CALCUTTA 



1050 



CALEDONIA 



its doors the great waterways of the Ganges 

 and Brahmaputra, from whose fertile valleys it 

 receives vast quantities of produce. The rivers 

 provide cheap means of communication be- 

 tween inland provinces and the sea. The port 

 of Calcutta extends nearly ten miles along 

 the river and is one of the busiest in the world. 

 Over one-third of the entire foreign trade of 

 India passes through the city, which in addition 

 to its almost perfect w^ter transportation has 

 the terminals of three great railway systems. 

 The exports exceed the imports in value, hav- 

 ing reached the total of almost $300,000,000 

 against imports valued at nearly $175,000,000 in 

 1915. The principal exports are opium, hides, 

 skins, grain, indigo, cotton, silk and jute. The 

 center of the jute industry is at Howrah, on 

 the opposite bank, of the Hooghly and con- 

 nected with Calcutta by a floating bridge 1,530 

 feet in length. The imports are chiefly manu- 

 factured goods, machinery, textiles, salt and 

 liquor. 



Buildings and Monuments. Between the 

 river and the fashionable suburbs is the Mai- 

 dan, or park, the pride of the city, containing 

 Fort William, the largest fortress in India. The 

 park is the parade ground for the wealth and 

 fashion of Calcutta. It contains numerous 

 statues and monuments, among which is a 

 plain tablet indicating the position of the ter- 

 rible Black Hole of Calcutta (which see). On 

 the north side of the park stands the former 

 residence of the viceroy of India, built by Lord 

 Wellesley, brother of the Duke of Wellington, 

 in 1799 at a cost of $5,000,000. Alongside the 

 park, for a distance of two miles, runs the most 

 famous street in Calcutta, the Chowringhee. 

 The residence of Warren Hastings, one of the 

 most prominent figures in the history of India, 

 is kept by the Indian government as a house 

 of entertainment for Indian princes. The 

 town hall, supreme court, mint and general 

 post office are also notable buildings. In the 

 graveyard of the old cathedral is the tomb of 

 Job Charnock, who founded the city on 

 August 24, 1690. 



History. The early history of Calcutta is 

 closely bound up with that of the East India 

 Company (which see). The small settlement 

 established in 1690 gradually grew in impor- 

 tance; neighboring villages were absorbed and 

 formed the nucleus of what was to be not only 

 the center of commercial activity but the 

 political capital of an empire that was to com- 

 pensate Britain for the loss of its American 

 colonies. In 1756 the town was captured by 



Surajud Dowlah, native ruler of Bengal; ter- 

 rible atrocities were committed, but it was 

 later rescued by Clive and Admiral Watson. 

 In 1773 it became the seat of government, but 

 in 1912 Britain restored the capital to Delhi, 

 the original capital. Population in 1911, includ- 

 ing suburbs, 1,222,313. See map, accompanying 

 article ASIA. F.ST.A. 



C ALDER, kal'der, JAMES ALEXANDER (1868- 

 ), a Canadian educator and political 

 leader, for. many years a leading school official 

 of the Northwest Territories and since 1905 

 a conspicuous member of the Saskatchewan 

 government. With the exception of Premier 

 Walter Scott he is perhaps the foremost Lib- 

 eral in the province. He was born in Oxford 

 County, Ont., and was graduated with honors 

 from Manitoba University in 1888. From 1891 

 to 1894 he was principal of the Moose Jaw 

 high school, then for six years was inspector 

 of schools of the Northwest Territories, and 

 from 1901 to 1905 was deputy commissioner 

 of education for the Territories. In 1905 he 

 was elected to the Saskatchewan Assembly, 

 and was appointed provincial treasurer and 

 minister of education in the Scott ministry. 

 In this position he was chiefly responsible for 

 the organization and development of Saskatch- 

 ewan's public school system. He continued to 

 sit in the assembly, and was generally recog- 

 nized as Premier Scott's chief lieutenant. In 

 1912 he temporarily assumed the duties of 

 minister of railways in addition to his other 

 offices, and since 1913 has been minister of 

 railways. 



CALEDONIA, kaledoh'nia, the poetic 

 name for Scotland, but historically the name 

 by which the northern portion of that country 

 and its inhabitants first became known to the 

 Romans. The 

 Roman Agricola 

 invaded the coun- 

 try in 82, defeat- 

 ed the Caledoni- 

 ans in 83, and 

 again in 84 in a 

 battle of which a 

 detailed descrip- 

 tion is given by 

 the historian 

 Tacitus. Later 

 attempts to sub- 

 due the Caledo- OLD CALEDONIA 

 nians were unsuccessful. They were the Scots 

 and Picts of early English history who harassed 

 the Britons after the Romans withdrew. 



