![]() |
Madras Presidency |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Andaman & Nicobar Islands |
![]() |
I.) Danish India under the Administration of the Ostindiske Kompagni
In 1616 the Ostindisk Kompagni (Danish East India Company) was established, in 1620 a trade factory in Trankebar (Tranquebar, modern Tharamgambadi) acquired. From 1689 to 1722 the company maintained a trade factory at Oddeway Torre on the Malabar Coast, from 1698-1714 another one at Dannemarksnagore (Gondalpara) in Bengal.
II.) Danish India under the Administration of the Asiatiske Kompagni
The initiative for an attempt to revive the enterprise was taken up in 1727; in 1732 the Ostindisk Kompagni was succeeded by the Asiatisk Kompagni (Danish Asiatic Company). In 1755 a trading post at Frederiksnagore (= Serampore, in Bengal) was acquired; Denmark also claimed possession of the Nicobar Islands, which it renamed Frederiksøerne (King Frederik Islands).
III.) Danish India a Danish Crown Colony
In 1777 the company assets were taken over by Denmark. During the Napoleonic Wars, Danish India was occupied by the British. The Danish possessions were returned to Denmark after the Vienna Congress. While in the territory administrated by the (British) East India Company missionaries were forbidden to engage in proselytization, the Danish administration actively promoted such activity. The small Danish territories on the subcontinent became centers of education and bookprinting (the first missionary, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, had arrived in Trankebar in 1705); Serampore College, established by William Carey, became a model for the universities founded in British India after the suppression of the Sepoy Mutiny and Rebellion. In 1845, Denmark sold its possessions on the Indian mainland to the E.I.C.. In 1848 Denmark renounced its claims on the Nicobar Islands, which became a center of piracy until the British took over in 1869, after friendly negotiations with the Danish government, and annexed into British India. Timeline : Danish India Historical Atlas, South Asia Page |
E x t e r n a l . F i l e s |
Country Profiles | Links, Portals | Organizations | Accounts of History | Politics | Military History | Economic History |
Social History | Ethnography | History of Religion | Regional History | Local History | Institutions | Culture |
Biography | Others |
D o c u m e n t s |
Historical Data | Documents | Institutions | National Symbols |
P r i n t e d . R e f e r e n c e |
Bibliographies | Online Libraries | Online Journals | General Accounts | Specific Topics | Historical Dictionaries | Others |
WEB-BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . EXTERNAL FILES |
Country Profiles | Current |
Article Danish India, from Wikipedia;
Danske Besiddelser : Indien, from Wikipedia Danish edition Dansk Ostindien - Danish East India, by Uno Barner Jensen, partially bilingual Rolf Dörnbach, The Danish East Indies - They Once Existed, The Posthorn 2005 |
Historical |
Die Dänischen Besitzungen in Ostindien, pp.244-260 in vol.2 of F. Thaarup,
Versuch einer Statistik der Dänischen Monarchie,
1797, in German, GB |
Links | General |
on History |
Category : Former Danish Colonies, from Wikipedia;
Kategori : Danske Kolonier, from Wikipedia Danish Edition Category : Danish rule in India, from Wikipedia |
Historical Dictionaries |
Den Store Danske, Gyldendal's open encyclopedia, in Danish |
Timelines |
Chronology of Danish Colonial Settlements, by Marco Ramerini |
Accounts of History | General |
