The new Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, decided to reduce East India Company influence and, using a dispute about British fortification of the city, he ousted them. He then imprisoned 146 Europeans in a small cell and 123 died from heat exhaustion. The episode, which was probably the result of accident or simple incompetence by lower ranks, became known as “the Black Hole of Calcutta” and became a symbol of æoriental barbarism’.
Please log in to
consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing
institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on
campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we
offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If
you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal
subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.
69 words
Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "British ousted from Calcutta by Mogul forces". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4182, accessed 23 November 2024.]
