Battle of Colachel

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Battle of Colachel
Part of the Travancore-Dutch War
De Lannoy Surrender.JPG
Eustachius De Lannoy's surrender at the Battle of Colachel
Date10 August 1741
Location
Colachel,India
8°10′N 77°14′E / 8.17°N 77.24°E / 8.17; 77.24
Result Travancore Victory
Belligerents

Kingdom of Travancore

Nair Brigade

Dutch RepublicDutch Empire

Commanders and leaders

Marthanda Varma

Dutch East India CompanyEustachius De Lannoy
Casualties and losses
Negligible

24 officials were taken as war prisoners

Muskets,swords and cannons were captured
Part of a series on the
History of Kerala
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The Battle of Colachel (or The Battle of Kulachal) was fought on 10 August 1741 [O.S. 31 July 1741][1][2] between the Indian kingdom of Travancore and the Dutch East India Company. During the Travancore-Dutch War, King Marthanda Varma's (1729–1758) forces defeated the Dutch East India Company's forces led by Admiral Eustachius De Lannoy on 10 August 1741. The Dutch never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India.[3]

Background[]

Main article: Travancore–Dutch War § Causes

In the early 18th century, the Malabar Coast region of present-day Kerala was divided among several small chiefdoms. In the 1730s, Marthanda Varma, the ruler of Travancore, adopted an expansionist policy, and conquered several territories from these small states. This threatened the interests of the Dutch East India Company's command at Malabar, whose spice trade depended on procurement of spices from these states.[4] Marthanda Varma and his vassals refused to honour the monopoly contracts that the Dutch had with the states annexed by Travancore, adversely affecting the Dutch trade in Malabar.[5]

In January 1739, Gustaaf Willem van Imhoff, the Dutch Governor of Ceylon, visited Kochi, and in a July report, he recommended military action to save the Dutch business in Malabar.[6] Later that year, the Dutch organised an alliance of the rulers of Kochi, Thekkumkur, Vadakkumkur, Purakkad, Kollam, and Kayamkulam.[7] Van Imhoff personally met Marthanda Varma to negotiate peace, threatening to wage war against Travancore if the Dutch terms were not accepted, but Marthanda Varma dismissed the threat, and replied that he had been thinking about invading Europe some day.[8][6]

In late 1739, the Dutch command at Malabar declared war on Travancore, without obtaining permission or waiting for reinforcements from Batavia.[9] The Dutch deployed a detachment of soldiers from Ceylon against Travancore, under the command of Captain Johannes Hackert. They and their allies achieved several military successes in the initial campaign. In November, the allied army forced the Travancore army stationed near Kollam to retreat, and advanced up to Tangasseri.[10] The British East India Company chief at Anchuthengu congratulated the Dutch on their victory, and requested them to leave their establishment at Edava in peace.[11]

Dutch East India Company

By early December, the Dutch and their allies marched towards Attingal and Varkala.[11] When the Travancore army withdrew to check an invasion by Chanda Sahib of Arcot in the south, the allies achieved further military successes.[6][12] However, the Dutch decided to wait for reinforcements from Ceylon before waging further war against Travancore.[6]

In November 1740, the Dutch command in Malabar asked for reinforcements from Ceylon, and launched a second campaign against Travancore. The Travancore force turned against the Dutch possessions, captured Dutch out-posts in Travancore, attacked the factories, and took possession of the goods stored.[13] While matters were thus in the north, small reinforcement force of 105 and 70, which the Dutch Governor called from Ceylon, effected a landing at Colachel .[6]

Dutch occupation of Colachel[]

On 26 November, the Dutch sent two large ships and three sloops to Colachel, bombarding the coast.[14] The Dutch soldiers fortified a place near the port with wooden posts and garrisoned a portion of the Dutch force in it. The rest proceeded and attacked the Travancore out-posts on the coast, such as Thengapattanam, Midalam, Kadiapattinam and advanced to Eraniel. On 29 November, the Dutch commander van Gollenesse announced a complete blockade of the Travancore coast around Colachel, directing his forces to seize all ships bound for the coast, with the exception of the English ships carrying goods to Edava.[15]

