Posted on: 22 July 2010

The former Dutch Colonies - Bengal

In 1608 the Netherlands created their first Indian colony. In 1625 Vereenigde Oostindische Companie of Holland, more commonly known as the Jan Companie or VOC, established a settlement at Chinsurah a few miles south of Bandel to trade in opium, salt, muslin and spices. They built a fort called Fort Gustavius and a church and several other buildings. A famous Frenchman, General Perron who served as military advisor to the Mahrattas, settled in this Dutch colony and built a large house here. The Dutch settlement of Chinsurah survived until 1825 when the Dutch in their process of consolidating their interests in modern day Indonesia, ceded Chinsurah to the English in lieu of the island of Sumatra (part of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824).

Fort Gustavius has since been obliterated from the face of Chinsurah and the church collapsed recently due to disuse, but much of the Dutch heritage remains. These include old barracks, the Governor's residence, General Perron's house, now the Chinsurah College and the old Factory Building, now the office of the Divisional Commissioner.

Hougli / Chinsura from 1635 to 1795 hoofdcomptoir. Main products: cotton, opium, ginger, hemp, silk, sugar. Present fort: Gustavus.
Patna, comptoir. Main products: nitrate, cotton fabrics, opium.
Cassimabasar (Cassim Bazar, Calcapore), comptoir with a chief merchant. Purchasing and processing of raw silk and silver coins were beaten.
Dacca (or Decca, now Dhaka) was a small establishment where the textile core, here was the seat of the Nawab (Governor) of Bengal and it was the headquarters for political reasons of importance.
Murshidabad (1710-1759) had a lodge where VOC-silver coin was beaten to Bengal. Pipely, 1627-1635 hoofdcomptoir. Main products: nitrate and slaves. Bellesoor (Balasore, now Baleshwar), from 1676 a comptoir. Fort William.

Image : The Dutch V O C Factory, Hoegly in Bengal 1665.

Source : http://www.farelli.info/pages_colonies/asia/bengalen.htm


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Thanks to Piyal Kundu for this large image : http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Dutch_V.O.C._factory_in_Hoegly_%28Hugli-Chuchura%2C_Bengal%29%28Hendrik_van_Schuylenburgh%2C_1665%29.jpg

The Dutch flag in this 1665 painting is the same one that they use now. Amazing longevity.

Beautiful indeed!The clarity ricochets us back.ThnX Rare Book for restoring & b'ful upkeeping of our forgotten annals.

Thanks for this post. Interesting that you should mention Bandel . We were taken there on a school picnic circa mid 1959 : traveled to Bandel from Howrah via. a spanking new electric train , spent a day and a night in the hoary old Bandel church mission premises .Altogether an unforgettable trip .

Do any of you like close enough to the site of this old Dutch Comptoir to be able to go out and look if any thing remains of it? Are there any old buildings from the Dutch period remaining at all? There are some really lovely ones in Kochi, including quite a few of the houses and shops lived in by quite humble people who were just as much of the story of India as the Rajah's and soldiers.

hi nick i am from chinsurah although i currently live in chennai there are a few dutch monuments reamining from the period although due to the negligence of the local and state authorities they are in shambles here are the pictures of one of them http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/3706618994_f879a3a890_b.jpg http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3706616422_f6fb33a82c_b.jpg it is the tomb of anna maria susana the wife of a dutch merchant built in 1802 there is also a dutch church built as early as 1678 (now used as a biological laboratory) and an armenian church from even earlier http://www.azad-hye.net/media/i1/chinsurah-pilgrimage-2008-01.jpg (armenian church)