What is Black Hole of Calcutta?
[[File:Black Hole of Calcutta 1908.jpg|thumb|The Black Hole of Calcutta enclosed by a railing]] '''Black Hole of Calcutta''' was a [[dungeon]] in old Fort William, [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], [[India]]. It was 18 feet (5.5 metres) long and 14 feet (4 metres) wide, and had two small windows.<ref name=ebr>{{cite web |url=http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/black-hole-calcutta |title=The Black Hole of Calcutta |author=Richard Cavendish |publisher=History Today Ltd |access-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> The fort was built by the British to defend their trading interests in Calcutta. During hostilities in 1756, the fort was captured by the army of the Nawab of Bengal on 20 June.<ref name=ebr/> John Zephaniah Holwell, a British eyewitness, reported that those taken in the capture of the fort, numbering 146, were confined to the dungeon, and that only 23 survived.<ref name=ebr/> The story was told by John Zephaniah Holwell, a survivor.<ref name=bhcUCLA>{{cite web |url=https://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/Blackh.html |title=Black Hole of Calcutta |author=Social Sciences Division UCLA |access-date=19 February 2016}}</ref> However, 146 people could not have fit in a room of 24 x 18 feet. Today most concede that Holwell greatly exaggerated the number of captives.<ref name=bhcUCLA/> The British captured and killed the Nawab. An [[obelisk]] was later raised in memory of those who died in the Black Hole. Holwell's account of the incident has been challenged by modern [[historian]]s and [[scholar]]s.<ref name=ebr/> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Further reading== * Holwell, John Zephaniah. ''A Genuine Narrative of the Deplorable Deaths of the English Gentlemen and others who were suffocated in the Black Hole''. London, 1758. [[Category:Prisons in Asia]] [[Category:18th century in India]] [[Category:Kolkata]] [[Category:1756]] {{history-stub}}