HUGLI, or HOOGHLY  , a town and district of British India, in the Burdwan division of Bengal, taking their name from the river Hugli . The town, situated on the right bank of the Hugli, 24 M. above Calcutta by rail, forms one municipality with Chinsura, the old Dutch settlement, lower down the river . Pop . (1901) 29,383 . It contains the Hooghly College at Chinsura, a Mahommedan college, two high schools and a hospital with a Lady Dufferin branch for female patients . The principal building is a handsome imambara, or mosque, constructed out of funds which had accumulated from an endowment originally left for the purpose by a wealthy Shia gentleman, Mahommed Mohsin . The town was founded by the Portuguese in 1537, on the decay of Satgaon, the royal port of Bengal . Upon establishing them-selves, they built a fort at a place called Gholghat (close to the present jail), vestiges of which are still visible in the bed of the river . This fort gradually grew into the town and port of Hugli . The DISTRICT comprises an area of 1191 sq. m . In 1901 the population was 1,049,282, showing an increase of 1% in the decade . It is flat, with a gradual ascent to the north and north-west .

The scenery along the high-lying bank of the Hugli has a quiet beauty of its own, presenting the

appearance of a connected series of orchards and gardens, interspersed with factories, villages and temples . The principal rivers, besides the Hugli, are the Damodar and the Rupnarayan . As in other deltaic districts, the highest land lies nearest the rivers, and the lowest levels are found midway between two streams . There are in consequence considerable marshes both between the Hugli and the Damodar and between the latter river and the Rupnarayan . The district is traversed by the main line of the East Indian railway, with a branch to the pilgrim resort of Tarakeswar, whence a steam tramway has been constructed for a further distance of 31 M . The Eden canal furnishes irrigation, and there are several embankments and drainage works . Silk and indigo are both decaying industries, but the manufacture of brass and bell-metal ware is actively carried on at several places . There are several jute mills, a large flour mill, bone-crushing mills and a brick and tile works . From an historical point of view the district possesses as much interest as any in Bengal . In the early period of Mahommedan rule Satgaon was the seat of the governors of Lower Bengal and a mint town . It was also a place of great commercial importance . In consequence of the silting up of the Saraswati, the river on which Satgaon was situated, the town became inaccessible to large ships, and the Portuguese settled at Hugli .

In 1632 the latter place, having been taken from the Portuguese by the Mahommedans, was made the royal port of Bengal; and all the public offices and records were withdrawn from Satgaon, which rapidly

fell into decay . In 164o the East India Company established a factory at Hugli, their first settlement in Lower Bengal . In 1685, a dispute having taken place between the English factors and the nawab, the town was bombarded and burned to the ground . This was not the first time that Hugli had been the scene of a struggle deciding the fate of a European power in India . In 1629, when held by the Portuguese, it was besieged for three months and a half by a large Mahommedan force sent by the emperor Shah Jahan . The place was carried by storm; more than r000 Portuguese were killed, upwards of 4000 prisoners taken, and of 300 vessels only 3 escaped . But Hugli district possesses historical interest for other European nations besides England and Portugal . The Dutch established themselves at Chinsura in the 17th century, and held the place till 1825, when it was ceded to Great Britain in exchange for the island of Sumatra . The Danes settled at Serampur in 1616, where they remained till 1845, when all Danish possessions in India were transferred to the East .India Company . Chandernagorebecame a French settlement in 1688 . The English captured this town twice, but since 1816 it has remained in the possession of the French . See D .

G .

Crawford, A Brief History of the Hooghly District (Calcutta, 1903) .