Andreas Andræ

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Andreas Andræ
15th Governor of Tranquebar
In office
1701
MonarchFrederick IV
Preceded byClaus Vogdt
Succeeded byMikkel Knudsen Crone
1st Governor of Dannemarksnagore
In office
1698 – January 1699
MonarchChristian V
Frederick IV
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byThomas Schmertz
Personal details
BornUnknown
Denmark–Norway
Died1701
Tranquebar, Danish India

Andreas Andræ[lower-alpha 1] (alternatively spelled Andrae and Andreæ; Template:Died in) was a Danish surgeon and colonial administrator who established the Danish colony of Dannemarksnagore in 1698.

Andræ came to the Danish colony of Tranquebar in c. 1691 and was a surgeon until 1695, when he became head of a Danish squadron to the Malabar Coast. In 1698, Andræ was sent to Bengal, negotiating the Dano-Mughal Treaty, which ended the Dano-Mughal War and leased Dannemarksnagore to Danish India, where he served as governor from 1698 to 1699.

He became the governor of Tranquebar in 1701 after Claus Vogdt's death, managing to finish the construction of the Zion Church before dying a few months later.

Career[edit | edit source]

Andreas Andræ came to the Danish colony of Tranquebar in c. 1691 as Script error: The function "langx" does not exist. (surgeon on a ship) in the Danish East India Company's service.[1][2] He soon proved himself useful in both mercantile and diplomatic regards[2] and was quickly promoted to Script error: The function "langx" does not exist. (highest-ranking surgeon) in March 1691 and chief surgeon (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) on 6 April the same year.[1] In 1692, he became head of the hospital in Tranquebar, and in 1694, he became a third-in-command of the colony's Privy Council (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.).[1]

Voyage to the Malabar Coast[edit | edit source]

Andræ is described as being intelligent and enterprising,[2] showing great administrative and commercial abilities, and was subsequently,[1] in January 1695, chosen as head of the vessel Dansborg[3] by the governor of Tranquebar, Claus Vogdt.[4] Subsequently, Dansborg and three other ships were sent to the Malabar Coast to bolster Danish trade in the region.[3][2] As such, Andræ established a pepper clearing house near Varkala in Oddeway Torre,[5] before leaving again on 6 April,[1] returning to Tranquebar on 1 May the same year.[3]

Time in Bengal[edit | edit source]

Further information: Dano-Mughal Treaty

At the end of 1698,[6] Andræ, accompanied by Thomas Schmertz,[6][7][8] was sent to Bengal to negotiate with the Mughal Empire,[9][10][11][12][7] which had been at war with Danish India since 1642.[13][14][15][16] Here, Andræ managed to conclude a treaty with the Subahdar of Bengal,[1][7][11][12] Azim-ush-Shan,[7][11][12][8] after which both sides renounced their demands for previously seized ships,[7][11][12] and the Danes got their previous trading rights back.[11][12] Andræ also made a gift to Azim-ush-Shan in the form of 15,000 rupees and four cannons.[7]

Furthermore, Andræ negotiated a firman which would lease a piece of land at the Hooghly River[9][10][17][11] in Gondalpara[1][7][18][5] to the Danes for 30,000 rupees[19] to be paid over a ten-year period.[7][17][11][12] Here, the Danes established a factory,[1][7][18][5] which became known as Dannemarksnagore,[20][7][17][11][12][8] and was supplied by salesmen, guards, and goods.[10] The factory was provisionally a local house, although a big fort with stone walls was erected the following year.[11] Andræ left Dannemarksnagore on the vessel Christianus Quintus in January 1699 after five months in Bengal,[1] leaving Thomas Schmertz as overhoved of the colony[9][11][12] with 30 men.[11][12]

Governor of Tranquebar[edit | edit source]

Upon returning to Tranquebar during the spring,[11] Andræ became Script error: The function "langx" does not exist. (second-in-command) of the Privy Council and was installed as Interim Governor of Tranquebar[1][2] on 25 June 1701,[1][21] following Claus Vogdt's death,[1][2] with a yearly salary of 800 Danish rigsdaler.[1] However, Andræ died a few months later[2] and was succeeded by Mikkel Knudsen Crone.[1][2] Despite his short term, Andræ still subsidized and finished the construction of the Zion Church in 1701, which was initiated by Governor Vogdt.[21]

Personal life[edit | edit source]

Map of Tranquebar by Gregers Daa Trellund, depicting Andreas Andræ's estate during the 1690s

