Tracing the history of colonial powers in Tamil land through charts, maps

The arrival of the Portuguese, the Netherlands, the Danish, the British and the French on the shores of the Tamil and the history of cardography has been investigated in a limited way. Castles and buildings were built in the white town of the European settlements, which were separated from the black town with good boundaries. European overseas expansion led to the preparation of coastal graphics and maps. Hydrography of the Hinterland obtained by Tamil coast and European traders and missionaries has not yet attracted enough attention in historical research.

The map emerged in the age of expanding the European trade on the shore of Tamil, as a depiction on a paper with different types of physical areas calculated to scaze. The Westerners scratched a flat line in the land they saw and carved a large region of Tamil on the maps. They prepared coastal graphics containing precise information. Therefore, they never wanted competitor trade companies to fall into the hands of them. These graphs marked the depth or dangers hidden below the surface in high or low tide. They helped sea captains and pilots to a great extent.

Stages and Styles

Europeans developed a more sophisticated system to obtain the primary geographical knowledge of the Tamil coast and played an important role in the preparation and publication of numerous maps. We should examine the stages and styles of making maps, changes in technology and how geography is being studied.

With the Portuguese colonization, sailors first prepared maps and stressed to show alternative sailing methods safely depending on the weather conditions. They maintained maps for space and direction. The audience in Europe recognized the Tamil region and Christian missions. The maps allowed missionaries to reach their destinations on land. In this process, it developed geographical information transfer and change between the shore of Tamil and the Atlantic region, which led to a sophisticated cardographic system. This graphic representation, which facilitates the spatial understanding of things, concepts and processes in the trade world, led to mathematical structures that resulted in the ‘scale’ maps of the modern age.

The Portuguese Colony of Devanampattinam (1607), Nagapattinam Maps (1635-58), Mylapur Maps (1635-87) and the Santhome map of Mylapur in 1749 are located in Lisbon, Portugal.

Fort Danceborg maps in Tranquebar (1669-71) are located in Copenhagen, Danish Royal Library. In 1734, the Lutheran missionary Christoph Theodosius Walther in Tranqueebar tried to correct the latitude and longitude of the places in Tamil. It provided geographical information for map construction in Denmark and Germany (1729-45). Pulicat, Nagapattinam, Sadurangapattinam, Porto Novo and Punnaikayal’s Dutch trade factories maps and plans, national archives, are located in the collection of maps abroad in The Hiahay in the Netherlands.

French collection

Pondicherry’s (1701-1789) plans and maps are protected at the Overseas Archive Center in Aix-En-Provence in France. Between 1746 and 1761, Carnatic Wars and Anglo-French struggle for power led French geographical engineers to prepare maps of places, siege, wars and wars. In addition to many places in Tamil countryside, the French collection of Pondicherry and Karaikal maps and plans is important. They are preserved in Aix-en-Provence. Some plans and maps are also kept in the regional office of the Indian National Archives in Pudducherry.

The British Eastern Indian Company in Madras employed Draughtsmen and map producers (1745-81), who drew plans for Madras and Wars, Wars and Military Maps in Carnatic. Land income research by the British in Tamil country led to systematic mapping (1767-1857). Between 1798 and 1802, various graphics, landscapes, plans and diagrams of the Tamil coast are located in the Alexander Dalrymple collection at the Portsmouth Royal Naval Museum.

Tamil Nadu state archives are very important to collect maps and plans in Chennai because it is not used and not used inadequate. Digitalization is a mile of stone in the protection of archive records. Recently, 1,862 castles, weapons, cereals, mint and treasury map selected from Tamil Nadu state archives were installed on Tamil Digital Library (https://shorturl.at/oq3uy). These maps will be invaluable sources for historians who investigate the colonial period and future excavations.

Change status

The study of colonial history has a constant change with the emergence of new research areas. The aspects of human life, which are affected by maritime trade and trade by Eastern Indian companies, are directed by missionary expansion, military and regional expansion, income collection and science and technology. Using maps and graphics, we can understand how colonialism plays its role. It is hoped that this and other new perspectives of this and colonial history will continue to focus on a sharp focus in the distant future.

(The author is an independent researcher and writer.)

Published – 12 September 2025 06:15