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First modern city of India Chennai celebrates its 375th birth anniversary today
Posted on: 22/Aug/2014 11:22:33 AM
The first modern city of India, Chennai is celebrating its 375th birth anniversary today (August 22). The southern city has already begun celebrating Madras Week from Sunday by dedicating seven days to the history, culture and traditions of the city.
People in Chennai celebrate this day with much zeal and vigor as heritage walks, competitions, exhibitions and more are organized. Many people are celebrating the day by posting their love for the city online.
On August 22, 1639, British administrator Francis Day, along with his superior, Andrew Cogan, struck a deal with the Vijayanagar empire to acquire a stretch of no-man`s land to build a city. The city that later came to be known as Madras.The British built a fortified factory, a year after acquiring land, which was named on St. George`s day April 23, 1640 as Fort St. George. The East India Company then began to acquire villages around the fort and Madras grew. For a brief period of three years, Fort St. George fell into the possession of the French after a conflict. It was restored to the British under the peace treaty.
As the Tamil Nadu government did not want the colonial tag, they rechristened it to Chennai in 1996.