Article : Danish East India Company, from Wikipedia Article Ostindisk Kompagni, from Wikipedia Danish edition Asiatisk Kompani, Ostindisk Kompani, from Lademanns Leksikon, in Danish Articles Ostindisk Kompagni, from Danmarkshistorien Leksikon, in Danish |
Specific Periods |
Georg Nørregaard, Englands Køb
af de danske Besiddelser i Ostindien og Afrika 1845 og 1850 [England's Purchase of the Danish Possessions in East India and Africa,
1845 and 1850], Historisk Tidskrift 1934 pp.335-412, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Tranquebar. The Danish East India Company 1616-1669, by Peter Ravn Rasmussen Asiatisk Kompani, Ostindisk Kompani, from Lademanns Leksikon, in Danish |
Military |
Danish Colonial Forces in East India 1791, from Danish Military History The Land Forces Converging in the Indian Theater, from Trankebar.net |
Economy & Finances |
Article
handelskompanier, from Den Store Danske, in Danish Kristof Glamann, Studie i Asiatisk Kompagnis økonomiske historie 1732?1772., Historisk Tidsskrift 11/2 1947-1949 pp.351-404, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Sune Dalgård, review of Aa. Rasch og P. P. Sveistrup: Asiatisk Kompagni i den florissante Periode 1772-1792., Historisk Tidsskrift 11/2 1947-1949 pp.507-514, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish J.H. Deuntzer, Af den Asiatiske Kompagnis Historie, pt.1, Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift 3/16 1908, pp.369-411, pt.2, after 1807, Nationaløkonomisk Tidsskrift 3/16 1908, pp.454-507, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Henrik Pers, Christian 4.s merkantilistiske erhvervspolitik ca. 1619-25 , Historie / Jyske Samlingar NR 10 1972-1974 pp.392-413, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Ole Feldbæk, Den danske Asienhandel 1616-1807 Værdi og Volumen, Historisk Tidsskrift 15/5 1990 pp.321-352, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish |
Ethnography |
Tamilology and a German quest, by S. Viswanathan Nicobarese and Shompen, from andaman.org |
Religion |
Temple in Tranquebar, from Usha Prajapati P. Maria Lazar, Moravians in Trankebar, 1760-1845 J.F. Fenger, History of the Tranquebar mission worked out from the original papers by J. Ferd. Fenger ... Published in Danish and tr. into English from the German of Emil Francke ... (1863), posted on Internet Archive B. Ziegenbalg, Thirty four conferences between the Danish missionaries and the Malabarian Bramans (or heathen priests) in the East Indies, concerning the truth of the Christian religion : together with some letters written by the heathens to the said missionaries (1719), posted on Internet Archive C. Carne, Lives of eminent missionaries vol.1 (1833) contains John Eliot. Early mission to Tranquebar.posted on Internet Archive J.G. Haensel, Ch.I. Latrobe, Letters on the Nicobar islands, their natural productions, and the manners, customs, and superstitions of the natives; with an account of an attempt made by the Church of the United Brethren, to convert them to Christianity (1812), posted on Internet Archive E.W. Grinfield, Sketches of the Danish mission on the coast of Coromandel (1831), posted on Internet Archive E. Lord, A compendious history of the principal Protestant missions to the Heathen, vol.1, 1813 (much on Tranquebar), vol.2, 1813, GB |
Local History |
Articles Tharangambadi,
Serampore,