On 13 January 1741, the Dutch ship Maarseveen was sent southwards, to be anchored between Thengapattanam and Colachel. On 10 February, another Dutch expedition comprising seven large ships and several smaller vessels landed just north of Colachel. According to some accounts the local mukkuvar population lined up at the shore with oars on their shoulders. From a distance it appeared as if these people were armed and dangerous. The fishermen managed to check the Dutch advance temporarily. However the Dutch succeeded in taking Colachel forcing the fishing population to flee inland. After occupying Colachel, the Dutch set up stockades and stationed troops there. Subsequently, the Dutch forces started capturing the nearby villages, and marched towards Eraniel. They plundered and devastated the region between Colachel and Kottar, with van Gollenesse favouring the occupation of the entire region between Colachel and Kanyakumari.[16]

To effectively control the newly-conquered territories, the Dutch were expecting reinforcements to arrive from Ceylon and Batavia, but the Company Government at Batavia could not spare any reserve forces because of the Java War.[17] Faced with an acute shortage of Dutch soldiers in Malabar, Van Gollenesse requested at least 300-400 men from the Dutch Ceylon, and meanwhile, sent a section of the Dutch army to Kanyakumari to attack Travancore army from there.[18]Marthand Varma, who was then at Trivandrum, hastened to the south with all the force at his command, and directed Ramayyan Dalawa, who was then engaged in the north, to march with a sufficient force to Colachel.

Siege of Colachel[]

When Marthanda Varma reached Kalkulam, he adopted measures to arrest the progress of the Dutch who being, at the time, in possession of almost all the- villages between Colachel and Kottar, and are intended to attack Padmanabhapuram, the capital of Travancore.[19][15] The Raja raised raised a levy of 2000 Nadars reinforced the regular infantry already in service in that part of the country Headed by Ananda padmanadhan Nadar.[15][14] Marthanda Varma strongly remonstrated with the Dutch Governor of Cochin and wrote to the Government in Batavia a letter of remonstrance and complaint.[13]

Ramayyan Dalawah reached Kalkulam from the north, with a large reinforcement, consisting of infantry, cavalry and artillery, and the king, in consultation with the Dalawa planned an attack upon the Dutch. A number of native boats, properly manned, with a mixed force of trained sepoys and militia of the Kingdom, and a full complement of Mukkuvar seamen as rowers, organized for the purpose of watching the movements of the Dutch ship which landed the detachment, was kept in readiness at sea.[20] Ramayya marched his troops and stationed them between Nagercoil and Eraniel. Each Army was commanded by trained officers, and the Dalawa, as the chief in command, placed himself in the centre. All these arrangements were completed in the course of a few months and the battle lasted for months. Travancore's patrol boats cut off supplies to the Dutch garrison from the sea, and his forces also imposed a blockade on the landside.[21] On 27 May, he worshipped at the Adikesava Perumal Temple at Thiruvattar, consecrated his sword there, and marched to Colachel.[18] The Travancore army did not have any siege equipment, and therefore, Marthanda Varma intended to simply starve the Dutch garrison out.[21] His army, which largely outnumbered the Dutch force at Colachel, encircled the Dutch entrenchments from all sides.[18] The Dutch troops at Colachel numbered around 400 (of which only around 150 were European), while the Travancore army had 12,000-15,000 soldiers. Although Marthanda Varma suffered loss of men and money, he did not withdraw the siege.[22]

Besides the blockade imposed by the Travancore forces, the adverse wind, floods and rough sea also prevented the Dutch from supplying ammunition and provisions to Colachel. The heavy rains made it hard for them to keep their gunpowder dry, and made their weapons unusable. [22] According to a 31 July report of the English factory at Anchuthengu noted that two Dutch sloops had been trying to land at Colachel for several days, but had failed to do so because of continuous firing from the Travancore forces.[21]

The personal diary of a man named Theuniz, which he had found among the Dutch East India records. Theuniz, who was on the Dutch ship called Porca, watched as the Travancore army,[14] armed by the British then stationed in Anchuthengu (near Attingal), bombarded the makeshift tent near the shore where the Dutch had gathered all their ammunition. That one big explosion ended the war on 10 August.(De Lannoy's research text from the University of Leiden in Netherlands.[23][full citation needed]

Surrender of the Dutch[]

On 5 August, a cannonball fired by the Travancore army fell into a barrel of gunpowder inside the Dutch garrison, and the resulting fire destroyed the entire rice supply of the stockade. Consequently, the Dutch were forced to surrender on 7 August.[21][24] While the Dutch records mention the date of the surrender as 7 August, some later sources give different dates for the Dutch surrender:[25]

