| Balasore Road Campaign | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Dano-Mughal War | |||||||||
 A Danish East Indiaman, the Christianshavn, on a voyage to Tranquebar, by an unknown author. | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Danish India | Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Werner Friis Wilke Wygbert | Malik Qasim | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
|
Mageløs | Unknown | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
2 ships 16 guns c. 6 men | 5 vessels | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| None | 5 vessels | ||||||||
The Balasore Road Campaign (Danish: Balasore Rede Kampangen), or the Battle of Balasore Road (Danish: Slaget ved Balasore Rede), was a military campaign in 1673 conducted by the Danish captain, Werner Friis, against the Mughals to reestablish lost trading privileges at Balasore and Odisha. The campaign was a clear success for the Danish East India Company, and the Danish factory at Balasore was reestablished.
Background
editDuring the regime of the second governor of Tranquebar, Roland Crappé, the Danish East India Company established a factory and trading post at Balasore in Bengal.[1] The factory would operate until 1643 when it was demolished by the Mughal governor of Balasore, Malik Beg, as a result of the newly declared Dano-Mughal War.[2][1]
Campaign
editIn 1672, Christian V of Denmark sent the 16-gunned frigate Mageløs, together with one sloop, to Tranquebar, under the leadership of Werner Friis to negotiate a peace treaty with the Bengalis.[2] Friis would, on behalf of Frederick III negotiate with Malik Qasim, the governor of Hooghly and Balasore.
According to historian Saugata Bhaduri, Friis seized five Mughal vessels upon reaching the Balasore Roads.[2] However, according to Stephan Diller, Friis only threatened to capture the vessels, as an aggressive negotiating style.[1] This enabled Friis to persuade the local governor, Malik Qasim, to give the Danes similar Trading privileges as the English and to give them the right to reestablish their factory with an additional payment of 5–6.000 Danish rigsdaler.[2] On the contrary, the Danes paid 32.000 Rupees in compensation for 30 Bengali ships that had been seized by the Danes.[3] Bhaduri further explains that Friis went ashore with five or six men and visited the governor, Malik Qasim.
Aftermath
editSee also
edit- Battle of Balasore – Battle between Mughals and Europeans in Balasore, 1647
- Capture of the ship The Bengali Prize – 1642 Danish hijacking of a Bengali ship
- Expulsion of Danes from Balasore – 1643/1644 ousting of Danes in Balasore
References
edit- ^ a b c Diller 1999, p. 216.
- ^ a b c d Bhaduri 2021, p. 140.
- ^ Larsen 1940, p. 66.
Works cited
edit- Bhaduri, Saugata (2021). Polycoloniality: European Transactions with Bengal from the 13th to the 19th Century. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-93-89812-56-5.
- Wellen, Kathryn (2015). The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698 (PDF). Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies.
- Diller, Stephan (1999). Die Dänen in Indien, Südostasien und China (1620-1845) (in German). Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-04123-2.
- Gani, Shahabuddin (1969). Danish Settlement of Balasore. Proceedings of the Indian History Congress.
- Larsen, Kay (1940). Guvernører, Residenter, Kommandanter og Chefer (PDF) (in Danish). Copenhagen: ARTHUR JENSENS FORLAG. p. 61.