Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Fort St George (or historically, White Town) is the name of the first British fortress in India, founded in 1639 at the coastal city of Madras (modern city of Chennai.) The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further settlements and trading activity, in what was originally a no man's land. Thus, it is a feasible contention to say that the city evolved around the fortress. The British East India Company, which had entered India around 1600 for trading activities, had begun licensed trading at Surat, which was its initial bastion. However, to secure its trade lines and commercial interests in the spice trade, it felt the necessity of a port closer to the Malaccan Straits. It succeeded in purchasing a piece of coastal land, originally called chennirayarpattinam (Channapatnam - by a few accounts.), from a Vijayanagar chieftain named Chennappa Nayaka based in Chandragiri, where it began construction of a harbour and a fort.