The Streets of the French Quarter

Rue de la Marine

Named after The French Navy & Merchant Marine

Welcome to Rue de la Marine, the street closest to the sea, named not for any person but for the sea…

Rue Dumas

Named after Pierre Benoît Dumas, Governor-General 1735–1741

Welcome to Rue Dumas, named after the Governor-General who built the palace, secured a second harbou…

Rue Suffren

Named after Vice-Admiral Pierre André de Suffren de Saint Tropez

Welcome to Rue Suffren, named after the admiral whose fleet passed just offshore in 1782 and 1783, f…

Rue Romain Rolland

Named after Romain Rolland, French writer and Nobel laureate

Welcome to Rue Romain Rolland, the only street in the White Town named after someone who never set f…

Rue François Martin

Named after François Martin, founder of French Pondicherry

Welcome to Rue François Martin, named after the man who founded French Pondicherry. He left France i…

Rue Saint Louis

Named after Saint Louis (Louis IX of France)

Welcome to Rue Saint Louis, named after King Louis IX of France, who died on Crusade in 1270 and bec…

Rue Desbassayns de Richemont

Named after Vicomte de Richemont, colonial administrator

Welcome to Rue Desbassayns de Richemont, named after the Restoration administrator who founded the F…

Rue Law de Lauriston

Named after Jean Law de Lauriston, Governor-General of French India

Welcome to Rue Law de Lauriston. The man whose name is on this street surrendered to Robert Clive in…

Rue Victor Simonnel

Named after Victor Simonnel, soldier from Pondicherry killed at Verdun in the First World War

Welcome to Rue Victor Simonnel, one of the busiest streets in the White Town. It runs north to south…

Avenue Goubert

Named after Édouard Goubert (1894-1974), mayor of Pondicherry and the man who ended French India

Welcome to Avenue Goubert, the promenade by the sea. Locals call it Beach Road, or simply the Promen…

Sri Aurobindo Street

Named after Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872–1950), philosopher, yogi, and nationalist who lived in Pondicherry from 1910 until his death

Welcome to Sri Aurobindo Street, named after the philosopher, yogi, and former revolutionary nationa…

Hyder Ali Street

Named after Hyder Ali (c.1720–1782), de facto ruler of Mysore and France's most significant Indian ally after the fall of Pondicherry

Welcome to Hyder Ali Street, a small street named after the self-made Sultan of Mysore who twice hum…

Bharathi Street

Named after Subramania Bharati (1882–1921), Tamil poet and nationalist who lived in Pondicherry from 1908 to 1919

Welcome to Bharathi Street, named after Subramania Bharati, the greatest Tamil poet of the modern er…

VOC Street

Named after Valliappan Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai (1872–1936), freedom fighter, lawyer, and founder of the first indigenous Indian shipping company

Welcome to VOC Street, named after V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, known universally as VOC, the Tamil lawy…

Nainiappa Pillai Street

Named after Nainiappa Pillai (died 1716), chief broker of the French East India Company in Pondicherry, whose story led directly to his nephew Ananda Ranga Pillai

Welcome to Nainiappa Pillai Street, named after the first great Tamil broker of French Pondicherry, …

Rue Lally-Tollendal

Named after Thomas Arthur de Lally-Tollendal, last French military governor

Welcome to Rue Lally-Tollendal, named after the commander who surrendered Pondicherry in January 176…

Rue de la Compagnie

Named after Compagnie des Indes (French East India Company)

Welcome to Rue de la Compagnie, named after the Compagnie des Indes, the French East India Company f…

Rue Dumont d'Urville

Named after Jules Dumont d'Urville, French naval explorer

Welcome to Rue Dumont d'Urville, named after the French naval explorer who mapped Antarctica, named …

Jawaharlal Nehru Street

Named after Joseph François Dupleix, Governor-General 1742–1754

You are on Jawaharlal Nehru Street, the main east-west axis of the White Town and the busiest shoppi…

Rue Mahé de La Bourdonnais

Named after Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, naval commander

Welcome to Rue Mahé de La Bourdonnais, named after the naval commander who captured Madras in 1746, …

Rue Capitaine Marius

Named after Captain François Marius Xavier, Tamil officer of the French Colonial Infantry from Reddiarpalayam

Welcome to Rue Capitaine Marius, named after a Tamil officer of the French Colonial Infantry who was…

