- published: 20 Apr 2014
- views: 29371
Pondicherry (/pɒndᵻˈtʃɛri/ or /pɒndᵻˈʃɛri/) or Puducherry is a city, an urban agglomeration and a municipality in Puducherry district in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. It is affectionately known as Pondy, and has been officially known by the alternative name Puducherry since 2006. Pondicherry is the regional capital and largest city in the territory.
The history of the City of Pondicherry is recorded only after the arrival of Dutch, Portuguese, British and French colonialists. By contrast, nearby places such as Arikamedu, Ariyankuppam, Kakayanthoppe, Villianur and Bahur, which were annexed by the French East India Company over a period of time and which became the Union Territory of Pondicherry after Independence, have recorded history predating the colonial period.
A marketplace named Poduke or Poduca is recorded as a Roman trading destination from the mid 1st century. The area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram in the 4th century. The Cholas of Thanjavur held it from the 10th to 13th centuries, only to be replaced by the Pandya Kingdom in the 13th century. The Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all the South of India in the 14th century and maintained control until 1638 when they were supplanted by the Sultan of Bijapur. The French acquired Puducherry in 1674 and held it, with an occasional interruption by the British or Dutch, until 1954 (de jure 1956), when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India.