In researching the relative strengths of English and Dutch merchants, I was surprised to learn just how many other European states also tried to get a slice of the seventeenth century’s intercontinental trade. The Danes, for example, had an East India Company of their own. In 1620 its first expedition reached Sri Lanka, where they negotiated a treaty with its ruler, the king of Kandy, to found an outpost. But they seem to have been driven off by the Portuguese, who already had some forts on the island. The Danes thus hopped across to the Indian mainland, again negotiating a treaty with a local ruler allowing them to establish a fort of their own at the town of Tranquebar — the unimaginatively named Dansborg, or “Danish fort”. Although the Danes managed to hold onto it until as late as 1845, it was a poorly-supplied outpost in the mid-seventeenth century, with the Dutch and English often trying to purchase it cheaply.
One key development to making colonization possible was advancing international security. In the 1200s, it was ludicrous to think that you could send a few ships halfway around the world and have your claims be respected. Low-intensity warfare between warlords slowly transmuted into legal wrangling. This allowed them to conceive of funding projects in faraway lands and getting returns on their investments. This change in international governance norms was required for changes in technology to bear fruit.
What a fascinating account. Thanks much!
One key development to making colonization possible was advancing international security. In the 1200s, it was ludicrous to think that you could send a few ships halfway around the world and have your claims be respected. Low-intensity warfare between warlords slowly transmuted into legal wrangling. This allowed them to conceive of funding projects in faraway lands and getting returns on their investments. This change in international governance norms was required for changes in technology to bear fruit.