The Dutch in Kerala

**The Dutch  were the first  Protestant  nation  in  Europe  to  establish  trade  contacts  with  Kerala.

**The Dutch East India company was formed in 1602.

**Dutch Admiral Steven Van Der Hagen was the first Dutch Admiral to reach  Kerala (Calicut)

**The  Dutch  set  up  factories  at  Masulipatanam, Pulicat,  Surat, Bimily patam, Balasore, Nagapattam, Cochin  etc.

**They first  of  all  entered  into  an  alliance  with  the Zamorin of Calicut.

**By the  Treaty  of  Venad  (1662),  they  established their  monopoly of  pepper  trade.

**Weakened  by  the  wars  with  the  Zamorin  and beaten  by  Mathandavarma,  they  paved  the  way for  English  Supremacy.

**They introduced  salt  farming  industry  in  Kerala. They maintained  Leper  Asylums  at  Palliport  and Baypin.

**The  famous  ‘Travancore  Lines’  which  checked Hyder Ali and Tipu were the joint work of the Dutch Captain,  D’ Lannoy and  Soobba  Iyer.

**Most important contribution  of Dutch  to Kerala is the  monumental  work,  Horthus  Malabaricus.  It was compiled under the patronage of Admiral Van Rheede.  Carmelite Monk  Mathews, three Gowda Saraswath Brahmins, Ranga Bhatt, Appu Bhatt and Vinayaka  Bhatt  and  an  Ezhava  Physician  Itti Achuthan  were  associated  with  its  compilation. The  work  was  published  from  Amsterdam  (Holland)  between  1678 and 1703.

** They built the Bolgatti  palace  in  1744.