>BrownHairedGirl at 22:38, 5 May 2021

2021-05-05T22:38:15Z

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{{EngvarB|date=March 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}}
{{unreliable sources|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox country
|native_name = Bengalen
|conventional_long_name = Dutch Bengal
|common_name = Bengal, Dutch
|empire = Netherlands
|status = Colony
|status_text =
|era = Imperialism
|year_start = 1627
|year_end = 1825
|date_start =
|date_end =
|event_start = Establishment of a trading post at Pipely
|event_end = [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824]]
|p1 = Portuguese India
|flag_p1 = Flag Portugal (1640).svg
|s1 = British India
|flag_s1 = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
|image_flag = Flag of the Dutch East India Company.svg
|image_coat = VOC.svg
|image_map =
|image_map_caption =
|national_motto =
|national_anthem =
|capital = [[Pipely]] (1627–1635)<br />[[Hugli-Chuchura]] (1635–1825)
|common_languages = [[Dutch language|Dutch]]
|government_type =
|title_leader =
|leader1 =
|year_leader1 =
|leader2 =
|year_leader2 =
|title_representative = Director
|representative1 = Pieter Sterthemius
|year_representative1 = 1655–1658
|representative2 = [[Abraham Patras]]
|year_representative2 = 1724–1727
|representative3 = [[Isaac Titsingh]]
|year_representative3 = 1785–1792
|representative4 = Cornelis van Citters Aarnoutszoon
|year_representative4 = 1792–1795
|representative5 = [[Daniel Anthony Overbeek]]
|year_representative5 = 1817–1825
|title_deputy =
|deputy1 =
|year_deputy1 =
|deputy2 =
|year_deputy2 =
|stat_year1 =
|stat_pop1 =
|currency =
}}
'''Bengal''' was a directorate of the [[Dutch East India Company]] in [[Mughal Bengal]] between 1610 until the company's liquidation in 1800. It then became a colony of the [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]] until 1825, when it was relinquished to the British according to the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824]]. Dutch presence in the region started by the establishment of a trading post at [[Pipili]] in the mouth of Subarnarekha river in [[Odisha]]. The former colony is part of what is today called [[Dutch India]].<ref name="VOCsite">De VOC site - [http://vocsite.nl/geschiedenis/handelsposten/bengalen.html Bengalen]</ref> 50% of textiles and 80% of silks were imported from Bengal to the [[Dutch Empire]].<ref name="Prakash">[[Om Prakash (historian)|Om Prakash]], "[http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3447600139/WHIC?u=seat24826&xid=6b597320 Empire, Mughal]", ''History of World Trade Since 1450'', edited by John J. McCusker, vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 237–240, ''World History in Context''. Retrieved 3 August 2017</ref>

==History==
[[File:De handelsloge van de VOC in Hougly in Bengalen Rijksmuseum SK-A-4282.jpeg|thumb|[[Dutch East India Company]] factory in [[Hugli-Chuchura]], Bengal. Painting by Hendrik van Schuylenburgh, 1665]]
[[File:Hollandse plantage in Bengalen Rijksmuseum SK-A-4283.jpeg|thumb|The Dutch factory in Cossimbazar.]]
[[File:Nicolaas de Graaff - Chiopra.jpg|thumb|The Dutch saltpeter factory in [[Chhapra]].]]
[[File:A View of Chinsura the Dutch settlement in Bengal.jpg|thumb|A view of Chinsura from the early 19th century, with the church above the waterfront.]]
[[File:The Old Dutch Church, Chinsura.jpg|thumb|The old Dutch church in Hooghly, before the loss of the church tower in a 1864 cyclone.]]
From 1615 onwards, the Dutch East India Company traded with [[Bengal]]s. In 1627, a trading post was established in Pipely. In 1635 a settlement was established at [[Chinsurah]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dutchcemeterybengal.com|title=The Dutch Cemetery in Chinsurah|website=www.dutchcemeterybengal.com|language=en|access-date=2017-04-21}}</ref> adjacent to [[Hooghly (town)|Hooghly]] to trade in opium, salt, muslin and spices. The factory was walled in 1687 to protect it against attacks and in 1740, during the directorship of {{ill|Jan Albert Sichterman|nl}}, rebuilt into a fort with four bastions. The fort was named Fort Gustavus in 1742, after governor-general [[Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff]]. Director Sichterman built a church tower in 1742, which was joined by a church building in 1765.<ref name="De Jong">{{cite web |url=https://dutchindianheritage.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/nearly-15-years-in-bengal.pdf |title=Nearly fifteen years VOC service in Bengal: Jan Albert Sichterman |last=De Jong |first=Dick |date=14 March 2014 |access-date=22 September 2020 }}</ref>

A famous Frenchman, General Perron who served as military advisor to the [[Mahrattas]], settled in this Dutch colony and built a large house here.

Trade thrived in [[Mughal Empire]]'s most developed region [[Bengal Subah]] in the early eighteenth century, to such an extent that the administrators of the Dutch East India Company allowed Hooghly-Chinsura in 1734 to trade directly with the [[Dutch Republic]], instead of first delivering their goods to Batavia. The only other Dutch East India Company settlement to have this right was [[Dutch Ceylon]].

Dutch control over Bengal was waning in the face of Anglo-French rivalry in India in the middle of the eighteenth century, and their status in Bengal was reduced to that of a minor power with the British victory in the [[Battle of Plassey]] in 1757. In 1759, the Dutch tried in vain to curb British power in Bengal in the [[Battle of Chinsurah]].

