Note 93 — THE BOSCAWENS.
Reading edition
Pondicherry (or Puducheri) as it is called by the natives, seems to have had a somewhat chequered history. It was purchased by the French, from the King of Benjapore, in 1672; it was taken from them by the Dutch in 1693, who considerably enlarged the town and fortifications. At the Treaty of Ryswick it was restored to France; in 1748 it was, as we have seen, unsuccessfully besieged by Boscawen; but in 1761, after a long, tedious blockade, it was captured by Coote. At the Peace of 1763 it was again restored to France; in 1778 it was once more surrendered to England, and finally it was delivered up to France in 1783, to become the capital of the French Settlements in India.