On a map by Gregers Daa Trellund depicting Tranquebar in the 1690s,[22] there is a newly built estate attributed to a "Mester Andreasis," which likely refers to Andræ.[23] The estate was possibly funded by money earned during Andræ's time in Bengal,[24] where he was also gifted a white stallion by the Mughal government,[25] which passed over to Mikkel Knudsen Crone and later Governor Jørgen Bjørn after Andræ's death.[1]

Andræ had a wife and children, who returned to Denmark–Norway on the vessel Cronprintzen af Danmark, following his death.[1]

See also[edit | edit source]

Notes and citations[edit | edit source]

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ da

Citations[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Larsen 1940, p. 38.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Larsen 1907, p. 55.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Larsen 1940, pp. 38, 117.
  4. ↑ Larsen 1940, p. 117.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Snodgrass 2012.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Larsen 1940, p. 106.
  7. ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 Wellen 2015, p. 459.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Aslanian & Subrahmanyam 2025.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Larsen 1940, pp. 38, 106.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Larsen 1907, p. 54.
  11. ↑ 11.00 11.01 11.02 11.03 11.04 11.05 11.06 11.07 11.08 11.09 11.10 11.11 Larsen 1908, p. 24.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 Mitra 1952, p. 15.
  13. ↑ Larsen 1907, p. 31.
  14. ↑ Wellen 2015, pp. 439, 448.
  15. ↑ Larsen 1908, p. 14.
  16. ↑ Mitra 1952, p. 10.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Diller 1999, p. 221.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Diller 1999, p. 222.
  19. ↑ Larsen 1940, p. 19.
  20. ↑ Larsen 1940, pp. 38, 106, 117.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Kryger 2006.
  22. ↑ Faarborg 1971, pp. 257, 267.
  23. ↑ Faarborg 1971, pp. 255–256.
  24. ↑ Faarborg 1971, p. 256.
  25. ↑ Larsen 1940, pp. 38, 57.

References[edit | edit source]

  • Larsen, Kay (1940). Guvernører, residenter, kommandanter og chefer [Governors, Residents, Commanders and Chiefs] (PDF) (in dansk). Copenhagen, Denmark: Arthur Jensens Forlag – via Danskernes Historie Online.
  • Larsen, Kay (1908). De dansk-ostindiske koloniers historie – De Bengalske loger & Nikobarerne [History of the Danish East Indian Colonies – The Bengali lodges & the Nicobar Islands] (in dansk). Vol. 2. Copenhagen, Denmark: Centralforlaget & Peter Hansens Forlag – via Danskernes Historie Online.
  • Larsen, Kay (1907). De dansk-ostindiske koloniers historie – Trankebar [History of the Danish East Indian Colonies – Tranquebar] (in dansk). Vol. 1. Copenhagen, Denmark: Centralforlaget – via Danskernes Historie Online.
  • Wellen, Kathryn (2015). "The Danish East India Company's War against the Mughal Empire, 1642-1698" (PDF). Journal of Early Modern History. 19. Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill Publishers & Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies. doi:10.1163/15700658-12342470. eISSN 1568-5209. ISSN 0022-4995 – via SciSpace.
  • Diller, Stephan (1 June 1999). Die Dänen in Indien, Südostasien und China (1620-1845) [The Danes in India, Southeast Asia and China (1620–1845)]. South China and Maritime Asia (in Deutsch). Vol. 8. Wiesbaden, Germany: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-04123-2. ISSN 0945-9286.
  • Faarborg, Birte (1971). "Trellunds Trankebarkort 1733" [Trellund's Map of Tranquebar 1733] (PDF). Tidsskrift for Arkivforskning (in dansk). 3 (3). Danish National Archives – via Danskernes Historie Online.
  • Kryger, Karin (2006). "The Churches of Tranquebar in the Danish Period 1620-1845". In Gross, Andreas; Kumaradoss, Yesurajamony; Liebau, Heike (eds.). Halle and the Beginning of Protestant Christianity in India. Vol. 1–3. Halle, Germany: Francke Foundations. p. 238. ISBN 3-931479-84-6.
  • Mitra, Lalit Mohan (September 1952). The Danes in Bengal (PDF) (1st ed.). Kolkata, India: Prabartak Publishers – via Internet Archive.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: year (link)
  • Snodgrass, Mary Ellen (15 September 2012). "Danish East India Company". World Food. Armonk, New York: M. E. Sharpe & Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-7656-8278-9. LCCN 2012014375.
  • Aslanian, Sebouh David; Subrahmanyam, Sanjay (7 April 2025). "Uneasy Partnership". Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient. 68. Brill Publishers. eISSN 1568-5209. ISSN 0022-4995 – via Academia.
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