Friday, December 24, 2010

Danish East India Company (contd-1)

III) Danish India a Danish Colony : In 1777 the company assets were taken over by Denmark.   During the Napoleonic Wars, Danish India was occuppied by the British. The Danish possessions were returned to Denmark after the Viena Congress.While in the terrirory administrated by the British East India Company , missionaries were forbidden to engage in proselytization, the Danish administration actively promoted such activity.The small territories on the subcontinent became centers of education and book printing (the first missinary, Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg, had arrived in Trankebar in 1705; Serampore College, established by William Carey, became a model for the Universities founded in British India after the supression of the Sepoy Mutiny and Rebellion.
In 1845, Denmark sold its possessions on the Indian mainland to EIC. In  1848 Denmark renounced its claims on the Nicobar Islands, which became a center of piracy until the British took over in 1869, after friendly negotiations with the Danish Government, and annexed into the British india.