The City of Joy – or Calcutta city is India’s one of the Ancient and multicultural city. The root of the existence of the city goes way back to the Ancient Period. Calcutta, as a city, started flourishing from the 13th century onwards along with the port towns of Hooghly.

The metropolis comprised of three villages of Kalikat, Gobindapurand Sutanuti situated along the banks of Hooghly River. The region’s first European traders were the Portuguese. The Portuguese settled there in 1535.

On 24th August 1686, Job Charnock who is accredited with the founding of Calcutta first came to the village of Sutanuti as a representative of the British East India Company to establish a factory. The British set foot in Bengal and established their dominance eventually gripping the entire sub-continent for the next 200 years.

24th August is celebrated as the foundation day of Kolkata since this was the day Job Charnock first came to the village of Sutanuti. The above coin is Copper 1/2 Pice of East India Company of Calcutta Mint issued in the year 1853.

The Obverse depicts the Coat of Arms of the British East India Company and the reverse depicts the denomination in the wreath inside the wreath.

Image Courtesy: marudhararts.com