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Chinsurah
The VOC settled in Chinsura in 1653, on the Hoogly river. They stayed there until May 1825 when they exchanged this last Dutch settlement in India with the Brtish for Benkoelen in Indonesia.
Bengal was a problematic area for the VOC management. VOC staff here at all levels did perform fraudulous actions and lots of the forbidden personal trading.
Dutch traces in West Bengal are: " olanda shooti" = Dutch beans, manchetten, kitchen gardens and Dutch windows. Indian historians judge the influence of the Dutch on the Indian history reasonably positive.
What did VOC traders export from here? Delicate cotton fabrics , silk, salpeter and opium,the latter two mainly from Patna. Patna was a VOC loge, so were Cassimbazar and Dhaka (now Bangladesh)
Indian scholar and historian Dr. Asit Baran Mukherjee gives an interesting account in his article 'Chinsurah: The Dream Child of Dutch - A Kaleidoscopic View.'
Canons
Two VOC canons in front of an army barrack constructed by the Dutch, now serving as Madrassa, the Islamic school in Chinsurah, West Bengal.
The VOC canons were facing inland.
VOC Governer's residence
The VOC code of arms from 1687 in the entrance of the District Commissioner's residence in Chinsura (Hooghly district) was in November 2002 one of the few remains in what used to be the Governor's residence of the VOC. As it is now State property special permission was needed to get inside and make pictures.
In the garden there are still two canons.
The steps at the back of the old VOC residence lead to the Hoogly.
Yeats tomb
The tomb of Susanna Anna Maria Yeats "geboore Verkerk" as is readible in the top of the 8 meter high dome. She was first married to VOC opperkoopman Pieter Brueys (his tomb is at the Duth cemetery in Chinsurah) and later with the British Thomas Yeats. She died in 1809.
Place for new stadium ..., but Susanna's tomb will be spared, authorities told Dutch ambassador Eegje Schoo in 1989, just before I visited the site.
In November 2002 this threat had not materialed. The tombe had been restored. The Archeological Survey of India has put a wall around it and appointed a chokidar.
Dutch cemetery
The historical Dutch cemetery is now separated from the rest and there was a new footpath being constructed.
The tomb from Cornelis Rietveld.
Chinsura church with tower in British library collection
A hand-coloured print of the Old Dutch Church, Chinsura, from the Fiebig Collection: Views of Calcutta and Surrounding Districts, taken by Frederick Fiebig in 1851. German artist-turned- photographer Frederick Fiebig made hand-coloured photographs around the early 1850s. Originally built as the church of the Dutch settlement of Chinsura, the tower was erected in 1742 by J.A. Sichterman and the main body of the church added in 1767 by Sir George Vernet.
My friend Christiaan Minderhoud saved this building stone of Sichterman from 1742, which is said to originate from the Fort Gustavius. After this was demolished it landed at the Dutch Reformed Church, which was demolished in 1987. The stone is now in the Dutch embassy in Delhi.
© Dick de Jong, 2007