Nikobar Islands, from Wikipedia Articles Trankebar, Serampore (Frederiksnagore), Oddeway Torre, Nikobarerne, from Wikipedia Danish Edition Article : Tranquebar, Nikobarerne, Frederiksnagore, Frederiksøerne, from Den Store Danske, in Danish Articles Serampore, Trankebar, from Danmarkshistorien Leksikon, in Danish Article : The Danes, Serampore, from Banglapedia Danmark, Trankebar, from Lademanns Leksikon, in Danish Entry Tranquebar, from footnotes to history, by James L. Erwin Tranquebar (Tharangamibadi), from Nagapattinam District R. Nagaswamy, Leaves from the History of Tranquebar Irena Knehl, Tranquebar - Danish Settlement at the Coromandel Coast (1620-1845) Simron Jit Singh, The Danes in the Nicobars; Astrid Kuffner, The Austrians in the Nicobars, posted on andaman.org Trankebar, en Dansk Koloni i Indien 1620-1845, from aerenlund.dk, in Danish George Zeuthen, Trankebar - en kolonial røverrede, Arbeideren 2008 Kolonisering af Nikobarøerne, from Flådens Historie, in Danish |
Institutions |
Article Serampore College, from Wikipedia |
Biographies |
Dansk Biografisk Leksikon, posted by Project Runeberg; (keyword Trankebar)
search for Roland Crappe, Sivert Adeler, Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg, Peter Anker, Ulrik Christian Nissen, Bendix Djurhuus Prahl, Rasmus Kristian Rask,
Christopher Theodosius Walther, Ulrik Frederik Schønnebøl, Eskil Andersen Kongsbakke, Johan Gerhard Kønig,
Peder Hansen, Christian Tiemroth, Niels Studsgaard Fuglsang, Christoph Samuel John, Ore Gjedde, Thomas Bugge,
Henning Munch Engelhardt, Ulrik Anton Schønheyder, Christian August Lorentzen, Johannes Ocksen, Anna Catharina von Passow,
Johan Heitmann, Ole Hansen, Christian Albrecht Bluhme, Hans Knudsen, Carsten Niebuhr, Christian Frederik Berner, Henrik Bornemann,
Lorens Prætorius, Konrad Emil Mourier, Wolf Henrik von Kalnein, Thomas Christian Walter, Johan Sigismund Hassius Lilienpalm,
Niels Rosenkrantz, William Halling, Jacob Lodberg, Villum Leiel, Peder Hersleb, Jacob Pedersen Worm; in Danish Tine Elisabeth Larsen, The life and work of the Danish Missionary Anne Marie Petersen A short introduction, DIHRS Jens Geisler, Tordenskjolds liv og levned, from Dansk Militærhistorie, in Danish Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, the German who printed the first Tamil text, Tamil Nation 2006 Christian Wilhelm Duntzfelt, from Den Store Danske, in Danish |
Others |
Danish Colonial Remains, by Marco Ramerini Denmark and her overseas possessions, 1988 exhibition at James Ford Bell Library, scroll down for Africa Adam C. de Basa, Dutch Republic Influence on Danish Colonialism Denmark-Norway's mercantilist development a la Dutch model, 2009 Jens Geisler, Kold krig i kolonien, Sort Zenit, from Dansk Militærhistorie, in Danish Family History in India : Danish Ancestors Danish Delight, from Trankebar.net Trankebar.net (mainly photos, newspaper articles) Eric Nielsen, The Wreck of the Oldenburg, from Danish Military History Lalitha Jayaraman, Tranquebar Mission¡¯s Contribution to Printing & Publishing, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute Niklas Thoide Jensen, The Medical Skills of the Malabar Doctors in Tranquebar, India, as Recorded by Surgeon T L F Folly, 1798, Medical History 2005 M.A. Laird, The Contribution of the Serampore Missionaries to Education in Bengal, 1793-1837, 1968, accessible through jstor Anne Fox Maule, An account of the botanical studies and collections of the two "Galathea" expeditions (1974) Kay Larsen, En dansk Gesandtskabsrejse i Indien (1735)., Historisk Tidsskrift 8/3 1910-1912 pp.58-69, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Cai Schaffalitzky de Muckadell, Et glemt Dansk Koloniforsøg, Geografisk Tidsskrift 34 1931 pp.96-103, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Steen Bille, Fra Nikobarerne, Geografisk Tidskrift 1 1877 pp.31-34, posted by tidsskrift.dk, in Danish Kenneth G. Zysk, Den danske indologis oprindelse [History of Danish Indology], in Danish Bjørn Andersen, Danske Lov 1683; scroll down for episode on Priest Jacob Worm, who, sentenced to death, was sent to Trankebar instead Holden Furber, Kristof Glamann, Plassey : a New Account from Danish Archives (1960), accessible through jstor |
