Danish India

Danish India was the name given to the forts and trading factories established by Denmark–Norway, and after 1814 by Denmark, on the Indian subcontinent. The first expedition sailed in 1618 under Admiral Ove Gjedde and reached Ceylon after two years, but the king of Kandy no longer wanted foreign help. A treaty with the Nayak of Tanjore instead granted the Danes the village of Tranquebar, the right to build a stone house, and permission to levy taxes; the agreement was signed on 20 November 1620, and Fort Dansborg became the centre of the colony. Danish ventures were chronically undercapitalised and never threatened the British, French or Portuguese, but they survived by carrying goods under a neutral flag during European wars. The colony also included Serampore in Bengal and the Nicobar Islands. Serampore was sold to the British in 1839, Tranquebar and most minor settlements in 1845, and all Danish rights to the Nicobar Islands in 1868; the islands were formally annexed by Britain in 1869.