Dutch heritage in India

Forts, cemeteries and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, from Gujarat to Bengal.

From the early seventeenth to the early nineteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) had trading posts all along the Indian coast: in Gujarat (Surat), on the Malabar coast (Kochi), on the Coromandel coast (Pulicat, Sadras, Nagapattinam) and in Bengal (Chinsurah).

Much can still be visited. Kochi has the Mattancherry Palace, known as the 'Dutch Palace', and a Dutch cemetery. Pulicat, Sadras and Chinsurah have cemeteries with richly decorated tombstones and remains of forts. Dutch archives hold kilometres of VOC records on India, part of which can be consulted online.

Useful links

• Atlas of Mutual Heritage atlasofmutualheritage.nl
  Maps, drawings and prints of VOC locations.
• Nationaal Archief nationaalarchief.nl
  The VOC archives, partly digitised.
• Dutch in Chinsurah dutchinchinsurah.com
  The Dutch past of Chinsurah in Bengal.
• DutchCulture dutchculture.nl
  Cultural cooperation and shared heritage.