WEB-BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . EXTERNALLY POSTED DOCUMENTS |
Historical Data | Lists of Statesmen |
Danish India, from World Statesmen |
Documents | Historical Newspapers |
Image Databanks |
Archival Deposits |
Tropehandelskompagniernes arkiver (Rigsarkivet), from
Royal Library Copenhagen, Digital Library, in Danish Asiatisk Kompani 1730-1776, Det kgl. Ostindiske guvernement 1777-1845, Trankebar Missionen 1705-1803, from RA Copenhagen, in Danish (survey of archived documents) Danish Records 1777-1845 (RA Copenhagen), Danish Documents 1779-1845 (Tamil Nadu Archives), from E-Corpus, Eurindia Virtual Library |
Constitutions, Laws |
Treaties |
Document Collections |
search e-corpus for Tranquebar, Serampore Der Königl. dänischen Missionarien aus Ost-Indien eingesandte Berichte, vol.1, 1718, vol.2, 1729, vol.3, 1735, 63rd Continuation, 1748, 67th Continuation, 1750, vol.6 : 61st to 62nd Continuation, 1754, vol.7 : 73rd to 84th Continuation, 1760, vol.7.2 : 79th to 84th Continuation, 1756, in German, GB |
Individual Documents |
Søren Egerod, A Siamese Letter
dated 7 December 1776 Extract of a Letter from Lord Robert Fitzgerald to Lord Grenville, dated Copenhagen, 23rd January 1798 (on Tranquebar), pp.178-179, Extract of a Letter from the Governor in Council at Fort St. George to the Directors of the East India Company, dated Feb. 25th 1799, (on Tranquebar), pp.151-153, Copy of a Letter from the Right Honourable the Earl of Mornington to the Court of Directors, dated 20th March 1799, detailing the Causes of the War with Tippoo Sultan (on Tranquebar), pp.346-364, in J. Bebrett (ed.), A Collection of State Papers Relative to the War against France, 1799, GB |
Historical Maps |
Maps of Tranquebar, from Trankebar.net Maps Bellin : Tranquebar c.1750, Bengal 1747, posted by FWP |
Historical Encyclopedia Entries |
General |
Articles Tranquebar,
Nicobar Islands (Britannica 1911 edition), posted by Classic Encyclopedia Article Trankebar, Serampur, Nikobaren, from Meyers Konversationslexikon 1885-1892, in German, posted by Retro Bibliothek Article : Trankebar, Trankebar-Missionen, Tamuler, Serampur, from Salmonsen's Konversationsleksikon, 2nd edition 1915-1930, in Danish, posted by Project Runeberg |
Religious |
Article : Tranquebar, p.391 in : B.B. Edwards,
The Missionary Gazetteer, 1832, GB Entry : Tranquebar, pp.472-474 in : Ch. Williams, The Missionary Gazetteer : Comprising a Geographical and Statistical Account of the various Stations of the Church, London, Moravian, Wesleyan, Baptist and American Missionary Societies, 1885, GB Ostindien, pp.677-696 in vol.2 of C.Fr. Staeudlin, Kirchliche Geographie u. Statistik, 1804, in German, GB |
Economic |
Tranquebar, pp.117-118 in J.Chr. Schedel,
Historisches Handbuch für Kaufleute, 1793, in German, GB Entry : Trankebar, pp.669-670 in : J.F. Lange et al., Übersicht und Berechnung aller Münzen, Ellenmaasse und Handelsgewichte von allen Welttheilen, 1804, in German, GB Tranquebar, p.133 in vol.1 of P. Kelly, The Universal Cambist, and Commercial Instructor, 1811, GB Tranquebar, pp.367-375 in vol.1 of W. Milburn, Oriental Commerce, 1813, GB J. Chr. Nelkenbrecher, Allgemeines Taschenbuch der Münz-, Maass- und Gewichtskunde für Banquiers und Kaufleute (General Manual on Coinage, Measurement and Weights, for Bankers and Merchants) Berlin 1832, in German, entries Trankebar, posted by DTBSWS |
