Battle of Colachel

Battle of Colachel
Part of the Travancore-Dutch War

Eustachius De Lannoy surrendering to Raja Marthanda Varma at the Battle of Colachel.
Date10 August 1741
Location8°10′N 77°14′E / 8.17°N 77.24°E / 8.17; 77.24
Result Travancore Victory
Belligerents
Travancore

Dutch Republic Dutch Republic

Commanders and leaders

Marthanda Varma

Dutch East India Company Eustachius De Lannoy (POW)
Casualties and losses
Negligible

24 officials were taken as POWs

  • Muskets, swords, and cannons were captured

The Battle of Colachel (or The Battle of Kolachel) 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] Travancore triumphed in the war thanks to the exceptional military efforts of the Travancore Nair Brigade at sea, along with the leadership of three Nair commanders—Arumukhan Pilla, Nanu Pilla, and Chembaka Raman Pilla—on land.[4] Though in the war with Kayamkulam a regiment of Maravar from Tinnevelly under Ponnan Pandya Tevar also co-operated. It was the same army that defeated the Dutch at Colachel, where also the military genius of Ramayyan, not to speak of that of the Maharaja, was in conspicuous evidence.[1][5]

  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. ^ "Could Marthanda Varma have won the Colachel War without the fishermen".
  5. ^ "THE OLD TRAVANCORE ARMY – A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE | rjisacjournal.com". 10 November 2019. Retrieved 27 October 2024.