Town and Fortress of Tranquebar [MODERN Tharangambadi, TamilNadu] [along with descriptive text at back]

Circa 1740

Copper engraving on paper

Print size: 19.5 x 22.5 in (50 x 57.5 cm)
Sheet size: 21.5 x 25.25 in (54.5 x 64 cm)
Folded: 21.5 x 12.5 in (54.5 x 32 cm)

The Danish-Halle Mission Settlement at Tranquebar — A Rare Colonial Plan of Protestant Evangelism and Trade in South India

A scarce and finely engraved mid-eighteenth-century plan of Tranquebar (modern Tharangambadi), the principal Danish colonial settlement on the Coromandel Coast and one of the most historically significant European missionary outposts in India. Published by the celebrated Augsburg cartographer Matthäus Seutter, this map and its accompanying explanatory text sheet together provide an unusually comprehensive portrait of Denmark’s most important overseas possession in the subcontinent.

The Danish East India Company established its fortified trading post at Tranquebar around 1620, constructing the formidable Fort Dansborg, here prominently highlighted in red as the strategic centre of Danish authority. From this bastioned coastal enclave, Tranquebar developed into the Company’s primary factory and a vital maritime node within the Bay of Bengal trading network, remaining under Danish control until its eventual sale to the British in 1845.

Seutter’s topographical depiction extends beyond the town itself to encompass the surrounding agricultural and administrative landscape. Colour-coded divisions distinguish cultivated fields, irrigation systems, roads, canals, and neighbouring territories under the Kingdom of Tanjore (Tanjavur), offering valuable insight into colonial land management and regional infrastructure. The Golfo di Bengala is labelled along the coast, underscoring Tranquebar’s importance as a seaborne commercial hub.

Of particular distinction is the map’s detailed attention to Tranquebar’s role as the site of India’s first Protestant mission, established in 1706 through the renowned Danish-Halle Mission, and later the location of one of the earliest modern printing presses in India. Extensive annotations describe local settlements, temples (pagodas), trade routes, and missionary activity, reflecting the intersection of European evangelism, governance, and cultural exchange.

The accompanying text sheet provides a historical, geographical, and economic account of the colony, tracing its foundation, administration, relations with local rulers, and the educational and religious initiatives led by Lutheran missionaries. Together, these documents form an exceptional visual and textual record of Denmark’s missionary-mercantile experiment in South India.

Seutter himself was among the foremost German mapmakers of the period. Trained under Johann Baptist Homann and appointed Imperial Geographer in 1727, he is best remembered for his Atlas Novus (ca. 1730), with much of his production adapting and refining earlier European cartographic sources into richly marketable engraved works.

NON-EXPORTABLE

This lot is offered at RESERVE

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