THE BRITISH SETTLEMENTS ON THE COROMANDEL COAST AND THEIR TRADING PORTS

Author’s Name : S Shenbagavalli

Volume 04 Issue 01  Year 2017  ISSN No:  2349-7289  Page no: 20-22

Abstract:

The maritime regions of India were of four zones namely Gujarat, Malabar, Coromandel and Bengal. The name Coromandel was formerly applied to the east coast of the Madras Presidency, extending northward from Pont Calimere to the mouth of the Kistna River, or even further. The name is a corruption of Choramandala or Chola-mandala , ie the kingdom of the Cholas, who in the tenth century ,had their capital at Tanjore. The coming of the Europeans to the Coromandel Coast constitutes an epoch in the history. By the middle of the seventeenth century, the three European chartered companies, the Dutch, the British and the Danish had acquired and consolidated their settlements along the Coromandel Coast. Each of the companies had an established capital on the coast which was the seat of authority and command for activities along the whole coast and even beyond. In the tough competition that existed among the charted companies, the British emerged successfully. The commercial accomplishment led to their political supremacy also.

Keywords:

Coromandel, Coast, Charted Companies, Fort.St.George, Port, Hinterland, Trade

References:

1. Coromandel, originally written as Choromandell means, “The realm of chora” and is a corruption Of Choromandala or Cholamandala, the country of Cholas, an ancient Tamil race entered in Tanjore. The term Coromandel was applied to the coast from calimere to the Kistna. Refer Henry Davidson Love, Vestiges of Old Madras vol I, Asian Educational Services, (New Delhi, 1996). P.11, hereafter Love.
2. S.Arasaratnam, Merchants, Companies and Commerce on the Coromandel Coast, Oxford University press, (Delhi, 1996). P.7. In contemporary Dutch translation, Sj is often used to denote the sound Ch. Refer S.Arasaratnam, “Francois Valentijn’s Description of Coromandel” in Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri Feliciation Volume, Prof K.A.N. Sastri’s Felicitation Committee, (Madras, 1971), p.3.Ibid.,
3. Jeyaseela Stephen, The Coromandel Coast and its Hinterland, Manohar Publishers, (Delhi, 1997) p.23.
4. S.Arasaratnam, Maritime India in the Seventeenth century, Oxford University Press, (Delhi, 1994) p.i.Jayaseela Stephen, op.cit., p.16. Alexander I., Chicherov, India: Economic Development in the Sixteenth – Eighteenth Centuries, (Moscow, 1971), p.122. Ibid., p.124
5. J.Talboys Wheeler, Early BritishSettlements on India, Higginbotham and Co., (Madras, 1882), p.47.A.I.Chicherov, op.cit, p.123.
6. John Bruce, Annals of the Honourable East India Company (London, 1810), vol.III, p.277.
7. C.D.Maclean, Manual of the Administration of the Madras Presidency, Vol.I, Asian Educational Services, (New Delhi, 1987), p.155. Hereafter Maclean’s Manual.Penny, On the Coromandel Coast, Smith Elder & Co, (London, 1908) p.2.
8. Bantam in the island of Java, was the East India Company’s principal settlement before the founding of Fort St. George (1640). Refer Love Vol.I, p.12
9. The site Armagon was obtained from the local karnam P.Armoogan Moodelly, and the factory was named after him. It was the first place fortified by the Britishin India. Refer Maclean’s Manual p.160.
10. S.Arasaratnam, Merchants, op.cit., p.12 Gazetteer of South India, p.171
11. S.Arasaratnam, Merchants ,op.cit, p.168.
12. S.Arasaratnam, Maritime India.,op.cit, p.17.
13. Tallboys Wheeler, op.cit., p.99.
14. S.Arasaratnam, Maritime India, op.cit., p.14
15. Ibid., p.267.
16. A.I.Chicherov, op.cit., p.123.
17. Dietmar Rothermund, An Economic History of India, Croom Helm, (London, 1988), p.13.
18. Diary and Consultations of Fort St. George, 1713.