The Dutch are the people of Holland (now the Netherlands). The Dutch arrived in India shortly after the Portuguese. The Dutch have long been experts in sea trading. The Dutch government granted the United East India Company of the Netherlands license to trade in the East Indies, including India, in 1602. Dutch India was more of a geographical location than a political authority. In comparison to the Portuguese and the English, the Dutch had the shortest presence in India of all the European colonial powers.
Dutch history in India
The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602 and signified the Dutch entrance in India. They arrived in Andhra Pradesh’s Masulipatam (now Machilipatnam). From 1605 to 1825, they occupied the Indian subcontinent. Given the growing demand for Indian spices from Asia in Europe, the Dutch arrived to India with the intention of trading. The establishment of the Dutch East India Company marked the beginning of the modern multinational company (MNC). Following a pact between the Zamorin of Calicut and the Dutch chief, Steven Van der Hagen, Dutch trading in India began on November 11, 1604. The goal was to force the Portuguese off the Malabar Coast, but this was never achieved. The Dutch, on the other hand, soon built commercial facilities in various parts of India and traded cotton, textiles, silk, Indigo, and Golconda diamonds. In 1661, the Dutch conquered the Portuguese and took control of all of Malabar. They had now mastered the pepper trade and made tremendous profits selling pepper, which was known in Europe as “Black Gold.” In the 17th century, nothing could stop the Dutch from capturing Pondicherry from the French in 1693. In the East Indies, the Dutch became a large producer of sugar and coffee, as well as a big exporter of spices and textiles. During their time in India, the Dutch tried their hand at currency manufacture as well. They established mints in Cochin, Masulipatam, Nagapatam Pondicherry, and Pulicat as their trade grew. Furthermore, the Pulicat mint issued a gold pagoda with an image of Lord Venkateswara (god Vishnu). The Dutch minted coins that were all based on local coinages.
The Decline of Dutch power The Dutch East India Company began to fade in the mid-eighteenth century. It was characterised by poor corporate practices, corruption, and political upheaval. Martanda Verma, the formidable monarch of Travancore, defeated the Dutch in 1741 and reclaimed control of Malabar. The fourth Anglo-Dutch war, in which the British navy sunk Dutch ships and seized trading ports, resulted to their bankruptcy in 1799. Finally, the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1825 ended the Dutch dominance in India by transferring all Dutch assets to the British.
