Europeans in India Part 9 The French Arrive in India Section I: Pondicherry is Established

Canberra 2 April 2023 France was the fourth European nation to enter the race to establish commercial relations with India and for cornering the spice trade, if the minor incursions of the Danes are discounted as being almost insignificant. The French had noticed that the Portuguese, Dutch and the English had profited considerably from their […]

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Europeans in India Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section IV Commercial Activities: Travancore (Venad)

Canberra, 18 February 2023 Venad was an early-medieval kingdom in the southern tip of Kerala with its capital at Quilon (Kollam). It was one of the four major principalities that made up the region of Kerala, the other three being Kolathunadu (Cannanore/Kannur), Nediyiruppu (Calicut/Kozhikode) and Perumpadappu (Cochin/Kochi). The rulers of Venad trace their ancestry to […]

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Europeans in India – Part 7 The Dutch Enter the Fray Section I: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)

Canberra, 20 January 2023 Spain and Portugal, both staunchly Catholic countries, had divided the world between them at the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. England and Netherlands, or Holland as it is sometimes known, both protestant countries, refused to agree to this arbitrary decision, defending the principle that ‘the sea was as free as the […]

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