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Chennai is the capital of the State of Tamil Nadu in the south east of India and the fourth largest city in the country. It was formerly known as Madras (until 1997) and is one of the major commercial centres of India after Delhi, Mumbai, and Calcutta. We just had a long weekend in the area and stayed at a hotel a few miles south of the city at Fisherman's cove on the coast. During our stay we visited the old fort in the city, a crocodile bank, the ancient site of Mamallapuram and enjoyed the life of the beach.
The region has been a centre of trade for over 2000 years with strong links to the rest of Asia. The Portuguese arrived in the 16th century, followed by the Dutch. The British East India Company established itself in the village of Madraspatnam in 1639. They stared building Fort St George which took 15 years to complete. George Town, now a commercial district in Chennai, grew around the fort and was given a municipal charter by James II in 1698. During the 18th and 19th centuries French and British traders battled to gain the upper hand in India. In 1756 the French withdrew to Pondicherry, about 160 km further south from Chennai on the coast, the British were then able to develop Fort St George. Pondicherry remained under official French control until 1963 when it then joined the Indian Union, though a de facto transfer of control had already taken place in 1954. In September 2006 it officially changed its name to Puducherry.
In the tsunami of December 2004, Chennai and much of the coast of Tamil Nadu suffered extensive damage and loss of life. Many fishing villages along the coast were destroyed, but driving along the coast now, we saw a number of rebuilt villages like below.