  • 31 July 1741 (31 Āḍi 916 ME) according to P. Shungoonny Menon A History of Travancore,[21] and T. K. Velu Pillai's Travancore State Manual Volume II.[26]
  • 31 July 1741 (15 Karkadakam 916 ME) according to V. Nagam Aiya's Travancore State Manual Volume I. Aiya's conversion of the ME date to CE is wrong: the correct corresponding date would be 15 July 1741.[26]
  • 10 August 1741 K. M. Panikkar's A History of Kerala.[26]

The court chronicle (Rajyakaryam Churuna) of Marthanda Varma simply states the date as Āḍi 916 ME, without mentioning any specific day. Historian A. P. Ibrahim Kunju takes the Dutch date (7 August 1741 CE) to be correct.[26]

The Dutch soldiers at Colachel surrender on the condition that they would be allowed to go to Kanyakumari with their weapons. However, Marthanda Varma did not honour the agreement, and imprisoned them as soon as they came out of the fort.[27] The Travancore forces captured a large number of muskets and some cannons from the Dutch garrison at Colachel. They imprisoned 24 Europeans and several native Christians, who were imprisoned at the Udayagiri Fort in Puliyoorkurichi.[26][28] Later, Marthanda Varma gave them their weapons back, and asked them to join the Travancore army.[27] Several European prisoners, including Eustachius De Lannoy and Duyvenschot accepted the offer and served Marthanda Varma.[26] It was the first time in Indian history that an Asian country defeated a European naval force. Twenty-eight high level Dutch officers, including Admiral D'lennoy, were captured. The defeat of the Dutch in Colachael was the turning point of the Travancore-Dutch War. D'lennoy went on to serve the Travancore kingdom for the next two decades and was promoted to the post of the Valiya kappithan (Senior Admiral) of the Travancore forces. He modernised the Travancore army, and built the Nedumkottai, a line of fortifications in the north of the kingdom, which held up the army of Tipu Sultan in 1789, during his invasion of Travancore. D'lennoy is buried in the Udayagiri Fort, also known as Dillanai kottai (D'lennoy's fort).

Impact[]

De Lannoy organized the Travancore army on European standard introduced gunpowder and firearms, hitherto not used in the kingdom, and increased the regiments and improved defence fortifications significantly.

Captain De Lannoy was a skilled military strategist. His military skills, combined with the tactics of the Dewan of Travancore, Ramayyan Dalawa, and statesmanship of Maharaja Marthanda Varma proved very effective in the future military exploitations and annexations of the Northern kingdoms up to Cochin over a period of time. They defeated and annexed Quilon, Kayamkulam, Kottarakkara, Pandalam, Ambalapuzha, Edappalli, Thekkumkoor and Vadakkumkoor with Travancore.[29]

The Dutch threat to Travancore was not completely eliminated after Marthanda Varma's success at Colachel, as is evident by the fact that the Dutch continued to wage war against Travancore in the northern Malabar. They also maintained their position at Kanyakumari, hoping to receive reinforcements from Ceylon.[26] However, a 5,000-strong army dispatched by Marthanda Varma prevented them from advancing towards the capital of Travancore.[22] They also sent 150 soldiers to reinforce their advance posts at Paravur and Ayiroor. The Dutch gave up their position at Kanyakumari only in October. They also abandoned Attingal, after the soldiers of their ally Deshinganad abandoned them.[30]

Travancore's victory at Colachel greatly had decreased the Dutch morale, and in a 26 October report to Batavia, the Dutch command at Kochi mentioned that the native chiefs now believed that the Dutch East India Company could be driven off the Malabar coast.[26] However, by February 1742, the Dutch had captured a small fort near Attingal.[31]

