Plan de Pondichery la côte of Coromandel occupé par la Compagnie Royale des Indes cartographic Orientales..

Detailed plan of the town of Pondicherry, founded in 1674 as the capital of French India. A masterpiece of European Enlightenment Era urban planning, it was predicated on a rational geometric design with even grids of broad tree-lined streets, public squares and grand public edifices.

The city is here shown before its eventual plan was completed during the mid-18th Century. The map labels numerous key points on the ‘Renvoy’ (References), labelled A to Y.
The city is centred on A, the Fort of Pondicherry, while the French Quarter is located along the waterfront, while the New French Quarter is located inland to the right. Other key sites include E. the Jesuit mission; G. the Great Bazaar; P. Company Gardens; V. La Blancherie (where textiles, the lifeblood of the local economy, were bleached and colored).
Later in the 18th Century, the Oupar River, which flowed along the south side of the town, was diverted, opening up a large new southwestern district for the city, which was soon enclosed by walls and built up, giving the city its complete ovoid form, while many sumptuous neo-classical building would be constructed. Since 1674, Pondicherry had served as the epicentre of French operations in India. France, due in good part to its preoccupation with its own internal problems, was a comparative latecomer to India amongst the great European powers. In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu charted a company that in 1664, under Jean-Baptiste Colbert’s oversight, become the Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales (the French East India Company). The Company was granted a monopoly on all French trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, and sought to rival the EIC and the VOC’s windfall profits.
François Caron (1600 - 1673), a Huguenot adventurer who was a veteran of VOC service, became the Director-General of the Company in 1667. He subsequently led a mission to India ably assisted by a Persian merchant named Marcara. He established the first French factory in India at Surat in 1668, while Marcara founded a factory at Masulipatnam in 1669.
In 1673, the French acquired a firman from the Sultan of Bijapur, permitting them to build a factory at Pondicherry. In 1674, François Martin, the first resident governor of French India, arrived in Pondicherry with a determination to create a grand new capital city befitting the Company’s lofty ambitions. Over the next two decades, the French created a thriving factory town that soon became famous for the high quality cloth made by Tamil weavers. A weaver’s colony, large warehouses and trading rooms were constructed, along with Fort Barlong (1686), while the initial blocks of Pondicherry’s signature grid of streets was laid out.
In 1693, Pondicherry was captured by the Dutch who greatly improved its defences, as they supposedly intended to permanently retain the town. However, Pondicherry was returned to France in 1699, pursuant to the Treaty of Rijswijk (1697).
In the period that followed the French embarked upon an ambitious building programme. This included the completion of Fort Louis in 1706, built to the specifications of the legendary military architect Sebastian de Vauban, as well as numerous churches and public buildings (the initial construction of which is visible here).
Pondicherry was naturally a key target of the British East India Company (EIC) during their epic contest against France for colonial domination of Southern India. The British captured Pondicherry in 1748 (returning it shortly thereafter), and again in 1761, after which they levelled the city. Pondicherry was subsequently returned to France and rebuilt. Apart from occasional periods of British occupation prior to 1816, France would remain in possession of its outposts of Pondicherry (Pondicherry), Mahé, Yanoan (Yanam), Karikal (Karaikal) and Chandernagore (Chandannagar) until 1954. While geographically isolated form each other, these enclaves (save Chandernagore which became a part of West Bengal) are today united by a distinct Franco-Indian heritage and together comprise the Indian Union Territory of Puducherry.

Reference: A.M. Muthu, ‘The Urbanization of Pondicherry during the French Colonial rule from 1673 to 1816’ (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Pondicherry, 2002).