Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata
OR:
Consulate General of the United States, Kolkata on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Consulate General of the United States in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
represents the interests of the
United States government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a feder ...
in
Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
(previously known as Calcutta),
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, and nearby surrounding areas. The
Consulate General A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...
serves the
Indian states India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...
of
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
,
Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...
,
Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...
,
Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Silig ...
,
Assam Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
,
Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of Assam: (a) the United Khasi Hills and J ...
,
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
,
Mizoram Mizoram () is a state in Northeast India, with Aizawl as its seat of government and capital city. The name of the state is derived from "Mizo", the self-described name of the native inhabitants, and "Ram", which in the Mizo language means "lan ...
,
Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...
,
Nagaland Nagaland () is a landlocked state in the northeastern region of India. It is bordered by the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh to the north, Assam to the west, Manipur to the south and the Sagaing Region of Myanmar to the east. Its capital cit ...
and
Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (, ) is a state in Northeastern India. It was formed from the erstwhile North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and became a state on 20 February 1987. It borders the states of Assam and Nagaland to the south. It shares ...
. Technically, the consulate reports through the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The U.S Consulate in Kolkata is the U.S. Department of State's second oldest Consulate and dates from November 19, 1792.


History

The official representation of the U.S. government in India began in November 1792, when the United States's first President,
George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...
, nominated Benjamin Joy, of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, to be consul. In the 1860s, the Consulate General had under its jurisdiction seven consular agencies: Aden,
Akyab Sittwe (; ; formerly Akyab) is the capital of Rakhine State, Myanmar (Burma). Sittwe, pronounced ''sait-tway'' in the Rakhine language, is located on an estuarial island created at the confluence of the Kaladan, Mayu, and Lay Mro rivers emp ...
, Bassein Chittagong, Cocanada,
Moulmein Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...
and Rangoon. The Metropolitan Building in Kolkata housed the
United States Information Service The United States Information Agency (USIA), which operated from 1953 to 1999, was a United States agency devoted to "public diplomacy". In 1999, prior to the reorganization of intelligence agencies by President George W. Bush, President Bill ...
office till 1991. During the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
, the street outside the consulate was renamed after
Ho Chi Minh (: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
. In 1995, British journalist John F. Burns characterized it as "one of the most beleaguered American diplomatic posts anywhere." An increase in the number of
information technology Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of Data (computing), data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information te ...
(IT) companies in India is leading to an expansion of the consulate.


List of consul generals

* Dean R. Thompson (August 2011–August 2015) * Patti Hoffman (19 August 2015 – 11 August 2021) * Melinda Pavek (12 August 2021–present)


2002 attack

The American Cultural Centre at the consulate was attacked on the morning of 22 January 2002 by Islamic militants. The motorcycle-borne attackers killed 5 people, four of which were
Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police Force (KPF) is one of the two presidency police forces of the Indian state of West Bengal. Kolkata Police has the task of policing the metropolitan area (apart from Bidhannagar and New Town, which are served by the Bidhannaga ...
constables and one belonged to a private security agency. Two groups claimed responsibility for the attack. A
Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami ( ar, حركة الجهاد الإسلامي, ''Ḥarkat al-Jihād al-Islāmiyah'', meaning "Islamic Jihad Movement", HuJI) is a Pakistani Islamic fundamentalist Jihadist organisation affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Talib ...
member, Farhan Malik, claimed responsibility and said the attack was in protest against "the evil empire of America", while another person claiming to be a member of Asif Raza Commandos, a gang with ties to radical Islamic groups, also claimed responsibility.


See also

*
Embassy of the United States, New Delhi The Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi is the diplomatic mission of the United States of America in the Republic of India. The Embassy is headed by the U.S. Ambassador to India. The embassy complex is situated on a 28-acre pl ...
* Consulate General of the United States, Chennai * Consulate General of the United States, Mumbai *
Consulate General of the United States, Hyderabad The Consulate General of the United States of America, Hyderabad is a United States diplomatic mission located in Hyderabad. The consulate provides visa and consular services to the Indian citizens in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. It is ...


References


External links


Official U.S. Consulate General Kolkata website
Diplomatic missions in India Kolkata CG India–United States relations
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
1792 establishments in India {{US-gov-stub