Page:History of India Vol 4.djvu/186

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144
AURANGZIB THE PURITAN EMPEROR

in 1666 the pirates submitted to the summons of the new viceroy, backed by the support of the Dutch, who were pleased to diminish the failing power of Portugal. The bulk of the freebooters were settled under control at a place a few miles below Dhakka, hence called Firengi-bazar, "the mart of the Franks," where some of their descendants still live. Shayista then sent an expedition against Arakan and annexed it, changing the name of Chittagong into Islamabad, "the city of Islam." He could not foresee that in suppressing the pirates he was aiding the rise of that future power whose humble beginnings were seen in the little factory established by the English at the Hugli in 1640. Twenty years after the suppression of the Portuguese, Charnock defeated the local militia, and in 1690 received from Aurangzib a grant of land at Sutanati, which he forthwith cleared and fortified. Such was the modest foundation of Calcutta.