Kolkata District spans an area of about 3150 sq km and comprises three municipal corporations and 29 municipalities. With its headquarters at the historic city of
Kolkata, the capital of the state of
West Bengal, the district is a major center of industrial, cultural, academic, administrative and business activity.
The Hooghly River, a tributary of the Ganges, flows through Kolkata District. The average rainfall amounts to about 160 cm. Cool in winter, the region is hot and humid from March through September. The main languages spoken in this densely populated district are Bengali, English and Hindi.
There are numerous places of tourist interest in Kolkata District. These include old fort,
BBD Bagh, Writers’ Building, the Gothic-style High Court, Victoria Memorial, Zoological Garden, Dakshineswar Temple,
Eden Garden, Marble Palace and Nakhoda Mosque.
The chief means of transport in the Kolkata metropolitan area are buses, trams, and trains. There are two main rail terminuses- one at Sealdah in the east central part of Kolkata and the other at Howrah across the river Hooghly. Kolkata’s international airport, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport, is at Dum Dum, about 16 km from Kolkata city.
