FW: [forwards4all] Tranquebar town of Tamil Nadu

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From: $@pn@
Sent: 15/09/2012, 2:59 pm
To: forwards4all@yahoogroups.co.in
Subject: [forwards4all] Tranquebar town of Tamil Nadu


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Tranquebar town of
Tamil Nadu














     
Tharangambadi or 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.

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.

A
view of Tranquebar Fort, built by Danish settlers. The Danish enjoyed the
support of the British and were more traders and missionaries than military
colonialists. They, however, had their eye on the island of Nicobar.

The
town gate, paint peeling off its walls, welcomes visitors to the time capsule of
Tranquebar.

The
centuries-old Zion Church in Tranquebar is India's oldest Protestant church and
was built by Danish settlers in 1704.

A
view of the Gruendler House in Tranquebar.

A
derelict building in Tranquebar overgrown with vegetation.

The
Governor's House in Tranquebar being restored by INTACH

The
cannons on the ramparts of Fort Dansborg in Tranquebar have long been silent and
were probably never used, except ceremonially.

Danish
architecture of Fort Dansborg, Tranquebar.

The
facade of Fort Dansborg, Tranquebar.

The
New Jerusalem Church in Tranquebar was established in 1718 by Bartholomaus
Ziegenbalg, the first Protestant Missionary and first Royal Missionary from
Denmark to India. Ziegenbalg landed at Tranquebar, then a Danish colony, on July
9, 1706.

Fort
Dansborg by the beach in Tranquebar. The fort was constructed after the first
Danish trading expedition arrived in India. A treaty regulating trading rights
was signed between Nayak Raghunatha in Thanjavur and the Danish East India
Company in 1620. Today the fort houses a small
museum.



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