Tamil Nadu Timeline

Fort St. George

15 events, 1812 to 1989; 5 marked as turning points.

  1. 1812

    1. 1812Education

      College of Fort St. George founded

      Francis Whyte Ellis founded the College of Fort St. George in Madras to train officials in South Indian languages.

  2. 1814

    1. 1814 to 1820Governance

      Hugh Elliot becomes Governor of Madras

      Diplomat Hugh Elliot, earlier Governor of the Leeward Islands, governed the Madras Presidency from 1814 to 1820.

  3. 1820

    1. 1820 to 1827Governance

      Thomas Munro becomes Governor of Madras

      Thomas Munro served as Governor of Madras, establishing revenue and administrative systems that lasted into the twentieth century.

  4. 1860

    1. 1860Governance

      Governor Charles Trevelyan recalled

      Madras Governor Sir Charles Trevelyan was recalled after his government publicly opposed James Wilson's new taxation proposals for India.

  5. 1866

    1. 27 Mar 1866 to 19 Feb 1872Governance

      Lord Napier becomes Governor of Madras

      Diplomat Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier, governed the Madras Presidency from 1866 to 1872 and briefly acted as Governor-General.

  6. 1923

    1. 27 Nov 1923Politics

      Panagal ministry survives no-confidence motion

      On the first day of the new council, a no-confidence motion against the Raja of Panagal's Justice ministry was defeated 65 to 44.

  7. 1936

    1. 4 Apr 1936 to 24 Aug 1936Politics

      P. T. Rajan becomes First Minister

      For a few months, while the Raja of Bobbili was on leave, Justice Party leader P. T. Rajan was First Minister of the Madras Presidency.

  8. 1937

    1. 1 Apr 1937 to 14 Jul 1937Governance

      K. V. Reddi Naidu heads interim ministry

      When the Congress hesitated to take office after winning the 1937 election, the Governor installed an interim ministry under K. V. Reddi Naidu.

  9. 1947

    1. 15 Aug 1947Politics

      India becomes independent; Madras Province

      India gained independence and the Madras Presidency became Madras Province of the Dominion of India; Periyar called it a day of mourning.

  10. 1967

    1. 6 Mar 1967 to 3 Feb 1969Politics

      C. N. Annadurai becomes Chief Minister

      C. N. Annadurai was sworn in as the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Madras State since independence, heading a DMK government.

  11. 1968

    1. 23 Jan 1968Language

      Assembly adopts the two-language policy

      The Madras Legislative Assembly scrapped the three-language formula and removed Hindi from the school curriculum, adopting Tamil and English.

  12. 1969

    1. 10 Feb 1969 to 31 Jan 1976Politics

      M. Karunanidhi becomes Chief Minister

      M. Karunanidhi succeeded Annadurai as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and later became president of the DMK.

  13. 1974

    1. 15 Aug 1974Governance

      Chief Ministers win right to hoist flag on Independence Day

      Following Karunanidhi's demand, Chief Ministers won the right to hoist the national flag on Independence Day, and he did so at Fort St. George.

  14. 1986

    1. 1 Nov 1986Legislation

      Tamil Nadu Legislative Council abolished

      The upper house of the Tamil Nadu legislature, in existence since 1921, was abolished at the request of the MGR government.

  15. 1989

    1. 25 Mar 1989Politics

      Clash in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on budget day

      DMK and AIADMK members clashed in the Assembly as Karunanidhi rose to present the budget; Jayalalithaa left vowing to return only as Chief Minister.