Geographical |
Tranquebar, pp.457-459 in vol.2 of W. Hamilton,
A Geographical, Statistical, and Historical Description of Hindostan and the Adjacent Countries, 1820, GB Serampore, p.108, Tranquebar, p.187 Niconar Islands, p.361-362, in C. Malte-Brun, Universal Geography, 1822, GB Articles Tranquebar, Serampur, Nikobar Øer, from Geografisk-Statistisk Haandbog 1858-1863, in Danish Articles Nicobars, Tranquebar, Serampore Town, from Imperial Gazzetteer of India 1909-1931, posted by DSAL |
Historical |
The Commerce, Colonies, and Companies, which the Danes have heretofore maintained, or still support, in the East Indies,
pp.1-59 in vol.32 of G. Sale et al.,
An Universal History, from the Earliest Account of Time, 1759 GB The Commerce of the Danes with India, pp.285-293 in D. MacPherson, The History of the European Commerce with India, 1812, GB |
Parliamentary Debates | foreign |
Hansard (British Parliament) |
Tour Guides, Travelogues |
Om Ove Gieddes ekspedition til Ceylon og Trankebar 1618-1622, from Danmarkshistorien Leksikon, in Danish |
Institutions | Archives |
Musea |
Monuments |
Monuments in Serampore, from Indian Monuments St. Olave's Danish Church, Serampore, and the former Danish Governor's compound, from Virtual Serampore Danish Heritage in India, from MOFA Denmark |
Libraries |
Official Symbols | Flags, Coats of Arms |
Coins, Banknotes |
Coins of Danish India, posted by JMD Brussels Coins of Danish India, from Zeno Oplysningar om Trankebarmø'nterne, from Gladsaxegymnasium |
BIBLIOGRAPHY |
Bibliographies | general |
RHS Bibliography UK National Archive Online Library ISBN Database |
on Danish India |
Bibliography of Other Colonial Powers : Austria, Brandenburg, Courland,
Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Russia, by Marco Ramerini Search Catalog of Det Kongelige Bibliotek for Trankebar, Nikobarerne, Serampore, Frederiksnagore Search Dansk Historisk Bibliografi, maintained at the Royal Library, Copenhagen, for Trankebar, Nikobarerne, Serampore, Frederiksnagore Registre for Handels- og Søfartsmuseets årbøger; check lokationsnavne, Coromandelkysten, Frederiksnagore, Indiuen, Madras, Malabarkysten, Nikobarøerne, Serampore, Trankebar, Tranquebar Trankebar : Bogliste [book list], from trankebar.net Bibliografi Trankebar 1619-1669, from Scholiast |
Online Libraries | general |
Internet Archives Gutenberg Library Online e-corpus International Boundary Studies Gallica |
Scandinavian |
Electronic Resources of the Royal Library (Copenhagen);
Project Runeberg; Internet Archive |
on India |
Digital Library of India |
Online Journals |
tidsskrift.dk, online library providing free access to a number of Danish-language
scholarly magazines |
General Accounts |
Om Prakash, European Commercial Enterprise in Pre-Colonial India, The New Cambridge History of India, Cambridge : UP 1998 |
Specific Topics |
Georg Nørregård, The English
purchase of the Danish possessions in the East Indies and Africa, 1845 and 1850 [n.d., after 1934], posted on Internet Archive |
Historical Atlasses |
C. Collin Davies, An Historical Atlas of the Indian Peninsula, Oxford : UP, 2nd edition, 1959 [G] Historical and Cultural Maps, National Atlas of India Vol.8, published by National Atlas & Thematic Mapping Organisation, Calcutta 1983, edited by G.K . Dutt, S.K. Biswas [G] J.E. Schwartzberg, A Historical Atlas of South Asia, Chicago : UP 1978 [G] |