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Madras Presidency Andaman & Nicobar Islands
First posted on December 28th 2004, last revised on November 20th 2009






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






WEB-BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . EXTERNAL FILES
Country Profiles 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
Links, General
Links, 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
Historical Maps Maps of Tranquebar, from Trankebar.net
Maps Bellin : Tranquebar c.1750, Bengal 1747, posted by FWP
Organizations Danish Indian History & Research Society (DIHRS)
The Tranquebar Initiative of the National Museum of Denmark
Gurukul Lutheran Theological College & Research Institute
Foreningen Trankebar, Danish language site
Timelines Chronology of Danish Colonial Settlements, by Marco Ramerini
Accounts of History 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
Encyclopedia Entries 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
Articles Tranquebar, Serampur, Nikobar Øer, from Geografisk-Statistisk Haandbog 1858-1863, in Danish
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
Articles Nicobars, Tranquebar, Serampore Town, from Imperial Gazzetteer of India 1909-1931, posted by DSAL
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
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
Bibliographies 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
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
Lists of Statesmen Danish India, from World Statesmen
Document Collections 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; search e-corpus for Tranquebar, Serampore
Om Ove Gieddes ekspedition til Ceylon og Trankebar 1618-1622, from Danmarkshistorien Leksikon, in Danish
Søren Egerod, A Siamese Letter dated 7 December 1776
Archives, Musea, Libraries 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
National Symbols
Coins, Banknotes Coins of Danish India, posted by JMD Brussels
Coins of Danish India, from Zeno
Oplysningar om Trankebarmø'nterne, from Gladsaxegymnasium

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Online Libraries Electronic Resources of the Royal Library (Copenhagen); Project Runeberg; Internet Archive
Online Journals tidsskrift.dk, online library providing free access to a number of Danish-language scholarly magazines
Wider Scope 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
On Mission 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