Arikamedu, the French and the making of Puducherry

Background

Puducherry, the Union Territory whose administration is in the news, has a documented history reaching back to the beginning of the common era. Excavations at Arikamedu, about 7 km to the south of the town, show that Romans came there to trade in the 1st Century AD, and the trade included dyed textiles. The territory saw a succession of European powers: the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Danes, the English and the French have all been present. The French first set foot there in 1670, and their undisturbed rule finished in 1954. The name 'Puducherry' is the French interpretation of the original name 'Puducheri', meaning 'new settlement'. By the 18th century the fishing village had grown into a grand port city, and its symmetrically aligned streets and monuments still carry that inheritance.