In addition to the destruction of the Dutch East India Company's designs in the Malabar coast, the capture of the leaders of the expedition, Eustachius De Lannoy and his second in command Donadi, was very beneficial to the kingdom of Travancore. When De Lannoy and Donadi were paroled, they took up service with Travancore and modernized the Travancore Army (which, till then, had been armed mainly with melee weapons) into an effective fighting force. De Lannoy was initially entrusted with the training of a few companies of the Maharajah's bodyguards and he did this with such an excellence that he was entrusted with modernizing the entire Travancore army.[14] De Lennoy modernized the existing firearms and introduced better artillery and, more importantly, trained the Travancore army in the European style of military drill and military tactics. He carried out his orders with such sincerity and devotion that he rapidly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the "Valia Kapitaan" (Commander in Chief) of the Tranvancore military and was given the Udayagiri Fort, locally known as the "Dillanai kotta" (De Lennoy's fort), near Padmanabhapuram, to reside. He was one of the commanders of the Tranvancore army during the decisive battle of Ambalapuzha where his erstwhile employers were fighting on behalf of Cochin and her allies. Following Travancore's victory over Cochin and her allies, the Dutch signed a peace treaty with Travancore and later sold their forts which were incorporated by De Lannoy into the Northern Lines (the Nedumkotta) that guarded the northern border of Travancore. The Travancore military that De Lannoy was instrumental in modernizing, went on to conquer more than half of the modern state of Kerala, and the Nedumkotta forts De Lannoy had designed, held up the advance of Tipu Sultan's French trained army during the Third Anglo-Mysore War in 1791 AD till the British East India Company joined the war in support of Travancore. Donadi ended up as an officer in the Travancore army and it seems that the rest of the Dutch prisoners took up service with the Maharajah's forces and their descendants were present up to 1878 in Travancore.[32]

Another direct outcome of the event at Kulachal was the takeover of the black pepper trade by the state of Travancore. This development was to have serious repercussions on the Dutch and the trading world of Kerala at large. In 1753 the Dutch signed the Treaty of Mavelikkara with the Dutch agreeing not to obstruct the Raja's expansion, and in turn, to sell to him arms and ammunition.[29] This marked the beginning of the end of Dutch influence in India.[33]

Tributes[]

Victory Pillar Colachal
Victory pillar, in remembrance of victory against the Dutch Navy in 1741
  • The Indian government has built a pillar of victory in Kulachal to commemorate the event.
  • The Indian Post Department released a Rupee 5 stamp on 1 April 2004 to commemorate the tercentenary (300th anniversary) of the raising of the 9th Battalion of Madras Regiment.
  • The Parade Ground of Pangode Military Camp is named as Kulachal Ground.

See also[]

  • Battle of Nedumkotta

References[]

  1. ^ Ministry of Defence, Newsletter "Sainik Samachar", 15 April 2004
  2. ^ The Hindu, "Army celebrates anniversary of Colachel battle", 31 July 2010
  3. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 70–.
  4. ^ A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, p. 375.
  5. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 58–59.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, p. 376.
  7. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 60.
  8. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 61.
  9. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 61–62.
  10. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 62–63.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 63.
  12. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 64–65.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Menon, P. Shungoonny (1878). A History of Travancore from the Earliest Times. p. 133.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Menon 1878, pp. 136–137. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFMenon1878 (help)
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 66.
  16. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 67.
  17. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 67–68.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b c M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 68.
  19. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 66–67.
  20. ^ Ajantha Subramanian (2009). Shorelines: Space and Rights in South India. Stanford University Press. pp. 46–. ISBN 978-0-8047-6146-8.
  21. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, p. 377.
  22. ^ Jump up to: a b c M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 69.
  23. ^ {The Lannoy's research text from the University of Leiden in Netherlands}
  24. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, pp. 69–70.
  25. ^ A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, pp. 377–378.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, p. 378.
  27. ^ Jump up to: a b M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 70.
  28. ^ Menon 1996, p. 287.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b Aiya, V. Naga (1906). Travancore Manual.
  30. ^ A. P. Ibrahim Kunju 1975, p. 379.
  31. ^ M. O. Koshy 1989, p. 73.
  32. ^ Menon 1878, p. 136. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFMenon1878 (help)
  33. ^ A.P Ibrahim Kunju. 1975. p. 378.

Bibliography[]

Further reading[]

  • Iyer, Dr. S. Krishna. Travancore-Dutch Relations, Nagercoil: CBH Publications, 1994, 164 pgs. ISBN 81-85381-42-9
  • Menor, Sheela. Military History of Travancore with special reference to the Nayar Brigade, Ethiraj College for Women, 1995
  • Menon, Dr. Sreedhara. A survey of Kerala history, S. Viswanathan Printers and Publishers, 1996.
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External links[]

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