, portions of
Barasat,
Khulna and Bakhargunge (now in Bangladesh) were also included to it. In 1824, the district headquarters was shifted from Kolkata to Baruipur, but in 1828, it was removed to
Alipore. In 1834, the district was split into two districts – Alipore and Barasat, but later these were united again. In 1905, some portion of this district around the Sunderbans was detached and linked to Khulna and
Barisal. These parts remained in
Bangladesh territories where
Jessore's Bangaon was joined to Twentyfour Pargana after the 1947 partition.
After Independence In 1980, an administrative reform committee under the chairmanship of Dr.
Ashok Mitra suggested splitting the district into two and as per the recommendation of the committee in 1983, on 1 March 1986, two new districts – North 24 Parganas (24 PGS (N)) and
South 24 Parganas (24 PGS (S)) were created. The North 24 Parganas which was included in the
Presidency division has been formed with five sub-divisions of the Greater 24 Parganas, namely
Barasat Sadar (Headquarters),
Barrackpore,
Basirhat,
Bangaon, and
Bidhannagar (a satellite township of Kolkata, popularly known as Salt Lake). On 1 August 2022, the
Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee announced to create two more districts named
Ichamati district consisting of
Bangaon subdivision and a yet unnamed district consisting of
Basirhat subdivision by bifurcating the district for better development and smooth administration purpose. ==Geography==