The Central government on September 13 announced that Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, will now be known as Sri Vijaya Puram. This has been done to remove the colonial imprints of the earlier name. But who was the Blair after whom Port Blair was named?
Port Blair was named after British Naval officer Archibald Blair as a tribute by the British for his work in colonial expansion in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. (Image: Port Blair Airport/Andaman and Nicobar Islands)
In Short
- Port Blair has been renamed Sri Vijaya Puram to shed the colonial imprints
- Port Blair was named by the British government after naval officer Archibald Blair
- It was named after Blair as a recognition of his role in British colonial expansion
The Central government on Friday, announced that Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, is now Sri Vijaya Puram. Home Minister Amit Shah took to his X account and said, “Inspired by the vision of PM Narendra Modi Ji, to free the nation from the colonial imprints, today we have decided to rename Port Blair as Sri Vijaya Puram.”
The name Port Blair is said to have carried a colonial legacy.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said, “Sri Vijaya Puram symbolises the victory achieved in our freedom struggle and the A&N Islands’ unique role in the same. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands have an unparalleled place in our freedom struggle and history. The island territory that once served as the naval base of the Chola Empire is today poised to be the critical base for our strategic and development aspirations,” he adds.
“It is also the place that hosted the first unfurling of our Tiranga by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Ji and also the Cellular Jail in which Veer Savarkar Ji and other freedom fighters struggled for an independent nation,” added Shah.
While the new name underscores the city’s role in the Indian Independence struggle, the old name was derived from Lieutenant Archibald Blair, a British naval officer from the 18th century.
WHO IS THE BLAIR OF PORT BLAIR?
The city, then a fishing hamlet, was named after Lieutenant Archibald Blair, a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the early 18th century. Blair’s career was marked by a series of contributions to British colonial efforts. His presence in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands was part of a broader strategy to establish British control over this remote and strategically important region.
In 1789, the Government of Bengal laid the foundation of a penal colony on Chatham Island in the southeast bay of Great Andaman, and named it in honour of Archibald Blair.
Blair’s most crucial contributions to the island group came during the British initiative to explore and develop the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which were then largely unchartered.
He surveyed the islands and established early administration in the area. This laid the groundwork for subsequent colonial development and set the stage for Port Blair to emerge as a central hub in the islands’ colonial administration. He mapped and assessed the region, which proved crucial for the Raj, who wanted to make the most of what would become Port Blair.
The naming of Port Blair in his memory showed his importance in the British colonial expansion in the eastern Bay of Bengal. Later, the port became a pivotal point for military, administrative, and trade activities in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It served as the operational centre for the British, enabling them to exert control and manage the adjoining islands more effectively.
The port’s development under Blair’s oversight helped transform the area into a key node in the British maritime network.
While detailed personal records about Blair’s life are sparse, his professional achievements in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands left a lasting impact, resulting in naming the town after him.
This is the history of how a fishing village got named Port Blair as a tribute to a British naval officer. Renaming it to Sri Vijaya Puram is a fitting tribute to the city’s contribution in the making of the new Independent India.
5 Points About Archibald Blair, After Whom Port Blair Was Named
Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, was originally named after Captain Archibald Blair, a British colonial naval officer.
Five Points About Archibald Blair:
1) Captain Archibald Blair joined the Bombay Marine, the naval force of the British East India Company, as a lieutenant in 1771. His naval career was largely defined by his work surveying and exploring remote regions under British control, particularly the Andaman Islands, between December 1788 and April 1789.
2) Captain Blair’s findings were presented to the British governor-general on June 12, 1789, and his reports played a key role in the British decision to colonise the islands.
3) During his expedition, Archibald Blair discovered a natural harbour in the southern part of Great Andaman Island, which he initially named Port Cornwallis, in honour of Commodore William Cornwallis, Commander-in-Chief of the British-Indian Navy. This port was later renamed Port Blair in his honour.
4) Archibald Blair established the first British settlement on Chatham Island in 1789, where he oversaw the building of cottages and the clearing of forests. He recognised the strategic value of the harbour and ensured that it would serve as a key point for British operations in the area.
5) Despite his initial success, the settlement faced significant challenges, including disease and resistance from local tribes. The colony was eventually relocated to a new site, but this too ended in failure. Captain Blair returned to England in 1795. His work, however, laid the groundwork for the British presence in the Andaman Islands, which later became a penal colony in 1858, with the first prisoners being freedom fighters from the First War of Indian Independence.
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