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Dutch Factory at Pulicat
Dutch East India Company - VOC
On March 20, 1602, the representatives of the provinces of the Dutch
republic, granted a the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische
Compagnie or VOC) a monopoly on the trade in the East Indies. Its
purpose was not only trade; the Compagnie also had to fight the enemies
of the Republic and prevent other European nations to enter the East
India trade. During its history of 200 years, the VOC became the largest
company of its kind, trading spices like nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and
pepper, and other consumer products like tea, silk and chinese
porcelain.
Pulicat was strategically located for the distribution of gunpowder, as
its excellent shipping facilities enabled the Dutch to keep most of the
VOC's major establishments in the East (such as Batavia, Malacca, and
Ceylon) well stocked. The Dutch began manufacturing gunpowder there at
least as early as the 1620s, if not earlier. Almost from the presumed
start, they predicted that they would be able to meet the Company's
needs throughout the East Indies. In fact, so many of the VOC
establishments came to depend on Pulicat's gunpowder that Batavia (the
Company's headquarters in the East) once complained to its governor in
Coromandel that, even though they were far from wasteful, they would
nonetheless have been hard pressed to supply the homeward-bound ships as
well as the Moluccas, Amboina, Banda, and Taiwan with gunpowder had it
not been for the fleet that had arrived from the Netherlands.
The period which witnessed the decay of the Hindu powers of Tamilaham
and the anarchy arising in the struggle for mastery between the
Mohammedans and the Maharattas favored the growth of European colonies
which were anxious to share in the fabulous wealth of the Indies, after
the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope by the Portuguese in 1498. During
the whole of the 16th Century the Portuguese busied themselves in
erecting and consolidating the acquisitions they made on both the
coasts. The Portuguese were fortunate in the time of their arrival. The
Hindu ruler, Zamorin, owed his prosperity to his ports position as an
entry point, and he was prepared to welcome the Portuguese. The
Portuguese gained most from their participation in the carrying trade of
the Indian Ocean, particularly on the Coromandal coast.