Dutch Suratte

Nederlandse vestiging van Suratte
1616–1825
Flag of Dutch Suratte
Flag
Coat of arms of Dutch Suratte
Coat of arms
Dutch Suratte (in yellow) within Dutch India
Dutch Suratte (in yellow) within Dutch India
StatusFactory
CapitalSuratte
Common languagesDutch
Director 
• 1620–1628
Pieter van den Broecke
• 1673–1676
Willem Volger
• 1699–1701
Hendrick Zwaardecroon
• 1729–1740
Pieter Phoonsen
• 1818–1825
Conrad Josef Gustaf van Albedyll
Historical eraImperialism
• Establishment of a trading post at Suratte
1616
• Handover to the British according to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824
21 December 1825
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Mughal Empire
Company rule in India

Dutch Suratte, officially Nederlandse vestiging van Suratte (Dutch settlement in Surat), was a directorate of the Dutch East India Company between 1616 and 1795, with its main factory in the city of Surat. Surat was an important trading city of the Mughal Empire on the river Tapti, and the Portuguese had been trading there since 1540. In the early 17th century, Portuguese traders were displaced by English and Dutch traders.

Due to internal unrest in the Mughal Empire, Surat's trade with the Mughal capital of Agra gradually declined in the early 18th century, with most trade shifting to Bombay, the new capital of the English Western Presidency. The city became part of British India as a consequence of the Third Carnatic War (1756–1763).[1] While traders of the Dutch East India Company continued trading in Surat, they had become subordinate to the English.[2]

The Dutch possessions in Surat were occupied by British forces in 1795 by instruction of Dutch stadtholder William V, who wanted to prevent revolutionary France from taking possession of the Dutch holdings in Asia. It was restored to the Dutch in 1818, but again ceded to the English in 1825, owing to the provisions of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824.

  1. ^ Van der Kemp 1901, p. 409.
  2. ^ De VOC site - Suratte Archived 2019-07-02 at the Wayback Machine