Fort Vijf Sinnen (also Vyf Sinnen, Dutch for "the five senses") was a fortification made by the Dutch East India Company in Nagapattinam, then part of Dutch Coromandel (1610-1798), now Tamil Nadu. The fortification, also described as a castle, was built to protect the interests of the trading company, which shifted the capital of the Coromandel operation from Pulicat to Nagapattinam in 1690, three years after work began on the fort.[1]

Fort Vijf Sinnen
Part of Dutch Coromandel
18th-c. map of the fort
Fort Vijf Sinnen is located in Tamil Nadu
Fort Vijf Sinnen
Fort Vijf Sinnen
Coordinates10°45′00″N 79°50′00″E / 10.750066°N 79.833439°E / 10.750066; 79.833439
Site history
Built1690 (1690)
Built byDutch East India Company
DemolishedYes

The heavily armed fort in the end proved useless in the 1781 Siege of Negapatam, in which the British took the fort. In the Treaty of Paris of 1784 which ended the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War of which this siege was part, Nagapattinam was not restored to Dutch rule, but remained British. The headquarters of the colony shifted back to Pulicat.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "The Dutch on the Coromandel". The Hindu. 19 January 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2016.
  2. ^ Kavan Ratnatunga (2006). "Paliakate - VOC Kas Copper Dumps, 1646 - 1794 - Dutch India]". Dutch India coins - Pulicat. lakdiva.org. Archived from the original on 8 December 2008. Retrieved 2 December 2008.
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