Serampore, a small town of West Bengal, today virtually a suburb of Kolkata, has an unusual history and heritage as a Danish trading post/colony between 1755 and 1845. Creating a bustling, well-organised town, the Danes introduced various reforms which prepared the nineteenth-century awakening in Bengal. While the history of this Danish involvement at Serampore awaits fuller archival research, this article feeds on a range of local sources and contemporary travel accounts to discuss details of the Danish engagement in Serampore. The article also illustrates how, beyond the dominant British influence, colonial India experienced other foreign interventions that remain pertinent today, not just regarding trade but also missionary activities and some local sub-structures that have become almost invisible.
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