Dutch Coromandel
| Dutch Coromandel | ||||||||||
| Coromandel | ||||||||||
| Dutch colony | ||||||||||
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| Capital |
Pulicat (1610–1690; 1781–1825) Nagapatnam (1690–1781) |
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| Languages | Dutch | |||||||||
| Political structure | Colony | |||||||||
| Governor | ||||||||||
| • | 1608–1610 | Pieter Issack Eyloff | ||||||||
| • | 1636–1638 | Carel Reyniersz | ||||||||
| • | 1663–1665 | Cornelis Speelman | ||||||||
| • | 1824–1825 | Henry Francis von Söhsten | ||||||||
| Historical era | Imperialism | |||||||||
| • | Permission to build a fort in Pulicat | 1608 | ||||||||
| • | Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 | 1 June 1825 | ||||||||
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Coromandel was a governorate of the Dutch East India Company on the Coromandel Coast between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1798. Dutch presence in the region began with the capture of Pulicat from the Portuguese, which then became a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. It is part of what is today called Dutch India.
In 1606, a Dutch ship stopped on the shores of the Karimanal Village near Pulicat, north of the mouth of the lake requesting water. Local Muslims offered food and help to the Dutch. They struck a trade partnership to procure and supply local merchandise to the Dutch for trade in the East Indies.
Queen Eraivi, a wife of King Venkata II, ruled Prelaya Kaveri and during her reign in 1608 the Dutch East India Company was given permission to build a fort and do trading. They built a fort named Geldria at Pulicat as a defense from local kings and the Portuguese, from where they soon monopolized the lucrative textiles trade with the East Indies and other countries in the region. Under pressure from the Dutch, an English trading post was established in 1619, but this post was disbanded in 1622. The Dutch establishment met with stiff resistance from the Portuguese, who conducted several attacks on the harbor. In 1611, Venkatatapati turned against the Portuguese and the Jesuits were ordered to leave Chandragiri and the Dutch were permitted to build a fort at Pulicat.
The Portuguese tried unsuccessfully to recapture Pulicat in 1614, 1623, and 1633, respectively, but never succeeded. From 1616 to 1690, Pulicat was the official headquarters of Dutch Coromandel.
Manufacture of cloth for export was the sole occupation of several indigenous groups in Pulicat and the hinterlands of Tamil, Telegu and Kannada territories, and it is likely that over 1,000 handlooms operated in Pulicat alone. In the 1620s, the Dutch East India Company established a gunpowder factory in Pulicat. Its output was so substantial that for several decades it was able to keep many of the major Dutch trading centers in the East Indies and homeward-bound fleets well supplied. In 1615, the first VOC mint in India was established in Fort Gelria where, initially, "Kas" copper coins with VOC monogram and a Sanskrit legend were minted. The Pulicat mint operated till 1674, when a new mint was established at Nagapattinam. These coins were widely used in Ceylon.
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Wikipedia