HOOGLI - A HISTORICAL RIVER

 

Hugli River, Hugli also spelled Hooghly, river in West Bengal state, north-eastern India. An arm of the Ganges (Ganga) River, it provides access to Kolkata (Calcutta) from the Bay of Bengal.  It is formed by the junction of the Bhagirathi and Jalangi rivers at Nabadwip. From there the Hugli flows generally south for about 160 miles (about 260 km) to the Bay of Bengal, through a heavily industrialized area with more than half of West Bengal’s population. The river’s lower reaches are fed by the Ajay, Damodar, Rupnarayan, and Haldi rivers, which rise to the northwest on the Chota Nagpur plateau area. Although above Kolkata the river is silted up, it is navigable to the city by oceangoing ships. Navigation is facilitated by constant dredging and the scour of a tidal bore that rushes inland at high tide. Negotiations with Bangladesh have been held to divert waters in the Ganges River in such a way as to prevent silting at Kolkata. From Kolkata the Hugli flows west and south to the Rupnarayan estuary, then twists south and southwest, entering the Bay of Bengal through an estuary 3 to 20 miles (5 to 32 km) wide. It is spanned by a cantilever bridge between Haora and Kolkata and by the Bally Bridge between Bally and Baranagar.

 

Hugli is a city where the River Hugli flows in the state Calcutta. Hooghly (now Hugli) was founded by the Portuguese in 1537 following the decline of Satgaon, the mercantile capital of Lower Bengal. Mughal armies expelled the Portuguese from Hooghly in 1632. Hooghly was also the first English settlement (1651) in Lower Bengal; it was abandoned in 1690 for Calcutta (now Kolkata).

About A.D 1579, the city Hugli was captured by Portuguese.  They strengthen their position by the erection of large buildings round about Hugli.  In eastern India, Hugli was much opulence city like Benares, Patna, Rajmahal, Burdwan, Dacca and Chittagong because of its waterway.  A factory was established at the bank of Hugli, under Mr. Bridgeman, in 1651.  Due to the prosperity of the River Hugli, the entire Hugli-region where the East Indian Company firmly decided to protect themselves by force.

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