Fort Williams Renamed as Vijay Durg

• 14 Feb 2025

Source: TH 

Fort William, the Indian Army’s Eastern Command HQ in Kolkata, has been renamed Vijay Durg to remove colonial imprints. It is named after Maharashtra's oldest Sindhudurg fort, a former Maratha naval base under Chhatrapati Shivaji. 

• Other changes include renaming Kitchener House, inside the fort to Manekshaw House and St. George’s Gate to Shivaji Gate. 

About Fort Williams: 

• The fort is located in Kolkata on the eastern banks of the Hooghly River and was originally named after King William III of England. 
  • The original fort was built by the British in 1696 under Sir John Goldsborough and completed in 1706.  
  • It was damaged during the Siege of Calcutta (1756) when Siraj-ud-Daulah defeated the British.  
  • After the Battle of Plassey (1757), Robert Clive rebuilt it at a new location between 1758 and 1781. 
• Significance: 
  • Site of the Black Hole of Calcutta incident (1756). 
  • It houses a war memorial with artifacts from the 1971 Indo-Pak War and Bangladesh Liberation War. 

Other Similar Renamings: 

• Renaming Rajpath to Kartavya Path and Port Blair to Sri Vijaya Puram. 
• The Indian Navy adopted a new ensign, removing colonial symbols (2022). 

Read More: British Conquest for Bengal: Battles of Plassey and Buxar