Madras Harbour

This photograph, by Francis Frith (1822-1898) & Co, is of the Madras Harbour.

This vista of commercial facilities and warehouses on the Mardas beachfront illustrates Britain’s extensive commerce with the world.

In 1639, a British trading corporation was granted permission to establish a factory on a three-mile-long stretch of the shore on the Coromandel. The Nayakas, feudatory rulers of the region under the Vijayanagara kings, gave it to them in the form of a grant. This land was christened Madraspatnam for its owners, the Madre or Madeiros, a prominent Portuguese family of San Thome.

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