Rue Bussy

Named after Charles Joseph Patissier, Marquis de Bussy-Castelnau, Dupleix's lieutenant and later Governor-General

Welcome to Rue Bussy, named after Dupleix's most gifted lieutenant: the man who spent eight years ru…

Marine Street

Named after La Marine, the French navy: the institution that sustained Pondicherry's connection with France across three centuries of ocean

Welcome to Marine Street, named after the French navy that sustained Pondicherry's connection with F…

St. Gilles Street

Named after Saint Aegidius (Saint Gilles, c.640-710 AD), Provençal hermit and one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers of medieval Catholic tradition

Welcome to St. Gilles Street, named after Saint Aegidius, the Provençal hermit who became one of the…

Bazar Saint Laurent Street

Named after Saint Lawrence (Saint Laurent, 225-258 AD), Christian martyr; 'Bazar' indicates this was a market street

Welcome to Bazar Saint Laurent Street, one of the most colourful streets in the White Town. 'Bazar' …

Caserne Street

Named after La Caserne (the barracks), the military garrison of French colonial Pondicherry

Welcome to Caserne Street. Caserne is French for barracks. This small street is named after the mili…

Rue Saint Ange

Named after Saint Ange (Angelo of Jerusalem, c.1185-1225), Carmelite priest and martyr killed in Licata, Sicily

Welcome to Rue Saint Ange, a street that crosses boundaries. It runs from the Cathedral in the old t…

Surcouf Street

Named after Robert Surcouf (1773-1827), French privateer from Saint-Malo who raided British East India Company shipping in the Indian Ocean

Welcome to Surcouf Street, named after Robert Surcouf, the French privateer from Saint-Malo who terr…

Rue de l'Évêché

Named after The Évêché (bishop's palace), seat of the Catholic Diocese of Pondicherry

Welcome to Rue de l'Évêché, one of the smallest streets in the White Town. Évêché means bishop's pal…

Rue Baslieu

Named after Baslieu, wealthy settler who bequeathed his fortune to the poor children and widows of Pondicherry

Welcome to Rue Baslieu, named after a wealthy settler who died just before the Seven Years War with …

Ananda Rangapillai Street

Named after Ananda Ranga Pillai (1709-1761), dubash to Dupleix and author of the most important Indian diary of the French colonial period

Welcome to Ananda Rangapillai Street, named after the man who ran French India from the inside. He w…

Rue Dupuy

Named after André Julien, Comte Dupuy, Governor-General of Pondicherry 1816-1825

Welcome to Rue Dupuy, named after the Governor who gave French Pondicherry a second beginning. André…

Rue Bellecombe

Named after Guillaume Léonard de Bellecombe, Governor-General of Pondicherry 1777-1778

Welcome to Rue Bellecombe, named after the Governor-General who held Pondicherry against a British s…

Labourdonnais Street

Named after Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, naval commander who captured Madras in 1746

Welcome to Labourdonnais Street, named after the admiral from Saint-Malo who captured Madras for Fra…

Mission Street

Named after The French Catholic missionaries of the Missions Étrangères de Paris, who established the Church in Pondicherry from 1674

Welcome to Mission Street, named after the French Catholic missionaries who arrived in Pondicherry i…

Petit Canal Street

Named after The Petit Canal, the drainage and stormwater channel that historically marked the boundary between the colonial White Town and the Tamil Black Town

Welcome to Petit Canal Street. The canal this street is named after was not a waterway in the Veneti…

Laporte Street

Named after Ponnoutamby Laporte (Ponnu Thambi Pillai), Tamil advocate and politician who fought for legal equality between Indian and European French citizens

Welcome to Laporte Street, named after Ponnoutamby Laporte, the Tamil advocate who spent his career …

Chanda Sahib Street

Named after Chanda Sahib (died 1752), Nawab of the Carnatic and principal Indian ally of Dupleix in the Carnatic Wars

Welcome to Chanda Sahib Street, named after the man Dupleix chose to be Nawab of the Carnatic. He wa…

Tip Sahib Street

Named after Tipu Sultan (1751–1799), Sultan of Mysore and France's most ideologically committed Indian ally

Welcome to Tip Sahib Street, named after Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, the last Indian ruler to …

Cardinal de Beausset Street

Named after Louis-François de Bausset-Roquefort (1748–1824), Cardinal, Bishop, historian and member of the Académie française, born in Pondicherry

Welcome to Cardinal de Beausset Street, named after the one significant French intellectual figure b…