Talk:History of Chennai

Origin of "Madras"
The article claims that the name "Madras" comes from "Madrasan a fisherman head". However, the consensus seems to be, as Britannica puts it, "Madras was the shortened name of the fishing village Madraspatnam". I propose that the article should be amended accordingly.

For the record, I also found a suggestion on the web that the etymology could be Portuguese, but I find that unlikely, especially given that the fishing villages Madrasapattinam and Chennapatnam preceded the Portuguese. Dori1951 (talk) 11:17, 5 January 2021 (UTC)

Photograph of Mountroad
The picture showing Mountroad in 1950's looks very much like Pookadai junction in Parrys. The Indo-Sarcenic building in the backdrop looks like Chennai High court complex and the halogen street lamps suggest the picture should have been of 1960s rather than 1950s. Thanks Wikiality 11:14, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Conflicting with history
I am not sure if there's enough evidence for the following paragraph: "However in 1953, the political and administrative dominance of Tamils, both at the Union and State levels ensured that Madras was not transferred to the new state of Andhra though the city was historically and geographically part of the Andhra region" From all accounts, Mylapore, and Tiruvallikeni (Triplicane) were Tamil speaking parts, so were villages such as Mambalam, Nungambakkam and Kodambakkam. I think this paragraph needs to be changed, unless there sufficient evidence for this side of the story. --Chandrachoodan Gopalakrishnan 12:30, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
 * This article doesnt quote much history anyways. Needs a lot of clean-up. Thanks. Wiki San Roze talk 13:16, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Ancient History
Last when I visited Chennai, I was told that Thiruvalluvar lived in Mailai local of the city. Is there any strong evidence of it. If so this would take the history to first century BCE! Thanks! Wiki San Roze talk 02:11, 27 May 2007 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that History of Chennai be merged with Chennai due to the fact that Chennai does not have a significant history beyond 350 years and though the article looks big, most of it is WP:OR and after cleaning it up and adding whatever sources possible, it will be small enough to be merged into the main article. See Mumbai and Kolkata. The history will be maximum the length of the history sections in those two articles. Secret of success (talk) 14:54, 26 August 2012 (UTC)


 * Oppose Of course not. The "History of Chennai" acts as a daughter article of Chennai. In Chennai article, the history section is a summarized section. The history can be described in detail in "History of Chennai", as appropriate. You will face many details that are ok in teh History article, but not in Chennai article.--Dwaipayan (talk) 18:17, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose The number of references in this article may be low, but the topic has enough potential to deserve a separate article. -- Anbu121 ( talk me ) 23:43, 31 August 2012 (UTC)
 * Strong oppose – If you take the history right after the formation of Madras presidency alone, it is good enough to have a standalone article. This can even be taken to GAN or FAC if expanded properly. &mdash; Vensatry (Ping me)  03:26, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

town charter
"As a result during the Governorship of Elihu Yale (1687–92), the large number of British and European settlers led to the most important political event which was the formation of the institution of a Mayor and the Corporation for the city of Madras. Under this Charter, the British and Protestant inhabitants were granted the rights of self-government and independence from company law." First, this section needs references. Second, I'm not sure this description is entirely accurate. There was not a large number of "settlers" at this early stage, beyond the merchant community. Also, I don't think it's accurate to suggest that the town charter freed the English and Protestant inhabitants from Company law at all. The charter was passed under the Company's seal, not the crown. The impetus to create a mayor and court of aldermen was not to free Englishmen from Company authority. The Company remained the authority of highest appeal in law and every other area. The court was created to formally include representation from resident merchants, both Europeans and non-Europeans (in principle) to improve tax collection from locals. The thought was that if the diverse communities in Madras living under the Company's authority were incorporated into political decision-making they'd be more likely to pay their taxes. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.134.240.106 (talk) 18:49, 25 January 2013 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 17:23, 1 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Rabbi Salomon Halevi and Rebecca Cohen, Paradesi Jews of Madras.jpg