Danish India (Danish: Dansk Ostindien, lit. 'Danish East India') was the name given to the forts and factories of Denmark–Norway (Denmark after 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish overseas colonies. Denmark held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, including the town of Tharangambadi in present-day Tamil Nadu state, Serampore in present-day West Bengal, and the Nicobar Islands, currently part of India's union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Danish presence in India was of little significance to the major European powers as they presented neither a military nor a mercantile threat. Danish ventures in India, as elsewhere, were typically undercapitalized and never able to dominate or monopolize trade routes in the same way that British, French, and Portuguese ventures could.
Despite these disadvantages, the Danish concerns managed to cling to their colonial holdings and, at times, to carve out a valuable niche in international trade by exploiting wars between larger countries and offering foreign trade under a neutral flag. For this reason, their presence was tolerated for many years until the rise of British imperial power led to the sale of all Danish holdings in India to Britain during the nineteenth century.
History
The success of Dutch and English traders in the 17th-century spice trade was a source of envy among Danish merchants. On 17 March 1616, Christian IV the King of Denmark-Norway, issued a charter creating a Danish East India Company with a monopoly on trade between Denmark-Norway and Asia for 12 years. It would take an additional two years before sufficient capital had been raised to finance the expedition, perhaps due to a lack of confidence on the part of Danish investors. It took the arrival of the Dutch merchant and colonial administrator, Marchelis de Boshouwer, in 1618 to provide the impetus for the first voyage. Marcelis arrived as an envoy (or at least claimed to do so) for the king of Kandy, Cenerat Adassin, seeking military assistance against the Portuguese and promising a monopoly on all trade with the island. His appeal had been rejected by his countrymen, but it convinced the Danish King.
First expedition (1618–1620)
The first expedition set sail in 1618 under Admiral Ove Gjedde, taking two years to reach Ceylon and losing more than half their crew on the way. Upon arriving in May 1620, they found the king no longer desiring any foreign assistance – having made a peace agreement with the Portuguese three years earlier. Nor, to the dismay of the admiral, was the king of Kandy the sole, or even the "most distinguished king in this land".
Failing to get the Dano-Ceylonese trade contract confirmed, the Danes briefly occupied the Koneswaram Temple before receiving word from their trade director, Robert Crappe.
Crappe had sailed on the scouting freighter Øresund one month before the main fleet. Øresund had attacked Portuguese vessels off the coast of Karaikal and was himself sunk, with most of the crew killed or taken prisoner. The heads of two crew members were placed on spikes on the beach as a warning to the Danes. Crappe and 13 of the crew had escaped the wreck, making it to shore where they were captured by Indians and taken to Raghunatha Nayak, the Nayak of Tanjore (now Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu). The Nayak turned out to be interested in trading opportunities, and Crappe negotiated a treaty granting them the village of Tranquebar (or Tharangamabadi), the right to construct a "stone house" (Fort Dansborg), and permission to levy taxes. This was signed on 20 November 1620.
Early years (1621–1639)
The early years of the colony were arduous, with poor administration and investment, coupled with the loss of almost two-thirds of all the trading vessels dispatched from Denmark. The ships that did return made a profit on their cargo, but total returns fell well short of the costs of the venture. Moreover, the geographical location of the colony was vulnerable to high tidal waves that repeatedly destroyed what people built – roads, houses, administrative buildings, markets, etc. Although the intention had been to create an alternative to the English and Dutch traders, the dire financial state of the company and the redirection of national resources towards the Thirty Years' War led the colony to abandon efforts to trade directly for themselves and, instead, to become neutral third-party carriers for goods in the Bay of Bengal.
By 1625, a factory had been established at Masulipatnam (present-day Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh), the most important emporium in the region. Lesser trading offices were established at Pipli and Balasore. Despite this, by 1627 the colony was in such a poor financial state that it had just three ships left and was unable to pay the agreed-upon tribute to the Nayak, increasing local tensions. The Danish presence was also unwanted by English and Dutch traders. They saw the Danes as benefiting from the protection of their navies, without bearing any of the cost. However, the English and Dutch could make no moves to decisively quash the Danish trade, owing to the entanglement of all these trading nations in wars in Europe – most notably, the Thirty Years' War; the consequent ramifications to each nation's foreign policy effectively muted the English and Dutch reactions.
Dutch influence (1640–1649)
- 1640 – Denmark–Norway attempt to sell Fort Danesborg to the Dutch for a second time.
- 1642 – Danish colony declares war on the Mughal Empire and commences raiding ships in the Bay of Bengal. Within a few months they had captured one of the Mughal emperor's vessels, incorporated it into their fleet (renamed Bengali Prize) and sold the goods in Tranquebar for a substantial profit.
- 1643 – Willem Leyel, designated the new leader of the colony by the company directors in Copenhagen arrives aboard the Christianshavn and besieges Dansborg to insure his succession. (see Conflict between Willem Leyel and Bernt Pessart)... Sweden declare war on Denmark-Norway.
