'Part of the Black Town, Madras'

One of ten coloured aquatints by and after Thomas Daniell, from Part 5 of the series 'Oriental Scenery' published by Thomas Daniell, London, September 1797.

After the East India Company had founded its Madras trading post in 1639, local merchants and tradesmen from the surrounding region settled along the coast north of Fort St George, in what became known as 'Black Town,' as opposed to the 'White Town' in the fort. The area was renamed Georgetown after the visit of King George V in 1905.