Madras is on the coast of Coromandel,
the first English outpost in India and it was established
in 1639. The town was besieged and taken several times
by the French.
Madras became the headquarters of the all
important cotton fabric industry. The textile industry was
something that had enormous appeal to the Europeans who fought
each other tooth and nail in an effort to establish the monopoly
in this crucial trade. There were two kinds of cotton fabrics
muslin (jamdanis and organdies) and cloths (guineas salempuris,
percaline and madras).
