Danish India is the former colonies of Denmark–Norway (since 1991 Denmark alone) in India. Denmark-Norway held colonial possessions in India for more than 200 years, including the town of Tharangambadi in present-day Tamil Nadu state, Serampore in present-day West Bengal, and the Nicobar Islands, currently part of India's union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The Danish presence in India was of little significance to the major European powers as they presented neither a military nor a mercantile threat.[1] Dano-Norwegian ventures in India, as elsewhere, were typically undercapitalised and never able to dominate or monopolise trade routes in the same way that the companies of Portugal, the Netherlands and Britain could.[2] Against all odds however they managed to cling to their colonial holdings, and at times, to carve out a valuable niche in international trade by taking advantage of wars between larger countries and offering foreign trade under a neutral flag.[3][4] For this reason their presence was tolerated until 1845, when their alliance with a defeated France led to the colony being ceded to the British East Indian company.
History The success of Dutch and English traders in the 17th century spice trade was a source of envy among Danish and Norwegian merchants; however Dutch control over the East Indies was seen as impregnable. It took the arrival of the Dutch adventurer Marcelis de Boshouwer in 1618 to provide the impetus for Dano-Norwegian involvement in the Indian Subcontinent. Initially however, this was not the intention. Marcelis arrived as an envoy for the emperor of Ceylon, Cenerat Adassin, seeking military assistance against the Portuguese and promising a monopoly on all trade with the island. His appeal had been rejected by his countrymen, but it convinced Christian IV, the King of Denmark-Norway, who issued a charter in 1616 granting the Danish East India Company a monopoly on trade between Denmark-Norway and Asia for 12 years ÷ Hi