- 1645 – Danish factory holdings fall increasingly under Dutch control. The Nayak sends small bands to raid Tranquebar.
- 1648 – Christian IV, patron of the colony, dies. Danish East India Company bankrupt.
Abandonment and isolation (1650–1669)
The lack of financial return led to repeated efforts by the major stockholders of the company to have it dissolved. The King, Christian IV, resisted these efforts until his death in 1648. Two years later his son, Frederick III, abolished the company.
Although the company had been abolished, the colony was a royal property and still held by a garrison unaware of court developments back at home. As the number of Danes declined through desertions and illness, Portuguese and Portuguese-Indian natives were hired to garrison the fort until eventually, by 1655, Eskild Anderson Kongsbakke was the commander and sole remaining Dane in Tranquebar.
An illiterate commoner, Kongsbakke was loyal to his country and successfully held the fort under a Danish flag against successive sieges by the Nayak for non-payment of tribute, whilst seizing ships in the Bay of Bengal. Using the proceeds of the sale of their goods to repair his defenses, he built a wall around the town and negotiated a settlement with the Nayak.
Kongsbakke's reports, sent to Denmark via other European vessels, finally convinced the Danis government to relieve him. The frigate Færø was dispatched to India, commanded by Capt Sivardt Adelaer, with an official confirmation of his appointment as colony leader. It arrived May 1669 – ending 19 years of isolation.
The Second Danish East India Company (1670–1732)
Trade between Denmark–Norway and Tranquebar now resumed, a new Danish East India Company was formed, and several new commercial outposts were established, governed from Tranquebar: Oddeway Torre on the Malabar coast in 1696, and Dannemarksnagore, southeast of Chandernagore in 1698. The settlement with the Nayak was confirmed and Tranquebar was permitted to expand to include three surrounding villages.
- Nayak of Thanjavur tried to besiege Tranquebar
- 9 June 1706 – Frederick IV, king of Denmark-Norway sends two German Lutheran missionaries to India, Heinrich Plütschau and Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg – the first Protestant missionaries in India. Previously priests had not attempted to convert, and Indians denied entry to European churches. Arriving in 1707, they were not welcomed by their countrymen who suspected them of being spies.
- Ziegenbalg gains converts among the Indians who, by royal decree, are freed to encourage further Christianisation amongst the Indians. Christianity becomes associated with lower caste people and rejected by upper caste Hindus.
- Tensions arise between Ziegenbalg, who came under the authority of the King, and the local governor, John Sigismund Hassius who eventually feels Ziegenbalg is undermining Tranquebar's slave trade and jails him for 4 months.
- Ziegenbalg attempts to learn as much as possible of the language of the inhabitants of Tranquebar, hiring tutors to learn Portuguese and Tamil, and buying Hindu texts. He finds ways to create rifts in the local society in collusion with a few new converts to Christianity. He eventually writes the first Tamil glossary, Tamil-German dictionary, and translations of Hindu books. He translates parts of the Bible into Tamil. He completes the New Testament in prison, and the Old Testament later. Receiving funds from Europe he sets up a printing press and prints Tamil Bibles and books. He becomes a book printer in India and produces paper. He establishes a seminary for Indian priests in Tranquebar before his death in Tranquebar 1719.
- This Tranquebar Mission leads to missionaries spreading outside the colony, despite opposition from the kings of Tranquebar.
- 1729 – Danish-Norwegian King forces the Danish East India Company to loan him money. His failure to repay the loan and inconsistency of Indian trade forces the company into liquidation.
Trade stabilises under Danish Asiatic Company (1732–1772)
- 12 April 1732 – King Christian VI signs charter of new Asiatic Company with 40-year monopoly on Asian trade with India and China. Both previous companies had failed due to the lack of continuity in trade. This time, the intention of the investors was "to place this Asiatic Trade in Our Realms and Territories on a more constant footing in time to come."
- 1730s – Denmark's Chinese and Indian trade stabilises, with cargo from India dominated by cotton fabrics from the Coromandel Coast and Bengal.
- 1752–1791 – Pepper procurement lodge established at Calicut.
- November 1754 – A meeting of Danish-Norwegian officials is held in Tranquebar. A decision is made to colonise the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to plant pepper, cinnamon, sugarcane, coffee, and cotton.
- December 1755 – Danish settlers arrive on Andaman Islands. The colony experiences outbreaks of malaria that saw the settlement abandoned periodically until 1848, when it was abandoned for good. This sporadic occupation led to encroachments of other colonial powers onto the islands including Austria and Britain.
- October 1755 – Frederiksnagore in Serampore, in present-day West Bengal.
- 1 January 1756 – The Nicobar Islands are declared Danish property under the name Frederiksøerne (Frederick's Islands).
- Cattle War starts over the stealing of cattle
- 1756–1760 – All colonisation efforts on the islands fail with settlers wiped out by malaria. Danish-Norwegian claims to the islands were later sold to the British.
- 1763 – Danish factory at Balasore, which was first opened in 1636, reopens again after receiving a farman from the Marathas. The British occupy Serampore for the year.