Home > Terms > English, UK (UE) > Black Hole of Calcutta
Black Hole of Calcutta
A dungeon located at Fort William in Calcutta. It is notable as many British prisoners of war were held in this dungeon when it was captured by the Nawab of Bengal in 1756. So many prisoners were held in there at one time that most of them died from heat exhaustion or stroke, with a final death tally estimated to be as high as 123.
In recent times the account of this event has had its veracity challenged for a number of reasons. There has never been independent confirmation of this event happening and it has never been possible to match the numbers claimed with the number of missing POWs in the conflict.
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- Industry/Domain: History
- Category: British history
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