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Port Blair (), officially named Sri Vijaya Puram, is the capital city of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a union territory of India in the Bay of Bengal. It is also the local administrative sub-division ( tehsil) of the islands, the headquarters for the district of South Andaman, and the territory's only notified town.
Port Blair is the entry point for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is connected with mainland India by both air and sea. It is a two to three-hour flight from mainland India to Port Blair's Veer Savarkar International Airport and three to four days by sea to reach Kolkata, Chennai, or Visakhapatnam from Haddo Wharf in the city. It is home to several museums and the major naval base INS Jarawa of the Indian Navy, along with sea and air bases of the Indian Coast Guard, Andaman and Nicobar Police, Andaman and Nicobar Command, the first integrated tri-command between the Indian Armed Forces, Indian Air Force and the navy.
The historic Cellular Jail is in the city, and nearby small islands such as Corbyn's Cove, Wandoor, Ross Island and Viper Island were once home to British colonists. The city was named after Captain Archibald Blair, a British surveyor and officer in the Bombay Marine (now the Indian Navy). Andaman Society Pioneer Biographies On 13 September 2024, the Government of India officially renamed the city to Sri Vijaya Puram.
In 1824 Port Cornwallis was the rendezvous of the fleet carrying the army to the First Anglo-Burmese War. In the 1830s and 1840s, shipwrecked crews who landed on the Andaman Islands were often attacked and killed by the natives, alarming the British Raj. In 1855, the government proposed another settlement on the islands, including a convict establishment, but the Indian Rebellion of 1857 forced a delay in its construction.
However, since the rebellion provided the British with a lot of new prisoners, it made the new Andaman settlement and prison an urgent necessity. Construction began in November 1857 at the renovated Port Blair, avoiding the vicinity of a saltwater swamp that seemed to have been the source of many of the old colony's problems. The penal colony was originally on Viper Island. The convicts, mostly political prisoners, suffered life imprisonment at Penal labour under cruel and degrading conditions. Many were hanged, while others died of disease and starvation. Between 1864 and 1867 a penal establishment was also built with convict labour on the northern side of Ross Island. T. Ramakrishnan, "Notorious Once, It Stands Shrouded in Silence" These structures now lie in ruins.http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ross_island.htm Ross Island
As the Indian independence movement continued to grow in the late 19th century, the enormous Cellular Jail was constructed between 1896 and 1906 to house Indian convicts, mostly political prisoners, in solitary confinement. The Cellular Jail is also known as Kala Pani (translated as "Black Waters"), a name given to it due to the torture and general ill-treatment of its Indian convicts.
In World War II the islands were occupied by the Japanese on 23 March 1942 without opposition from the garrison. From 1943 to 1944, Port Blair served as the headquarters of the Azad Hind government under Subhas Chandra Bose. British forces returned to the islands in October 1945.
Although affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Port Blair survived sufficiently to act as a base for relief efforts in the islands. In 2017 it was selected as one of the cities to be developed as a smart city under the Smart Cities Mission.
Highest recorded temperature: on 20 April 2013
Lowest recorded temperature: on 5 June 1986
India [[census]], Port Blair had a population of 100,608. Males constitute 52.92% (53,247) of the population and females 47.07% (47,361). 9.3% of the population is under the age of 6 years.
Tamil language 40,323
Telugu language 32,628
Hindi language 31,520
Bengali language 28,063
Malayalam 13,670
Sadri language 3,479
Kurukh language 3,459
The recent elections for the council were held in 2022. U. Kavitha from Ward 24 a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party was elected as the chairperson for the first term which commenced on 16 March 2022. On 14 March 2023, Telugu Desam Party councillor S. Selvi from Ward 5 was elected as the chairperson for the second year term commencing from 16 March 2023 as part of the joint candidature from the BJP-TDP Alliance.
| 2015 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |
| 2022 | 10 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
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