All great ancient civilisations, we know, rose on the banks of a river. The river was the lifeline, it would provide precious water for agriculture and for the people, and would act as a natural conduit for goods. If Mohenjodaro and Harappa had the Indus, by it’s own measure Chennai has the Cooum.

This Madras Week, we will let Cooum be the 'sutradhar'; she will tell the grand story of this city in her own words; of battles fought and love affairs, or politics and mythology, of governance and transporting goods. People of Chennai, as you celebrate this annual throwback event again, this Madras Week, we give you: the Cooum.

Here's an interactive map. Click on the green points to know the place and its significance. Source: The Cooum-A cultural mapping, Venkatesh Ramakrishnan

Madras was the only Indian place to come under attack by the forces of the Central Powers during the First World War. The bombardment was on the night of September 22, 1914 targeting oil tanks.

C. N. Annadurai was the first Non-Congress Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in independent India. Anna’s funeral attracted 15 million people and entered the Guinness Book of World Records.

It is the third oldest port of India with official port operations beginning in 1881. Mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was recognised as a genius when he worked as a clerk here.

Victory War Memorial was constructed to commemorate the victory of the allied armies during World War I. It subsequently became the Victory War Memorial for later wars. It was nicknamed the ‘Cupid’s bow’ because courting couples from Fort St. George frequented this place.

Fort. St George was the first British fortress in India, completed on April 23, 1644. The seat of power in Tamil Nadu today, many historians see the structure as the central point around which the city grew.

Mount Road, now called Anna Salai, has a history of 400 years. Originally a cart track used by the European employees of the British East India Company to travel from factories in Fort St.George St Thomas Mount, the road that now exist was shaped during the time of Charles McCartney, Governor of Madras.

The artificial Island Ground has a significant place in Asia’s aeronautical history for it was here that Giacomo D'Angelis, a Corsican-Indian aviation pioneer test flew the first self-engineered airplane in Asia.

Buried in this exclusive cemetery are those who belonged to the Armenian community in Madras, one of its earliest settlers. They were master tradesmen in cotton and textiles.

The Senate House at the University of Madras was where the first elected members of the Madras Legislature met in 1937. The Senate House perhaps played a vital role in the current status of the Cooum. It was here that the decision to build a dam across the river was made, something that eventually choked the flow.

Michael Topping, a marine surveyor, tried to spread the subject with a survey school near Fort St. George in 1794. The school slowly evolved into one for Civil Engineering in 1858 and then the College of Engineering in 1859. This was the first engineering college built outside Europe and was eventually shifted to Guindy.

The Kalas Mahal, an Indo-Saracenic beauty, built in 1768, was put up for auction to pay off the Nawab’s debts after the Principality of Carnatic was abolished in 1855.

The Chepauk stadium has unique place in India’s cricket history. It was here on the banks of Cooum that the first Ranji Trophy was held in 1934.

Where was the first steam car in India built? In 1903, Samuel John Green managed to successfully build the car as part of Simpson and Company, which stands on the banks of the Cooum.

One of the oldest parts of Chennai, Chinthathripet became the first textile processing zone established in India, the construction of which began in 1734.

Born in Bombay and later moving to Madras, Krupabai Satthianadhan, a medical dropout, became the first women novelist of Indian in 1887 with Saguna.

As a connected development to the textile zone, the British thought a temple would help attract weavers to Chinthatripet. Built in the 1740s, the Adi Kesava Perumal and Adi Pureeshwarar temples were said to have been indirectly funded by the East Indian Company.

This historic hall saw the first adaptations of Shakespeare’s dramas in Tamil, staged by the famous Pammal Sambanda Mudaliyar in 1900.

The Corporation of Chennai, situated near the Cooum, came into existence in September 1688 and was the first Corporation of Commonwealth outside United Kingdom.

One of the oldest prisons in India, the Madras Central Prison has had several important prisoners during the Independence era including Subash Chandra Bose. Two Indian National Army fighters were also hanged here.

The delay in shipping its plaque may have made it the second oldest medical college in India, but the Madras Medical College had a woman graduate in 1878 even before Britain allowed women into medical colleges.

Higginbotham’s, the oldest bookshop in the country was established on the banks of Cooum in 1844 by Abel Joshua Higginbotham. In 1875, they were made the official booksellers to the Royal Crown in India.

This 17th century mosque has the Dargah of Hazrath Syed Moosa Sha Qadri, an Iraqi saint. This Dargah attracts huge number of Muslims every year as it is said to have healing powers.

One of the oldest in India, The Warwick Theatre on Anna Salai began screening movies in the early 1900s. Today the building houses the Philatelic Bureau.

The great philanthropist Pachaiyappa Mudaliar lived near this temple, which, according to some historians, may have given the Cooum river its name.

The first club to allow Indians, the Cosmopolitan Club was established in 1873 and served the local elite. Mahatma Gandhi visited the club twice.

Initially called Imperial Hotel and built in 1854 by Rathinavelu Mudaliyar, it became The Connemara in 1890. Today, it is a landmark hotel in the city with the name Taj Connemara.

When Tipu Sultan's sons were taken hostage by Lord Cornwallis till reparations were paid after the Third Mysore War, they were, at their father's request, entrusted to the care of Doveton, who was a friend of Tipu's in 1792. Doveton is now a block in the Women’s Christian College in Chennai.

Established in 1792 by the East India Company, The Madras Observatory was an astronomical observatory studying the stars. In College Road today, it houses the Regional Meteorological Centre.

Established in 1817 as the Asiatic Society of Madras, the MLS is the oldest lending library in the south.