Search Colonial Contexts
Denmark was, like many European countries, a colonial power. This history is reflected in the range of plant specimens held in the Danish National Herbarium: Herbarium C. Plants are embedded in almost every aspect of global colonial history, from early modern biomedical prospecting (such as quinine) to plantation economies (such as sugar, coffee, chocolate).
Herbarium Histories brings together specimens, manuscripts, correspondence and other primary research sources in curated clusters that give a glimpse of some of the contexts in which plants and people were entangled in a Danish colonial context. Guided by the herbarium specimens themselves as a unique archive, Herbarium Histories focuses specifically on the period from about 1750 to 1850 in Trankebar and Serampore; in the Danish West Indies; and on the 'Gold Coast' of Africa. In relation to Greenland, our time period extends to 1940.
Click on the headings below to view the related curated sets of source materials.
Danish India 1620 – 1869
In 1620 the Treaty of Tranquebar was signed between Danish King Christian IV and the Indian Telugu King Raghunatha Nayak of Thanjavur, opening a 'trading port' on the Coromandel Coast. In 1755, a further treaty with Alivardi Khan, the Nawab of Bengal, ceded trading rights at Serampore on the River Hooghly to the Danish East India Company. The Nicobar Islands were also colonised (unsuccessfully) by the Danes.
Tranquebar and Serampore were sold to the British in 1845, which was followed by the sale of the Nicobar Islands to the British in 1869.
Tranquebar is now Tharangambadi, a fishing port in Tamil Nadu province. Serampore is part of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area in the Hooghly District. The Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar was formed in 1956. All three are part of the Republic of India.
Danish Gold Coast of Africa 1663 – 1850
In 1663, as part of a set of complex battles, takeovers and sales involving the Dutch, the Swedes, The English and the King of Fetu, the Danes took over a swathe of coastal West Africa, trading mainly in enslaved people.
The Danish Gold Coast was sold to the British in 1850.
Accra in Ghana, Lomé in Togo, and Ouidah-Cotonou in Benin are the main port municipalities in this area.
Danish West Indies 1672 – 1917
In 1672, The Danish West India and Guinea Company unilaterally annexed the then 'uninhabited' island of St Thomas in the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean Sea, later expanding their territories to St Croix and St John.
The Danish West Indies were sold to the United States of America in 1917.
The US Virgin Islands are St Croix, St John and St Thomas, and compose an unincorporated territory of the USA.
Greenland 1721 – 1953
In 1721, the Danish-Norwegian priest and trader Hans Egede installed a colony on the southwest coast of Greenland with the blessing and support of the Danish King Frederik IV.
In 1953 the Danish Constitution was amended by referendum to integrate Greenland directly into the Kingdom of Denmark, giving it home-rule autonomy in 1979.
Greenland has been self-governed since 2009, and remains an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark.
Some Further References
A general overview of nordic colonialism can be found on the Nordics.info website:
The National Museum of Denmark has a series of informative web pages about several former Danish colonies, including images of significant maps, objects and artworks:
The Danish National Archives has digitised large proportions of the Danish colonial archive, many of which are available online:
The five-volume publication Danmark og kolonierne, published by Gads Forlag, is also an authoritative record of Danish colonialism and can be found in many libraries.