With the decline of the once flourishing Saptagram port, traders and businessmen, such as the Basaks, the Sheths and others, started venturing southwards and settled in or developed places such as Gobindapur. They set up a cotton and yarn market at Sutanuti. Chitpur was a weaving centre and Baranagar was another textile centre. Kalighat was a pilgrimage centre. Across the Hooghly, there were places such as Salkia and Betor. Kalikata was a lesser known place. While both Sutanuti and Gobindapur appear on old maps like Thomas Bowrey's of 1687 and George Herron's of 1690, Kalikata, situated between the two, is not depicted. However, one variant of the name, ‘Kalkata’, is mentioned in Abul Fazal’s Ain-i-Akbari (1596).Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, pages 1, 11, General Printers and Publishers Pvt. Ltd. At that time it was recorded as a revenue district of Sirkar Satgaon.Cotton, H.E.A., Calcutta Old and New, 1909/1980, page 3
