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Madras Day is observed every year on 22 August; the 2026 edition marks the 387th year since the founding of Madras in 1639 and is the 23rd observance since the day was started in 2004.
On 22 August 1639 the English East India Company, through Francis Day and Andrew Cogan, obtained a strip of the Coromandel coast at Madraspatnam from Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka, a Nayaka chief under the Vijayanagara Empire.
The settlement grew around Fort St George, the first English fortress built in India, completed on 23 April 1644 - St George's Day - and split into the European White Town and the Indian Black Town.
Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu on 14 January 1969 under the Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968; the city itself was officially renamed Chennai in July 1996.
Madras Day began in 2004 on the initiative of journalist Vincent D'Souza and historian S. Muthiah, and is now marked by heritage walks, lectures, exhibitions and quizzes across the city.
English East India Company obtains a strip of the Coromandel coast at Madraspatnam from Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka
Francis Day and Andrew Cogan arrive at Madraspatnam and take possession of the site
Fort St George completed on St George's Day - the first English fortress in India
The former Madras Province becomes Madras State, covering areas now in several present-day states
Madras State officially renamed Tamil Nadu under the Madras State (Alteration of Name) Act, 1968
The city of Madras officially renamed Chennai
First Madras Day celebrated, on the initiative of journalist Vincent D'Souza and historian S. Muthiah
Records of the Madraspatnam grant survive with two different dates - 22 July 1639 and 22 August 1639 - and because the documentation is not consistent, historians have argued for both. When Madras Day was instituted in 2004 the organisers settled on 22 August, and that is the date now observed by the city and its diaspora. The choice is a commemorative convention rather than a settled archival fact, which is a useful reminder that many foundation days in Indian urban history are chosen rather than documented.
Simple Analogy: Like a family that keeps celebrating a grandparent's birthday on one fixed day even though two different dates appear on the old papers - the celebration is real even if the paperwork disagrees.
Madras (Fort St George), Calcutta (Fort William) and Bombay (Bombay Castle) were the three seats of Company power that became the Madras, Bengal and Bombay Presidencies. Fort St George was the earliest of the three.
Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka made the grant as a Nayaka under the Vijayanagara Empire, showing that even after the empire's decline its Nayaka feudatories were the effective granting authority on the Coromandel coast.
Madras State, formed after 1947 from the old Madras Province, was progressively reduced by linguistic reorganisation before being renamed Tamil Nadu in 1969.
Chennai's December Music Season, centred on its sabhas, makes the city the principal institutional home of Carnatic music and Bharatanatyam - a standard art-and-culture question.
GS Paper 1 > Modern Indian History > Advent of the Europeans and the East India Company
General Awareness > History and Static GK
General Awareness > Important Days and Indian History
General Awareness > Important Days
The coastal village on the Coromandel coast whose grant in 1639 to the English East India Company led to the growth of Madras.
The fortified factory built by the English East India Company at Madras, completed on 23 April 1644; the first English fortress in India and today the seat of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and Secretariat.
The European quarter around Fort St George and the adjoining Indian settlement of merchants and weavers, which together formed early Madras.
A military-administrative chief holding territory under the Vijayanagara Empire; Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka held such authority over the Madras coast.
The Central Act under which Madras State became Tamil Nadu with effect from 14 January 1969.