CALCUTTA, n.p. B. Kalikātā, or Kalikattā, a name of uncertain etymology. The first mention that we are aware of occurs in the Āīn-i-Akbari. It is well to note that in some early charts, such as that in Valentijn, and the oldest in the English Pilot, though Calcutta is not entered, there is a place on the Hoogly Calcula, or Calcuta, which leads to mistake. It is far below, near the modern Fulta. [With reference to the quotations below from Luillier and Sonnerat, Sir H. Yule writes (Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. xcvi.): "In Orme's Historical Fragments, Job Charnock is described as 'Governor of the Factory at Golgot near Hughley.' This name Golgot and the corresponding Golghāt in an extract from Muhabbat Khān indicate the name of the particular locality where the English Factory at Hugli was situated. And some confusion of this name with that of Calcutta may have led to the curious error of the Frenchman Luiller and Sonnerat, the former of whom calls Calcutta Golgouthe, while the latter says: 'Les Anglais prononcent et ecrivent Golgota.'">[

c. 1590.—"Kalikatā wa Bakoya wa Barbakpūr, 3 Mahal."—Āīn. (orig.) i. 408; [tr. Jarrett, ii. 141].

[1688.—"Soe myself accompanyed with Capt. Haddock and the 120 soldiers we carryed from hence embarked, and about the 20th September arrived at Calcutta."—Hedges, Diary, Hak. Soc. ii. lxxix.]

1698.—"This avaricious disposition the English plied with presents, which in 1698 obtained his permission to purchase from the Zemindar ... the towns of Sootanutty, Calcutta, and Goomopore, with their districts extending about 3 miles along the eastern bank of the river."—Orme, repr. ii. 71.

1702.—"The next Morning we pass'd by the English Factory belonging to the old Company, which they call Golgotha, and is a handsome Building, to which were adding stately Warehouses."—Voyage to the E. Indies, by Le Sieur Luillier, E. T. 1715, p. 259.

1726.—"The ships which sail thither (to Hugli) first pass by the English Lodge in Collecatte, 9 miles (Dutch miles) lower down than ours, and after that the French one called Chandarnagor...."—Valentijn, v. 162.

1727.—"The Company has a pretty good Hospital at Calcutta, where many go in to undergo the Penance of Physic, but few come out to give an Account of its Operation.... One Year I was there, and there were reckoned in August about 1200 English, some Military, some Servants to the Company, some private Merchants residing in the Town, and some Seamen belong to Shipping lying at the Town, and before the beginning of January there were 460 Burials registred in the Clerk's Books of Mortality."—A. Hamilton, ii. 9 and 6.

c. 1742.—"I had occasion to stop at the city of Firáshdánga (Chandernagore) which is inhabited by a tribe of Frenchmen. The city of Calcutta, which is on the other side of the water, and inhabited by a tribe of English who have settled there, is much more extensive and thickly populated...."—'Abdul Karím Khán, in Elliot, viii. 127.

1753.—"Au dessous d'Ugli immédiatement, est l'établissement Hollandois de Shinsura, puis Shandernagor, établissement François, puis la loge Danoise (Serampore), et plus bas, sur la rivage opposé, qui est celui de la gauche en descendant, Banki-bazar, où les Ostendois n'ont pû se maintenir; enfin Colicotta aux Anglois, à quelques lieues de Banki-bazar, et du même côté."—D'Anville, Éclaircissemens, 64. With this compare: "Almost opposite to the Danes Factory is Banke-banksal, a Place where the Ostend Company settled a Factory, but, in Anno 1723, they quarrelled with the Fouzdaar or Governor of Hughly, and he forced the Ostenders to quit...."—A. Hamilton, ii. 18.

1782.—"Les Anglais pourroient retirer aujourd'hui des sommes immenses de l'Inde, s'ils avoient eu l'attention de mieux composer le conseil suprême de Calecuta."[[55]]—Sonnerat, Voyage, i. 14.