| Office | Governor of Tranquebar
|
|---|---|
| Term start | 1694 |
| Term end | 19 May 1701 |
| Predecessor | Christian Porck |
| Successor | Andreas Andræ
|
| Born | Unknown |
| Born | Denmark–Norway |
| Died | 1701 |
| Place of death | Tranquebar, Danish India
|
| Spouse | Ulrica Anthoinette
|
Claus VogdtTemplate:Efn (alternatively spelled Voigt and Vogt; Template:Died in) was a Danish merchant and governor of Tranquebar from 1694 to his death in 1701.
Vogdt came to Tranquebar in 1669 as a merchant, but became governor upon the death of Governor Christian Porck. During his governance, Vogdt oversaw the consecration of the first Lutheran church in India, the establishment of peace with the Mughal Empire, and the defence of Tranquebar during its siege in 1699.
Career
Claus Vogdt was installed as a lower merchant (Template:Langx) by the Danish East India Company on the frigate Færøe in the late 1690s and arrived on 31 May 1669 at the Danish colony of Tranquebar. He was subsequently installed at Fort Dansborg with the same mercantile function. Vogdt's position eventually advanced to chief merchant (Template:Langx) and became the Interim Governor of Tranquebar at the death of Governor Christian Porck in 1694. His position as governor was officially confirmed by a royal decree on 2 October 1695.Template:Sfn
Mughal negotiations
Template:Main In January 1695, Vogdt sent secretary Andreas Andræ to the Malabar Coast to encourage the newly established trade in that region.Template:Sfn Consequently, the Danes established a pepper clearing house in Oddeway TorreTemplate:Sfn (Danish corruption of Edava) near Varkala.[1] After Andræ's return in May, Vogdt sent him to Malacca, Aceh, and later in 1698 to Bengal,Template:Sfn accompanied by Thomas Schmertz.Template:Sfn Here, Andræ negotiated the Dano-Mughal Treaty with the Mughal Empire,Template:Sfn which reestablished Danish trading rights, made both parties renounce war reparations, and ceded Dannemarksnagore to Danish India.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the same year, on 29 October, King Christian V of Denmark issued a new charter for a period of 40 years for the D. E. I. C., which was confirmed by Christian V's successor, Frederick IV, the following year. The charter was nearly identical to the 1670 charter, but gave the company the authority to appoint the Commander of Dansborg.Template:Sfn
Siege of Tranquebar
Still, in 1698, Vogdt became involved in a conflict with Thanjavur, where Tranquebar was besieged, and a part of the Danish district was severely plundered. Despite defending the siege with English help, the Template:Abbr suffered notable losses.Template:Sfn However, Vogdt had, in 1696, improved and expanded the city wall,Template:Sfn and the siege was subsequently futile.Template:Sfn The improved fortifications and Vogdt's mildness attracted numerous migrants from Thanjavur.Template:Sfn Additionally, Vogdt participated in the local slave trade and allowed the company to make voyages to Achin, Sumatra.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Altogether, the company got 217,747 Danish rigsdaler from 1688 to 1697 from slavery.Template:Sfn
According to a poem, the Zion Church in Tranquebar, which was the first Lutheran church in India, was consecrated during Vogdt's tenure.Template:Sfn
Vogdt died suddenly on 19 May 1701 and was succeeded by his secretary, Andreas Andræ.Template:Sfn
Personal life
Claus Vogdt was married to Ulrica Anthoinette, who died in 1699 in Tranquebar. The marriage was childless.Template:Sfn Following his death, a commission was established to determine how much damage Vogdt had caused Tranquebar when he arbitrarily involved the colony in the siege of 1699.Template:Sfn
See also
Notes and references
Notes
References
- ↑ When the Danes set up shop on the Malabar Coast, Kamalakaran, Ajay. onmanorama.com(2020-12-10). Retrieved 2025-12-12.
Works cited
- Guvernører, Residenter, Kommandanter og Chefer{{#if:Larsen|, Larsen}. Arthur Jensens Forlag(1940)
- Danmarks Søfart og Søhandel{{#if:Bastrup|, Bastrup}. Nyt Nordisk Forlag(1919)
- The Trade in Domestic Servants (Morianer) from Tranquebar for Upper Class Danish Homes in the First Half of the Seventeenth Century{{#if:Díaz|, Díaz}. Cambridge University Press(2019)
- Die Dänen in Indien, Südostasien und China (1620-1845){{#if:Diller|, Diller}. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag(1999). ISBN 978-3-447-04123-2
- The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698{{#if:Wellen|, Wellen}. Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies(2015)
- Halle and the Beginning of Protestant Christianity in India{{#if:Gross|, Gross}. Publishing House of the Francke Foundations in Halle(2006)
- World Food{{#if:Snodgrass|, Snodgrass}. Taylor & Francis(2012)