MADRAS, the capital of Madras presidency, and the chief seaport on the eastern coast of India, is situated in 13° 4′ N. and 80° 17′ E. The city, with its suburbs, extends nine miles along the sea and nearly four miles inland, intersected by the little river Cooum. Area, 27 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 509,346, showing an increase of 12.6% in the decade. Madras is the third city in India.
Although at first sight the city presents a disappointing appearance, and possesses not a single handsome street, it has several buildings of architectural pretensions, and many spots of historical interest. It is spread over a very wide area, and many parts of it are almost rural in character. Seen from the roadstead, the fort, a row of merchants’ offices, a few spires and public buildings are all that strike the eye. Roughly speaking, the city consists of the following divisions. (1) George Town (formerly Black Town, but renamed after the visit of the Prince of Wales in 1906), an ill-built, densely populated block, about a mile square, is the business part of the town, containing the banks, custom house, high court, and all the mercantile offices. The last, for the most part handsome structures, lie along the beach. On the sea-face of George Town are the pier and the new harbour. Immediately south of George Town there is (2) an open space which contains Fort St George, the Marina, or fashionable drive and promenade by the seashore, Government House, and several handsome public buildings on the sea-face. (3) West and south of this lung of the city are crowded quarters known by native names—Chintadrapet, Turuvaleswarampet, Pudupak, Royapet, Kistnampet and Mylapur, which bend to the sea again at the old town of Saint Thomé. (4) To the west of George Town are the quarters of Veperi and Pudupet, chiefly inhabited by Eurasians, and the suburbs of Egmore, Nangambakam, and Perambur, adorned with handsome European mansions and their spacious “compounds” or parks, which make Madras a city of magnificent distances. (5) South-west and south lie the European quarters of Tanampet and aristocratic Adyar. Among the most notable buildings are the cathedral, Scottish church, Government House, Pachayappa’s Hall, senate house, Chepauk palace (now the revenue board), and the Central railway station.
Madras possesses no special industries. There are several cotton mills, large cement works, iron foundries and cigar factories. Large sums of money have from time to time been spent upon the harbour works, but without any great success. The port remains practically an open roadstead, protected by two breakwaters, and the P. & O. steamers ceased to call in 1898. Passengers or cargo are landed or embarked in flat-bottomed masula boats. The sea bottom is unusually flat, reaching a depth of ten fathoms only at a mile from the shore. The harbour is not safe during a cyclone, and vessels have to put out to sea. Madras conducts about 56% of the foreign trade of the presidency, but a much smaller share of the coasting trade. As the capital of southern India, Madras is the centre on which all the great military roads converge. It is also the terminal station of two lines of railway, the Madras & Southern Mahratta line and the Madras & Tanjore section of the South Indian railway. The Buckingham canal, which passes through an outlying part of the city, connects South Arcot district with Nellore and the Kistna and Godavari system of canal navigation. The municipal government of the city was framed by an act of the Madras legislature passed in 1884. The governing body consists of 32 commissioners, of whom 24 are elected by the ratepayers, together with a paid president. The Madras University was constituted in 1857, as an examining body, on the model of the university of London. The chief educational institutions in Madras city are the Presidency College; six missionary colleges and one native college; the medical college, the law college, the college of engineering, the teachers’ college in the suburb of Saidapet, all maintained by government; and the government school of arts.
The foundation of Madras dates from 1640, when Francis Day, chief of the East India Company’s settlement at Armagon, obtained a grant of the present site of the city from a native ruler. A fort—called Fort St George, presumably from having been finished on St George’s Day (April 23)—was at once constructed, and a gradually increasing population settled around its walls. In 1653 Madras, which had previously been subordinate to the settlement of Bantam in Java, was raised to the rank of an independent presidency. In 1702 Daud Khan, Aurangzeb’s general, blockaded the town for a few weeks, and in 1741 the Mahrattas unsuccessfully attacked the place. In 1746 La Bourdonnais bombarded and captured Madras. The settlement was restored to the English two years later by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, but the government of the presidency did not return to Madras till 1762. In 1758 the French under Lally occupied the Black Town and invested the fort. The siege was conducted on both sides with great skill and vigour. After two months the arrival of an English fleet relieved the garrison, and the besiegers retired with some precipitancy. With the exception of the threatening approach of Hyder Ali’s horsemen in 1769, and again in 1780, Madras has since the French siege been free from external attack. The town of Saint Thomé, now part of Madras city, was founded and fortified by the Portuguese in 1504, and was held by the French from 1672 to 1674.
