The Danish East India Company ( da, Ostindisk Kompagni) refers to two separate Danish-Norwegian chartered companies. The first company operated between 1616 and 1650. The second company existed between 1670 and 1729, however, in 1730 it was re-founded as the Asiatic Company ( da, Asiatisk Kompagni).

First company

The first Danish East India Company was chartered in 1616 under King Christian IV and focused on trade with

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The first expedition, under Admiral Gjedde, took two years to reach

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, losing more than half their crew. The island had been claimed by

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

by the time they arrived but on 10May 1620, a treaty was concluded with the

Kingdom of Kandy The Kingdom of Kandy was a monarchy on the Sri Lanka, island of Sri Lanka, located in the central and eastern portion of the island. It was founded in the late 15th century and endured until the early 19th century. Initially a client kingdom ...

and the foundation laid of a settlement at Trincomalee on the island's east coast. They occupied the colossal Koneswaram temple in May 1620 to begin fortification of the peninsula before being expelled by the Portuguese. After landing on the Indian mainland, a treaty was concluded with the ruler of the Tanjore Kingdom, Raghunatha Nayak, who gave the Danes possession of the town of

Tranquebar Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...

, and permission to trade in the kingdom by treaty of 19November 1620. In Tranquebar they established Dansborg and installed Captain Crappe as the first governor ('' opperhoved'') of

Danish India Danish India () was the name given to the colonies of Denmark (Denmark–Norway before 1814) in the Indian subcontinent, forming part of the Danish colonial empire. Denmark–Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, i ...

.''Foreningen Trankebar''.
Artikel om en tur fra Chennai til Trankebar
. The treaty was renewed on 30July 1621, and afterwards renewed and confirmed on the 10May 1676, by

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

the founder of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

. During their heyday, the Danish East India Company and Swedish East India Company imported more tea than the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, smuggling 90% of it into

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, where it could be sold at a huge profit. Between 1624-36, Danish trade extended to

Surat Surat is a city in the western Indian state of Gujarat. The word Surat literally means ''face'' in Gujarati and Hindi. Located on the banks of the river Tapti near its confluence with the Arabian Sea, it used to be a large seaport. It is now ...

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

, and

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

, with factories in Masulipatam, Surat,

Balasore Balasore or Baleswara is a city in the state of Odisha, about north of the state capital Bhubaneswar and from Kolkata, in eastern India. It is the largest town of northern Odisha and the administrative headquarters of Balasore district. It i ...

and at Java, but subsequent European wars in which Denmark participated ruined the Company, and trade in India ceased entirely between 1643–69, during which time all previous acquisitions were lost except Tranquebar, which held out until aid from Denmark arrived in 1669.

Second company, and the Asiatic Company

In 1670, a second Danish East India Company was established, before it too was dissolved in 1729. In 1730, it was refounded as the Asiatic Company and opened trade with

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu people, Manchu-led Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin (1616–1636), La ...

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ent ...

. The first expedition went badly, with ''Den gyldne Løve'' lost with its cargo of silver off

Ballyheigue Ballyheigue ( ), officially Ballyheige ( - meaning ''Settlement of Tadhg'') is a coastal village in County Kerry, Ireland. It is approximately north of Tralee on the R551. It is a scenic locale which forms part of the Wild Atlantic Way and h ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, on the outbound journey. Local landowners held the silver at their estate and pursued a salvage claim, but a gang of locals overpowered the Danish guard and made off with the hoard, causing a diplomatic row between Denmark-Norway and Britain.''Foreningen Trankebar''.
Brev fra England
. With the royal licence conferred in 1732, the new company was granted a 40-year monopoly on all Danish trade east of the

Cape of Good Hope The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa. A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...

. Before 1750, it sent 27 ships; 22 survived the journey to return to Copenhagen. In 1772, the company lost its monopoly and in 1779, Danish India became a

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, in 1801 and again in

1807 Events January–March * January 7 – The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland issues an Order in Council prohibiting British ships from trading with France or its allies. * January 20 – The Sierra Leone Company, faced with b ...

, the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

attacked Copenhagen. As a consequence of the last attack (in which the entire Dano-Norwegian navy was captured), Denmark (one of few West European countries not occupied by Bonaparte), ceded the island of

Helgoland Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...

(part of the Duchy of

Holstein-Gottorp Holstein-Gottorp or Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp () is the historiographical name, as well as contemporary shorthand name, for the parts of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, also known as Ducal Holstein, that were ruled by the dukes of Schlesw ...

) to Britain. In the East, when news of Anglo-Danish hostilities reached India, the British immediately seized seven Danish merchant ships on 28 January 1808 that were in the Hoogli. Denmark finally sold its remaining settlements in mainland India in 1845 and the Danish Gold Coast in 1850, both to the British.

Ships

* ''Kiøbenhavn'' and ''Christian'' (1618–1621, part of the Gjedde expedition that founded Dansborg at

)The Trials and Travels of Willem Leyel: An Account of the Danish East India Company in Tranquebar, 1639-48 * ''Christianshavn'' (8 November 1639, ''Willem Leyel'' left

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

for

as commander of this ship) * ''Flyvende Ulv'' (Departure from

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

1682 with ''Axel Juhl'', who was appointed governor of

later the same year. Departure from

1685 with ''Wollf Heinrich v. Calnein'', governor of

1687) * '' Cron Printz Christian'', ''Cron Printzen'', and ''Den gyldne Løve'' (1730–31, the Tønder expedition that opened trade with China) * ''Elephant(en)'' (1747–1750) The ship was lost on 15 August

1750 Various sources, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, use the year 1750 as a baseline year for the end of the pre-industrial era. Events January–March * January 13 – The Treaty of Madrid between Spain ...

in "Mosele Bay", near the

. There were 35 survivors; they were rescued by ''Onwerkirk'' (). ''Elephant'' was on a voyage from

. * ''Grev Moltke'' (1760, first

Moravian missionaries , image = AgnusDeiWindow.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , caption = Church emblem featuring the Agnus Dei.Stained glass at the Rights Chapel of Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States , main_classification = Proto-Prot ...

) * ''Nicobar'' Sunk 1783 with load of Swedish Plate Money. *Disco (1778 ship), frigate built for the Danish navy and named for Disko Island, but transferred to Danish EIC before maiden voyage. * ''Hussar'', purchased 1783. * Holsten (I), renamed from ''Det Store Bælt'', declared unseaworthy and condemned at Mauritius in 1807 * Holsten (II) purchased in 1806 from the French at Mauritius and renamed to replace Holsten (I). Seized by the British ( HMS Modeste (1793),

HMS Terpsichore (1785) HMS ''Terpsichore'' was a 32-gun fifth-rate frigate of the Royal Navy. She was built during the last years of the American War of Independence, but did not see action until the French Revolutionary Wars. She served during the French Revoluti ...

and HMS Dasher) on the Hooghly in January 1808.London Gazett
Issue 16982 Page 219
dated 7 February 1815 Six other Danish ships were seized at the same time

References

External links

Article in Danish
{{Authority control Chartered companies Danish India Trading companies Colonial Indian companies 1616 establishments in Denmark Companies established in 1616 Defunct companies of Denmark

First company

Second company, and the Asiatic Company

Ships

See also

References

External links