History of Serampore as a Danish Trading Post, 1755–1845

Abstract

Serampore, a small town of West Bengal, today virtually a suburb of Kolkata, has an unusual history and heritage as a Danish trading post/colony between 1755 and 1845. Creating a bustling, well-organised town, the Danes introduced various reforms which prepared the nineteenth-century awakening in Bengal. While the history of this Danish involvement at Serampore awaits fuller archival research, this article feeds on a range of local sources and contemporary travel accounts to discuss details of the Danish engagement in Serampore. The article also illustrates how, beyond the dominant British influence, colonial India experienced other foreign interventions that remain pertinent today, not just regarding trade but also missionary activities and some local sub-structures that have become almost invisible.

Decolonising the Gateway of India

“…This was the first ever defeat of a European colonial power by a non-European side, while the American war of independence was still three decades away. The French and even the Danish, too, ventured into trade and went as far as Bengal (Bose, 2022). Indian history is rich with breath-takingly diverse human migrations from different parts of the earth at different stages.…”

Book review: Ruby Maloni, The Route to European Hegemony. India’s Intra-Asian Trade in the Early Modern Period (Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

“…Maloni shows well how after 1708, this balance of power was disturbed, as the position of the EIC continued to strengthen and its factory system expanded in the Indian subcontinent, at the cost of the Dutch East India Company (pp. 208-13) and also other minor players, such as the Danes (Bose, 2022).…”