Danish Asiatic Company

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Danish Colonial Merchant Ensign of India Danish Colonial Merchant Ensign India.png
Danish Colonial Merchant Ensign of India

Danish Asiatic Company (Danish: Asiatisk Kompagni) was a Danish trading company established in 1730 to revive Danish-Norwegian trade on the Danish East Indies and China following the closure of the Danish East India Company. [1] It was granted a 40-year monopoly on Danish trade on Asia in 1732 and taken over by the Danish government in 1772. It was headquartered at Asiatisk Plads in Copenhagen. Its former premises are now used by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Contents

History

Cronprintz Christian seen on the front page from the ship journal from its 1730-31 voyage to China. Journal holden paa Skibet Cron-Printz Christian fra Kiobenhafn til Canton i China og til Kiobenhafn Igien fra Ao 1730 til 1732.jpg
Cronprintz Christian seen on the front page from the ship journal from its 1730-31 voyage to China.

The Danish East India Company was dissolved in 1729. Some of Copenhagen's leading merchants responded to the dissolution of the Danish East India Company by creating two trading societies, one for the Indian trade and another one for the new and promising China trade. On 20 April 1730, the two societies were merged to form the Danish Asiatic Company. The reformed interim company opened trade with Qing China at Canton. The first expedition went badly, with Den gyldne Løve lost with its cargo of silver off Ballyheigue, Ireland, on the outbound journey. Local landowners held the silver at their estate and pursued a salvage claim, but a gang of locals overpowered the Danish guard and made off with the hoard, causing a diplomatic row between Denmark-Norway and Britain. [2] The Cron Printz Christian returned from the company's first successful expedition to Canton in 1732.

With the royal licence conferred in 1732, the new company was granted a 40-year monopoly on all Danish trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. Before 1750, it sent 27 ships; 22 survived the journey to return to Copenhagen. [2] In 1772, the company lost its monopoly and in 1779, Danish India became a crown colony.

During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1801 and again in 1807, the British Royal Navy attacked Copenhagen. As a consequence of the last attack (in which the entire Dano-Norwegian navy was captured), Denmark (one of few Western European countries not occupied by Napoleon), ceded the island of Heligoland (part of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp) to Britain. In the east, when news of Anglo-Danish hostilities reached India, the British immediately seized seven Danish merchant ships on 28 January 1808 that were in the Hoogli. [3] Denmark finally sold its remaining settlements in mainland India in 1845 and the Danish Gold Coast in 1850, both to the British.

Management

Presidents

Board of directors

Members of the board of directors included:

Fleet

Details of some of these armed trading ships, often built by the Royal Danish dockyards as "handelskib, chinafarer", can be found at the Royal Danish Naval Museum website [4] Two have a history record at Skibregister. [5]

Further reading

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Abbestée</span> Danish colonial governor (1728–1794)

Hermann Abbestée was Danish governor of Tranquebar from 1762 to 1775 and the first royal governor of Danish India from 1779 to 1788. He served as one of the seven directors of the Danish Asiatic Company from 1775 to 1778 and was also active as a trader.

<i>Cron Printz Christian</i> (DAC ship)

Cron Printz Christian was the first Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company. A former Royal Swedish Navy ship of the line, HSMS Warberg, launched at Karlskrona in 1699, she was one of three Swedish naval ships captured by Tordenskiold at Marstrand in 1719 and subsequently included in the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy as HDMS Kronprinsen af Danmark. In 1730, she was loaned out to the newly established Danish Asiatic Company for its first expedition to Canton.

Dronningen af Danmark, renamed Dronning Sophia Magdalena in 1862. was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, constructed at Asiatisk Plads in 1747. The name was later transferred to another DAC East Indiaman, built Asiatisk Plads in 1762.

HDMS <i>Slesvig</i> (1725) 18th century Danish ship

HDMS Slesvig (Sleswig) was a ship of the line of the Royal Danish Navy, which she served from 1725. In 1733, she was transferred to the new Danish Asiatic Company.

<i>Kongen af Danmark</i> (1788 DAC ship) Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company

Kongen af Danmark was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built at Asiatisk Plads in 1788. She was the fifth DAC ship with this name.

Dokken was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built at Andreas Bodenhoff's Dockyard in 1742. She vanished on the way back from her fourth expedition to Tranquebar in Danish India, in 1751, between the Cape of Good Hope and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HDMS Fridericus Quartus</span>

HDMS Fridericus Quartus, launched at Royal Danish Naval Dockyards in 1699, was a three-deck, 110-gun ship of the line designed to be the flagship of the Royal Dano-Norwegian Navy. She soon proved difficult to navigate, and unsuited for the shallow Danish waters. She was later used as an East Indiaman, first by the Danish East India Company and then by the Danish Asiatic Company. She was wrecked at Skagen in November 1736, shortly after embarking on her second DAC expedition to Tranquebar. She co-existed with another ship by the same name, a slave ship owned by the Danish West India Company, which wrecked off Costa Rica's coast in 1710.

Grev Laurvig was an East Indiaman of the Danish East India Company. In 1732, she was sold to the Danish Asiatic Company.

<i>Vendela</i> (DAC ship)

Vendela was an East Indiaman of the Danish East India Company. In 1732, she was sold to the Danish Asiatic Company.

Prinsesse Louise was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, bought in England in 1738.,

Prinsesse Wilhelmine Caroline was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company.

Kronprinsessen af Danmark ) was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, launched at Asiatisk Plads in 1745. Sje made three expeditions to Tranquebar. She was only able to make it to the Cape of Good Hope on her last homebound voyage but her cargo was later picked up by two other ships.

Prinsesse Charlotte Amalie was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, bought in England in 1738. She sailed on three expeditions to Tranquebar between 1741 and 1845.

Kronprinsen af Danmark, later renamed Kronprins, was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built at Asiatisk Plads in 1740. She sailed on two expeditions to Canton.

'Kronprinsen af Danmark, was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built at Asiatisk Plads in 1746. She sailed on three expeditions to Canton between 1746 and 1753.

Dronning Caroline Mathilde, later renamed Ganges, following the arrest of her namesake, Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark, was an East Indiaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built in 1769. She sailed on seven expeditions to the Rast Indies.

Dronningen af Danmark was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built at Asiatisk Plads in 1738. She sailed on four expeditions to Canton but was lost on her last homebound voyage in late 1746. Another ship by the same name was constructed at Asiatisk Plads in 1848.

<i>Dronning Sophia Magdalena</i> (1762 DAC ship) Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company

Dronning Sophia Magdalena was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built in 1762. She sailed on six expeditions to Canton.

Kongen af Danmark was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, built in 1745.

Kongen af Danmark was a Chinaman of the Danish Asiatic Company, launched in 1769.

References

  1. ↑ Glamann, Kristof (1960). "The Danish Asiatic Company, 1732–;1772". Scandinavian Economic History Review. 8 (2): 109–149. doi:10.1080/03585522.1960.10411426.
  2. 1 2 Foreningen Trankebar. "Brev fra England Archived 16 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine ".
  3. ↑ "No. 16982". The London Gazette . 7 February 1815. p. 219.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Royal Danish Naval Museum -List of Danish Warships
  5. ↑ Royal Danish Naval Museum - Skibregister
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Klem p 220
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Klem p 222
  8. ↑ Record card for Fyen
  9. 1 2 3 4 Klem p 224
  10. ↑ Klem p 226
  11. 1 2 Klem p 228
  12. 1 2 Klem p 232
  13. 1 2 Klem p 234
  14. ↑ Record card for Den Gloende

Citations

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