Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Modern India: Colonialism and the Countryside

Question:

Who organised the zoo which later on became the Calcutta Alipore Zoo?

Options:

Francis Buchanan

Augustus Cornwallis

Charles Cornwallis

Maharaja Mehtab Chand

Correct Answer:

Francis Buchanan

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (1) → Francis Buchanan

Francis Buchanan was a physician who came to India and served in the Bengal Medical Service (from 1794 to 1815). For a few years he was surgeon to the Governor-General of India, Lord Wellesley. During his stay in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata), he organised a zoo that became the Calcutta Alipore Zoo; he was also in charge of the Botanical Gardens for a short period. On the request of the Government of Bengal, he undertook detailed surveys of the areas under the jurisdiction of the British East India Company. In 1815 he fell ill and returned to England. Upon his mother’s death, he inherited her property and assumed her family name Hamilton. So he is often called Buchanan-Hamilton.