Dutch India

A View of Chinsura the Dutch Settlement in Bengal (1787).
Colonial India

British Indian Empire

Imperial entities of India
Dutch India 1605–1825
Danish India 1620–1869
French India 1769–1954

Portuguese India
(1505–1961)
Casa da Índia 1434–1833
Portuguese East India Company 1628–1633

British India
(1612–1947)
East India Company 1612–1757
Company rule in India 1757–1858
British Raj 1858–1947
British rule in Burma 1824–1948
Princely states 1721–1949
Partition of India
1947

Not to be confused with Dutch East Indies.

Dutch India is a term used to refer to the settlements and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. It is only used as a geographical definition, as there has never been a political authority ruling all Dutch India. Instead, Dutch India was divided into the governorates Dutch Ceylon and Dutch Coromandel, the commandment Dutch Malabar, and the directorates Dutch Bengal and Dutch Suratte.

The term should not be confused with the term Dutch Indies, which refers to the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) and the Dutch West Indies (present-day Suriname and the former Netherlands Antilles).

History

Dutch presence on the Indian subcontinent lasted from 1605 to 1825. Merchants of the Dutch East India Company first established themselves in Dutch Coromandel, notably Pulicat, as they were looking for textiles to exchange with the spices they traded in the East Indies.[1] Dutch Suratte and Dutch Bengal were established in 1616 and 1627 respectively.[2][3] After the Dutch conquered Ceylon from the Portuguese in 1656, they took the Portuguese forts on the Malabar coast five years later as well, to secure Ceylon from Portuguese invasion.[4][5]

Apart from textiles, the items traded in Dutch India include precious stones, indigo, and silk across the Indian Peninsula, saltpeter and opium in Dutch Bengal, and pepper in Dutch Malabar. Indian slaves were imported on the Spice Islands and in the Cape Colony.

In the second half of the eighteenth century the Dutch lost their influence more and more. The Kew Letters relinquished all Dutch colonies to the British, to prevent them from being overrun by the French. In the famous Battle of Colachel (1741), Travancore king Marthanda Varma's army defeated the Dutch East India Company, resulting in the complete eclipse of Dutch power in Malabar. Although Dutch Coromandel and Dutch Bengal were restored to Dutch rule by vitue of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, they returned to British rule owing to the provisions of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. Under the terms of the treaty, all transfers of property and establishments were to take place on 1 March 1825. By the middle of 1825, therefore, the Dutch had lost their last trading posts in India.

Coinage

Gold pagoda with an image of Lord Venkateswara, a form of the Hindu god Vishnu, issued at the Dutch mint at Pulicat, c. 17th or 18th century.

During the days when the Dutch were commercially active in India, they operated several mints, at Cochin, Masulipattam, Nagapatam (or Negapatam), Pondicherry (for the five years 1693-98 when the Dutch had gained control from the French), and Pulicat. The coins were all modeled on the local coinages.

Map

Poppacamal
Pulicat
Masulipatnam
Nizapatnam
Tenganapatnam
Golkonda
Bheemunipatnam
Kakinada
Draksharama
Palakol
Nagulavancha
Sadras
Thiruppapuliyur
Parangippettai
Cochin
Quilon
Cannanore
Kayamkulam
Cranganore
Pallipuram
Purakkad
Vengurla
Barselor
Hugli-Chuchura
Patna
Cossimbazar
Dhaka
Murshidabad
Pipely
Balasore
Suratte
Ahmedabad
Agra
Kanpur
Burhanpur
Bharuch
Cambay
Baroda
Mrohaung
Syriam
Martaban
Ava
Colombo
Tuticorin
Calpentijn
Caraas
Mannar
Trincomalee
Batticaloa
Galle
Matara
Cape Comorin
Cotatte

Gallery

See also

References

  1. De VOC site - Coromandel
  2. De VOC site - Suratte
  3. De VOC site - Bengalen
  4. De VOC site - Ceylon
  5. De VOC site - Malabar

External links

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