GS Paper - II

Port Blair, the capital city of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, will now be known as ‘Sri Vijaya Puram’, Union Minister Amit Shah said on 13 September 2024. The decision of changing the name was inspired by “to free the nation from colonial imprints”. Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same.”

How did Port Blair get its name?

• The city of Port Blair is the entry point of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It was named after Archibald Blair, a naval surveyor and lieutenant in the Bombay Marine.
• Blair was the first officer to carry out a thorough survey of the Andaman Islands.
• After joining the Bombay Marine in 1771, Blair set out on a survey mission along the coasts of India, Iran, and Arabia next year.
• By the late 1780s, he had participated in a number of survey missions, including those in the Chagos archipelago, Diamond Harbour located in the south of Calcutta, and along the Hooghly River.
• In December 1778, Blair left for his first surveying voyage to the Andamans from Calcutta, along with two ships, Elizabeth and Viper.
• The expedition, which lasted till April 1779, took him around the west coast of the island, thereby sailing north along the eastern coast he reached the natural harbour which he initially named as Port Cornwallis (after Commodore William Cornwallis, Commander-in-chief of the British Indian Army).
• Later the island was renamed after him. Blair was immediately aware of the significance of his discovery and wrote a detailed report of his survey, which was received very positively by the East India Company (EIC) officials.
• The Revolt of 1857 resulted in a large number of prisoners for the British, prompting the immediate renovation and resettlement of Port Blair as a penal colony.
• Most of the convicts received life imprisonment at Port Blair. Several of them were hanged, while many died due to disease and the degrading conditions in the region.
• With the strengthening of the Indian Independence Movement in the late 19th century, a huge cellular jail was established here by 1906. Popularly known as Kaala Paani, it housed several freedom fighters, including Veer Damodar Savarkar.
• Meanwhile, Blair had already returned to England in 1795 and is known to have read an account of the Andaman Islands before the Royal Society of London in 1799.