Le vieux Pondichéry (1673-1824) revisité d’après les plans anciens
by Jean Deloche

The discovery of new cartographic material relating to the origins of the urban development and social structure of Pondicherry at crucial moments of its history considerably modifies our representation of the town. On the basis of all the documentation that is currently available in Archives in France and in the Netherlands, the author shows us how, from a simple town of craftsmen, this settlement became a metropolis structured according to a rigorous urban plan. He also shows us how the defense system of the place developed from a modest rectangular fort built by François Martin to the Fort Louis and the large outer fortification at the time of Dupleix, until its final decay at the end of the 18th century. We are thus able to see, beneath the surface, the many layers of Pondicherry’s past.