Hooghly

River and city in West Bengal, India; population (1991) 151,800. The river is the western and most commercially important stream of the Ganges delta, providing access to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta); length 320 km/198 mi. The city is on the site of a factory set up by the East India Company in 1640, which was moved to Kolkata, 40 km/25 mi downstream, 1686–90. Alongside the River Hooghly there is a concentration of factories which process cotton, rice, and jute, and manufacture rubber goods and chemicals.

Hooghly was founded by the Portuguese in 1537 and in 1651 became the first English settlement in lower Bengal, while in nearby Chinsura the Dutch set up a trading post in 1656. Hooghly and Chinsura, became a joint municipality in 1865. The Hooghly River has been adversely affected by silting, and water from the Ganges has been diverted by the Farakka barrage to increase flow and improve navigability. To accommodate bulk cargo vessels a deep-water port at Haldia has been constructed, together with a 2.5 million tonne oil refinery, operational since 1975.