The Danish East India Company (in Danish Danska Ostindisk Kompagni) was founded in 1616, following a privilege of the Danish king Christian IV. It was focused on trade with India and had its base in Tranquebar.

After a short blossoming, it lost importance quickly and was dissolved in 1729. In 1732, it was refounded as Asiatische Compagnie, yet in 1772 it lost its monopoly. During its heyday, the Danish and Swedish East India Company imported more tea than the British East India Company - and smuggled 90% of it into Britain, where it could be sold at a huge profit.

During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1801 and again in 1807, the British navy attacked Copenhagen in the Battle of Copenhagen (1807). As a consequence of the last attack, Denmark lost its entire fleet and the island of Helgoland; British control of the seas spelled the end of the Danish East India Company.

See also: Tranquebar, History of Denmark, History of India.

References

• The Danish East India Company
• Denmark during the Age of the French Revolution, 1790-1814