Who's the Blair after whom 'Port Blair' was named..!?
It is known that the Center has announced that the
capital of
andaman and Nicobar
port blair will be changed to "Sri Vijayapuram". The Center has announced that this name change is to free it from colonial imprints. At this time, the a debate about how the original
capital of
andaman and Nicobar got the name of Port Blair. It is known that Union
home minister amit shah announced at the "X" platform that
port blair, the
capital of
andaman and Nicobar Islands, will be changed to free the country from colonialism.
In fact, the city was previously named after Captain Archibald Blair, a naval officer who worked with the
british East
india Company. Captain Archibald Blair, a
british naval officer, joined the
bombay Marine under the
british East
india Company in 1771 as a lieutenant. Later he started a
survey mission along the coasts of
india, Iran, and Arabia. But in 1780, while on the Cape of Good Hope expedition, Blair's
journey took an unexpected turn! As part of this, he was captured by a French warship. So... he was a prisoner with them till 1784. He was eventually handed over to the Dutch. In this order, he returned to
bombay Marine. He then resumed his naval voyages. In this order, he conducted surveys across the
indian Ocean. He surveyed several areas between 1786 - 1788, including the Chagos Archipelago near the south of the Maldives, Diamond Harbor near Kolkata, and the Hooghly River. It was in this order that Blair's
survey was conducted mainly on the
andaman Islands between 1788 and 1789. Blair submitted comprehensive research related to this to the
british Governor General. His detailed report strengthened the
british Empire's decision to colonize the
andaman Islands. It was at this time that the
british aimed to build a safe harbor in the Andamans. Thus the
british government recognized that Captain Archibald Blair had discovered an excellent natural harbor with his expedition to the southern part of the Great
andaman Island. In this order, the area was named
port blair in his honor. But recently the Center has announced that this
port blair area will be renamed Sri Vijayapuram.