Tharangambadi
—  town  —
Bungalow on the Beach, Neemrana Hotels
Tharangambadi
Coordinates: 11°02′N 79°50′E / 11.03°N 79.84°E / 11.03; 79.84Coordinates: 11°02′N 79°50′E / 11.03°N 79.84°E / 11.03; 79.84
Country	India
State	Tamil Nadu
District	Nagapattinam
Population (2001)
• Total	20,841
Languages
• Official	Tamil
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)

Tharangambadi (formerly Tranquebar) is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 15 km north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary of the Kaveri River. Tharangambadi is the headquarters of Tharangambadi taluk. Its name means "place of the singing waves". It was a Danish colony from 1620 to 1845, and in Danish it is still known as Trankebar.

Geography[link]

Tharangambadi is located at 11°02′N 79°50′E / 11.03°N 79.84°E / 11.03; 79.84.^[1]

History[link]

The earliest reference to Tarangampadi occurs in a 14th century inscription, mentioning the place as Sadanganpade. Tranquebar was founded by the Danish East India Company in 1620, when a factory (commercial settlement) was opened and a fort, known as Fort Dansborg, was built by a Danish captain named Ove Gjedde. This fort was the residence and headquarters of the governor and other officials for about 150 years. It is now a museum hosting a collection of artifacts from the colonial era.

Fort Dansborg at Tranquebar, built by Danish Admiral, Ove Gjedde.

Among the first Protestant missionaries to set foot in India were two Lutherans from Germany, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau, who began work in 1705 in the Danish settlement of Tranquebar. They translated the Bible into the local Tamil language, and afterwards into Hindustani. They also established a printing press, which within a hundred years of its establishment in 1712 had printed 300 books in Tamil.^[2] At first they only made little progress in their religious efforts, but gradually the mission spread to Madras, Cuddalore and Tanjore. Today bishop of Tranquebar is the official title of a bishop in the Tamil Evangelical Lutheran Church (TELC) in South India which was founded in 1919 as a result of the German Lutheran Leipzig Mission and Church of Sweden Mission. The seat of the Bishop, the Cathedral and its Church House ("Tranquebar House") is in Tiruchirappalli.

Moravian Brethren missionaries from Herrnhut, Saxony established the Brethren's Garden at Porayar near Tranquebar and operated it as a missionary centre for a number of years. An Italian Catholic Father Constanzo Beschi, who worked in the colony from 1711 to 1740, found himself in conflict with the Lutheran pioneers at Tranquebar, against whom he wrote several polemical works.

Tranquebar came under the control of the British in February 1808, during the Napoleonic Wars in Europe, but was restored to Denmark following the Treaty of Kiel in 1814. Along with the other Danish settlements in India (Serampore and the Nicobars), it was sold to the British in 1845. Tranquebar was then still a busy port, but it later lost its importance after a railway was opened to Nagapattinam.

Danish Museum[link]

The antiquities connected with the colonial period and Danish settlement at Tharangampadi are exhibited under the guidance of Dr T.S. Sridhar, I.A.S Principal Secretary and Commissioner of Archeology. The museum contains porcelain ware, Danish manuscripts, glass objects, Chinese tea jars, steatitle lamps, decorated terracotta objects, figurines, lamps, stones, sculptures, swords, daggers, spears, sudai (stucco) figurines and wooden objects. There is also part of a whale skeleton.

Danish Fort[link]

Danish Church, Tharangampadi

The Fort was first based in 1620 A.D. through most part of the fort has been reconstructed several times, Tharangampadi fort consisted of two large structures. they were the rampant wall was a fairly large four sided structure with bastions at each cardinal point. along the three inner sides of the fort wall, a single storied building was constructed. These rooms were used for barracks, warehouse, kitchen and Jail. Now, the rooms on the southern side are in good condition, but the rooms on the western and northern sides have been completely damaged. On the eastern side of the fort, there was a two storied building facing the sea. It was the main building of the fort. The vaulted lower storey served as a magazine and a warehouse, while the vaulted upper storey contained the church and the lodging of the governor, the Senior merchants and the chaplain. The fort was surrounded by a moat and access to the fort was over a drawbridge. This moat has completely disappeared. The sea on the eastern and western side protected it. Because of the political situation, the British East India Company brought the Danish settlement in India in 1845. So the Danish King sold the town and the territory to the British East India Company.

Demographics[link]

As of 2001^[update] India census,^[3] Tharangambadi had a population of 20,841. Males constitute 48% of the population and females 52%. Tharangambadi has an average literacy rate of 74%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 79%, and female literacy is 69%. In Tharangambadi, 10% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Gallery[link]

• 

  Danish and other colonial settlements in India.

• 

  Tranquebar, about 1600.

• 

  Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg monument in Tranquebar.

• 

  Fort Dansborg. Established in 1620 and partially renovated during 2002 by the Tranquebar Association. View from the governor's bungalow.

See also[link]

• European colonies in India
• Danish East India Company
• History of Denmark
• Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg

References[link]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.  passim

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tharangambadi

• Tharangambadi.in- India
• WorldStatesmen- India
• Photos of Tranquebar
• National Institute of Oceanography: Mahabalipuram and Poompuhar
• trankebar.net
• Tranquebar: The Danish East India Company 1616-1669
• Coins of Danish India
• "Conversations in Tarangambadi: Caring for the Self in Early Eighteenth Century South India" von Eugene F. Irschick
• 'Sepoy Mutiny'-article by Maggy G. Menachery in St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India, 1982 & passim
• Tranquebar at colonialvoyage.com
• Danish Colonial Remains at colonialvoyage.com

v t e Danish overseas colonies and territories Former colonies Danish Gold Coast (Ghana) Danish West Indies (U.S. Virgin Islands) Danish India Tranquebar (Tharangambadi) Balasore Frederiksnagore (Serampore) Danmarksnagore (Gondalpara) Calicut (Kozhikode) Oddeway Torre (Malabar Coast) Frederiksøerne (Nicobar Islands) Current overseas territories Faroe Islands Greenland See also: Danish East India Company Danish West India Company