Tamil Nadu Timeline

EnvironmentEast India Company rule

Madras Zoo begins at the Government Museum

· Egmore

Madras Zoo begins at the Government Museum
Yakshitha, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Edward Balfour started a zoological park in the Government Museum premises, the origin of today's Vandalur zoo.

Edward Balfour, who had founded the Madras Government Museum in 1851, kept live animals in its natural history section. In 1855 he started a small zoological park in the museum premises, and persuaded the Nawab of the Carnatic to donate his animal collection. This Madras Zoo was among the earliest zoos in India. It moved to People's Park in 1863 and to Vandalur in 1985, where it is now the Arignar Anna Zoological Park.

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  1. 1819

    1. 1819EgmoreHealth

      Madras Eye Infirmary established

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  2. 1850

    1. 1850EgmoreCulture

      Madras School of Art founded

      Surgeon Alexander Hunter founded a private art school in Madras, today's Government College of Fine Arts.

  3. 1851

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  4. 1854

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      The Imperial Hotel, later the Connemara, opened in 1854 and is the oldest functioning hotel in Chennai.

  5. 1889

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      Victoria Technical Institute opens in Madras

      Marking Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, the Victoria Technical Institute opened on Pantheon Road in Egmore.

  6. 1908

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