CHINSURA  , a

town of British India, on the Hugli river, 24 m. above Calcutta, formerly the principal Dutch settlement in Bengal . The Dutch erected a factory here in 1656, on a healthy spot of ground, much preferable to that on which Calcutta is situated . In 1759 a British force under Colonel Forde was attacked by the garrison of Chinsura on its march to Chandernagore, but in less than half an hour the Dutch were entirely routed . In 1795, during the Napoleonic wars, the settlement was occupied by a British garrison . At the peace of 1814 it was restored to the Dutch . It was among the cessions in India made by the king of the Netherlands in 1825 in exchange for the British possessions in Sumatra . Hugli College is maintained by government; and there are a number of schools, several of which are carried on by Scottish Presbyterian missionaries . Chinsura is included in the Hugli municipality .