Page 592 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - India

590  SOUTH INDIA

7 Street-by-Street: Puducherry

The former capital of French territories in India,
Puducherry was established in 1674 by François Government
Martin, the first director of the French East India Square
Company. The town is laid out in a grid pattern, A pavilion
with parallel streets cutting across each other at stands in the
right angles. Its main promenade, the 3-km (2-mile) centre of
this tree-
long Goubert Salai running along the Bay of Bengal, lined square.
formed part of the French Quarter, with its elegant
colonial mansions, tree-lined boulevards, parks,
bars and cafés. Beyond this was a canal, now dry,
that demarcated the Tamil Town, where the
local populace once lived. V I C T O R S I M O N E L S T R E E T

C A S E R N E S T R E E T MAHÉ DE LABOURDONNAIS STREET M A N A K U L A V I N A Y A K A R

Le Café, a popular
restaurant on
Goubert Salai. G O U B E R T S A L A I ( B E A C H R O A D )

A Statue of Mahatma ST MARTIN STREET
Gandhi, 4 m (13 ft)
0 metres 80 high, stands on a
0 yards 80 pedestal surrounded
by eight stone pillars.

Joseph François Dupleix
Puducherry’s colonial past is intricately interwoven
with the life of the redoubtable Marquis Joseph
François Dupleix, governor between 1742 and
1754. This energetic statesman tried valiantly to
. Church of Our prevent British supremacy by forming alliances
Lady of the Angels with local princes. This power struggle was
Built in 1865, this aggravated by the War of Austrian Succession in
striking church boasts Europe between England and France. With the
a rare oil painting final defeat of the French in the Second Carnatic
of Our Lady of the War, Dupleix relinquished his governorship and
Assumption, a gift returned in disgrace to Paris. His memorial Dupleix
from the French statue is on Goubert Salai. (1697–1764)
emperor, Napoleon III.
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp702–703 and pp717–18

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