Dutch Bengal was occupied by British forces in 1795, owing to the [[Kew Letters]] written by Dutch stadtholder [[William V, Prince of Orange]], to prevent the colony from being occupied by France. The [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]] restored the colony to Dutch rule, but with the desire to divide the Indies into two separate spheres of influence, the Dutch ceded all their establishment on the Indian peninsula to the British with the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824]].

==Legacy==
Fort Gustavus has since been obliterated from the face of Chinsurah, but much of the Dutch heritage remains. These include the [[Dutch Cemetery, Chinsurah|Dutch cemetery]], the old barracks (now Chinsurah Court), the Governor's residence, General Perron's house, now the [[Chinsurah]] College known as [[Hooghly Mohsin College]] and the old Factory Building, now the office of the Divisional Commissioner. [[Hugli-Chinsurah]] is now the district town of the Hooghly district in modern [[West Bengal]].

[[Cossimbazar]] still has a Dutch cemetery. The {{ill|Dutch cemetery in Karinga|WD=Q99567452}} near Chhapra features a mausoleum for Jacob van Hoorn, who died in 1712.<ref>Bauke van der Pol - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lYsM6xiu_g Chhapra: Holland on the Ganges - The Lost Tomb]</ref>

The {{ill|Dutch church of Chinsurah|WD=Q99529007}} was demolished in 1988 by the West Bengal Public Works Department.<ref>{{cite news |last=Majumdar |first=Diptosh |date=11 October 1988 |title=PWD vandals destroy historic church |url=https://i1.wp.com/dutchindianheritage.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/DSCN1835.jpg?ssl=1 |work=[[Calcutta Times]] |location=Kolkata |access-date=22 September 2020}}</ref> The memorial tablets of deceased Dutch people, which used to be displayed in the church, were donated by the bishop of Calcutta to the [[Rijksmuseum Amsterdam]] in 1949.<ref>[https://issuu.com/aishwaryatipnisarchitects/docs/ata_final_paper_by_oeendrila_lahiri The Dutch in India & Chinsurah by Dr Oeendrila Lahiri], p. 16</ref>

==Trading posts==
{{Location map+|India West Bengal|width=250|float=right
|alt=Map of the main trading posts of Dutch Bengal
|caption=Map of the main trading posts of Dutch Bengal (Note: Patna and Dhaka slightly out of position)
|places=
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=22.9|lon_deg=88.39|position=right|mark=Green_pog.svg||marksize=12|label='''Hugli-Chuchura'''}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=25.611|lon_deg=85.6|position=right|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=←Patna}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=24.12|lon_deg=88.28|position=right|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Cossimbazar}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=24.36|lon_deg=88.6|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Rajshahi→}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=23.7|lon_deg=90|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Dhaka→}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=24.18|lon_deg=88.27|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Murshidabad}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=21.65|lon_deg=87.29|position=right|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Pipely}}
{{Location map~|India West Bengal|lat_deg=21.49|lon_deg=86.93|position=left|mark=Green_pog.svg|label_size=90|label=Balasore}}
}}
Dutch settlements in Bengal include:

* [[Dutch settlement in Rajshahi]]
* In [[Chhapra]] was a [[Nitratine|saltpeter]] factory (1666 -1781)(seized by British)
* [[Balasore|Baleswar]] or Balasore (1675 -)
* [[Patna]] (1638)(1645-1651)(1651-1781)(seized by British)
* [[Cossimbazar]] or Kassamabazar
* [[English Bazar|Malda]]
* [[Mirzapur, Bardhaman|Mirzapur (in Bardhaman, West Bengal)]]
* [[Baliapal]] or Pipeli, the main port for the Dutch between 1627–1635
* [[Murshidabad]] (1710–1759)
* [[Rajmahal]]
* [[Dhaka]] (1665-)
* [[Sherpur District|Sherpur]]

==See also==
*[[Dutch Coromandel]]
*[[Dutch Malabar]]
*[[Dutch Ceylon]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Frank Lequin|Lequin, Frank]]. (1982). ''Het personeel van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie in Azie in de achttiende eeuw, meer in het bijzonder in de vestiging Bengalen'' (''The staff of the Dutch East India Company in Asia in the eighteenth century, in particular the establishment in Bengal''). Thesis (Ph. D.), [[University of Leiden]]. {{ISBN|9789090000947}}; [http://www.worldcat.org/title/personeel-van-de-verenigde-oost-indische-compagnie-in-azie-in-de-achttiende-eeuw-meer-in-het-bijzonder-in-de-vestiging-bengalen/oclc/013375077 OCLC 13375077]

== External links ==
*[http://dutchinchinsurah.in/ dutchinchinsurah.in]
*[http://www.dutchcemeterybengal.com Dutch Cemetery Bengal, Chinsurah]

{{Dutch colonies|East India|Kingdom1}}

{{coord missing| India}}

{{Indian Independence Movement}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bengal, Dutch}}
[[Category:Dutch Bengal| ]]
[[Category:European colonisation in Asia]]
[[Category:Former trading posts of the Dutch East India Company]]
[[Category:Former settlements and colonies of the Dutch East India Company]]
[[Category:1627 establishments in Dutch India]]
[[Category:1825 disestablishments in Dutch India]]

Dutch Bengal - Revision history

>BrownHairedGirl at 22:38, 5 May 2021