KOLKATA - CITY OF JOY The city’s former name, Calcutta , is an Anglicized version of the Bengali name Kalikata . According to some, Kalikata is derived from the Bengali word Kalikshetra , meaning “Ground of (the goddess) Kali .” Some say the city’s name derives from the location of its original settlement on the bank of a canal ( khal ) . A third opinion traces it to the Bengali words for lime (calcium oxide; kali ) and burnt shell ( kata ) , since the area was noted for the manufacture of shell lime. In 2001 the government of West Bengal officially changed the name of the city to Kolkata. Area city, 40 square miles (104 square km); urban agglom., 533 square miles (1,380 square km). Pop. (2011) 4,486,679; urban agglom., 14,112,536. Character of the City Fashioned by the colonial British in the manner of a grand European capital—yet now set in one of the poorest and most overpopulated regions of India—Kolkata has grown into a city of sharp contrasts and con...
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