Tamil Nadu Timeline

DiplomacyEast India Company rule

Pondicherry and Karaikal restored to France

· Puducherry

Pondicherry and Karaikal restored to France
Sodacan, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

After the Napoleonic Wars, Britain returned Pondicherry, Karaikal and the other French settlements in India to France in 1816.

Britain had occupied the French settlements in India from 1803 during the Napoleonic Wars. Under the Treaty of Paris of 1814, the five establishments of Pondichery, Karikal, Yanaon, Mahe and Chandernagore were returned to France, and the British occupation of Pondicherry ended on 26 September 1816. The governor of the French establishments in India from then was based at Pondicherry. Pondicherry and Karaikal on the Tamil coast remained French until their transfer to India in 1954.

Related events

  1. 1813

    1. 1813LondonLegislation

      Charter Act of 1813

      Renewing the Company's charter, Parliament abolished its India trade monopoly, admitted missionaries and funded education.

  2. 1815

    1. 20 Sep 1815TharangambadiDiplomacy

      Tranquebar handed back to Denmark

      Britain returned Tranquebar (Tharangambadi), occupied since 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars, to Danish rule on 20 September 1815.

  3. 1825

    1. 1 Jun 1825PulicatDiplomacy

      Dutch possessions on the Coromandel Coast pass to Britain

      Under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824, the Dutch ceded their Coromandel settlements, including Pulicat, to the British on 1 June 1825.

  4. 1908

    1. 1908 to 1918PuducherryLiterature

      Subramania Bharati goes into exile in Pondicherry

      Facing an arrest warrant, the poet and journalist Subramania Bharati moved to French-ruled Pondicherry, where he lived for about ten years.

  5. 1954

    1. 1 Nov 1954PuducherryDiplomacy

      French India transferred de facto to India after the Kizhoor referendum

      After the Kizhoor referendum, Pondicherry, Karaikal, Yanam and Mahe passed de facto from France to the Indian Union.

  6. 1962

    1. 16 Aug 1962PuducherryDiplomacy

      De jure transfer of the French settlements to India

      Once France ratified the Treaty of Cession, Pondicherry and the other former French settlements legally became part of India.

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