See Mrs F. Penny, Fort St George (1900); W. Foster, Founding of Fort St George (1902).
MADRAZO Y KUNT, DON FEDERICO DE (1815-1894), Spanish painter, was born in Rome on the 12th of February 1815. He was the son of the painter Madrazo y Agudo (1781-1859), and received his first instruction from his father. While still attending the classes at the Academy of San Fernando he painted his first picture, “The Resurrection of Christ” (1829), which was purchased by Queen Christina. Not long afterwards he painted “Achilles in his Tent,” and subsequently presented to the Academy “The Continence of Scipio,” which secured him admission as a member “for merit.” While decorating the palace of Vista Alegre he took up portraiture. In 1852 he went to Paris, where he studied under Winterhalter, and painted portraits of Baron Taylor and of Ingres. In 1837 he was commissioned to produce a picture for the gallery at Versailles, and painted “Godfrey de Bouillon proclaimed King of Jerusalem.” The artist then went to Rome, where he worked at various subjects, sacred and profane. Then he painted “Maria Christina in the Dress of a Nun by the bedside of Ferdinand III.” (1843), “Queen Isabella,” “The Duchess of Medina-Coeli,” and “The Countess de Vilchès” (1845-1847), besides a number of portraits of the Spanish aristocracy, some of which were sent to the exhibition of 1855. He received the Legion of Honour in 1846. He was made a corresponding member of the Paris Academy of Fine Arts on the 10th of December 1853, and in 1873, on the death of Schnorr, the painter, he was chosen foreign member. After his father’s death he succeeded him as director of the Prado Gallery and president of the Academy of San Fernando. He originated in Spain the production of art reviews and journals, such as El Artista, El Renacimiento and El Semanario pintoresco. He died at Madrid on the 11th of June 1894. His brother, Don Louis De Madrazo, was also known as a painter, chiefly by his “Burial of Saint Cecilia” (1855). Don Federico’s best-known pupil was his son, Don Raimundo De Madrazo (b. 1841).
MADRID, a province of central Spain, formed in 1833 of districts previously included in New Castile, and bounded on the W. and N. by Ávila and Segovia, E. by Guadalajara, S.E. by Cuenca and S. by Toledo. Pop. (1900), 775,034, of whom 539,835 inhabit the city of Madrid; area, 3084 sq. m. Madrid belongs to the basin of the Tagus, being separated from that of the Douro by the Sierra de Guadarrama on the N.W. and N., and by the Sierra de Gredos on the S.W. The Tagus is the southern boundary for some distance, its chief tributary being the Jarama, which rises in the Somosierra in the north and terminates at Aranjuez. The Jarama, in turn, is joined by the Henares and Tajuña on the left, and by the Lozoya and Manzanares on the right. The Guadarrama, another tributary of the Tagus, has its upper course within the province. Like the rest of Castile, Madrid is chiefly of Tertiary formation; the soil is mostly clayey, but there are tracts of sandy soil. Agriculture is somewhat backward; the rainfall is deficient, and the rivers are not utilized as they might be for irrigation. The south-eastern districts are the best watered, and produce in abundance fruit, vegetables, wheat, olives, esparto grass and excellent wine. Gardening and viticulture are carried on to some extent near the capital, though the markets of Madrid receive their most liberal supply of fruits and vegetables from Valencia. Sheep, goats and horned cattle are reared, and fish are found in the Jarama and other rivers. Much timber is extracted from the forests of the northern and north-eastern parts of the province for building purposes and for firewood and charcoal. The royal domains of the Escorial, Aranjuez and El Pardo, and the preserves of the nobility, are all well wooded and contain much game. Efforts have also been made by the local authorities to cover the large stretches of waste ground and commons with pines and other trees.