How a French governor in Bengal wanted to drive the English out from India in the 18th century
An excerpt from ‘Hooghly: The Global History of a River’, by Robert Ivermee. Capture of Chandernagor by the Royal Navy, 1757 | Dominic Serres / Public Domain
The governorship of Chandernagore was awarded to Jean-Baptiste Chevalier, an enterprising and patriotic Bengal veteran who in the 1750s had led a series of expeditions to establish trading links with the kingdom of Assam. Under Chevalier’s direction, signs of prosperity began to return to Chandernagore.
Trade picked up, with three or four ships arriving each year from Europe. Commercial links were re-established with South East Asia and the Persian Gulf. Chevalier played a leading role in the revival of private trade, organising voyages to export Bengali sugar and rice to the Isle de France and the Île Bourbon (Reunion Island).