Madras
Presidency capital, 1639–1947
சென்னைமெட்ராசு
Today Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Same place, renamed.
Key facts
- Historical name
- Madras
- Type
- Presidency capital
- Coordinates
- 13.0825° N, 80.2750° E(seed dataset)
- Governance
- Directly administered
- Record confidence
- High confidence
- Identifiers
- Q1352
Directly administered by the Governor-General of India, and therefore part of British India in the statutory sense of the Interpretation Act 1889, s.18.
Location
Pin placed at the coordinates recorded for this place. Colonial-era boundaries are not drawn.
Description
Capital of the Madras Presidency, grown from the Company factory and Fort St George founded on the Coromandel Coast in 1639.
Historical notes
Fort St George (1640) was the first English fortified settlement in India and the nucleus of the Madras Presidency administration. Officially renamed Chennai in 1996.
Administrative history
Administrative parenthood changed over time. Each row states the years it is recorded for, and the source it comes from.
| Years | Relation | Unit | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| from 1901 | Part of | Madras PresidencyPresidency · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
| from 1901 | Part of | Madras CityDistrict · Directly administeredSnapshot from the 1901 census and the Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31). End of the relationship not established; recorded as open rather than inferred. | High confidencesource |
Recorded names
Every documented spelling and transliteration held for this place. The historical name is canonical; modern names redirect to it.
| Name | Script | Type | Years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Madras | Latin | Historical English | — |
| Chennai | Latin | Modern English | — |
| Madras | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| Madras City | Latin | Alternative spelling | — |
| சென்னை | Tamil | Indigenous | — |
| மெட்ராசு | Tamil | Indigenous | — |
Records and references
- Imperial Gazetteer of India
- Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908-31), Vol. 16 (16), p. 235
- Census of India
- Census of India, 1901, Vol. XV (15): Madras
Sources
- Encyclopedia· generalCC BY-SA
Wikipedia: Chennai, Wikimedia Foundation
Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Database· identityCC0
Wikidata (Q1352), Wikimedia Foundation
Wikidata, CC0 1.0
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Gazetteer· administrativeLicence unverified
Digital South Asia Library, University of Chicago — the 1908–31 text is public domain, but DSAL's digital presentation states no licence; link-out only
Retrieved 2026-08-29
- Archive· descriptionPublic domain
Internet Archive scan: in.ernet.dli.2015.55947, Internet Archive
Scanned volume of a pre-1929 publication (Imperial Gazetteer of India 1908–31 / Census of India 1901); public domain. Digitisation courtesy of the Internet Archive.
Retrieved 2026-08-29
Sources tagged “Licence unverified” are linked to rather than reproduced. Scans and images are only displayed inline where the licence is confirmed permissive.