CALCUTTA: PAST AND PRESENT
years. The foreign merchants in Bengal, viz. the English at Chuttanutty, the French at Chandernagore, and the Dutch at Chinsurah petitioned the nawab, the emperor's viceroy in Bengal, for permission to erect defensive works round their settlements as a protection against the insurgents. Receiving a careless assent in an order to defend themselves, they seized the opportunity to fortify their factories in a manner which till then had been strictly forbidden. The English began building their fort in 1699, and called it Fort William in honour of their sovereign, William III.
A second fortunate circumstance, which greatly assisted the English Company, was the appointment as Nawab of Bengal of Azim-u-shan, a grandson of the Emperor Aurungzeb, an extravagant and pleasure-loving young prince. On his arrival in Bengal the East India Company gained his favour by presenting him with an offering of one thousand gold mohurs, and he thereupon granted their petition to be allowed to purchase the zemindari, or landowners' rights, in the three villages of Chuttanutty, Calcutta, and Govindpore.
This was a great advance for the English Company, as it raised them at once from the position of mere adventuring traders, dependent
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