maritime activities economy and social customs of the muslims of ...

The french settlements were a heaven to the Muslim traders. Though much of
exporttrade was done by the European trading companies and merchants, the native Muslims
were also encouraged by the French. They undertook joint ventures with Muslims.'" During
the time of wan and poliHcal confusion, the French came to the rescue of the Muslim traden
by ollowlng them to trade under their coloun. They a h offered them technical expeMw In
navigation. The PortoNovo Marakkayan benefited much by French help. Thus the ship of
a PortoNovo Marakkayar. Mohamed Shah during its voyage to Manila was manned by a
French Captain.'% Many ships of the Marakkayars engaged in coastal trade such as that of
Mohamed Ali Beg employed French captains in their ships.13'
The French also employed
Muslim navigators in their ships for Kedah. Tennaserim et~.'~~ Since the customs duties
were half to that of Madras, the Marakayar ship owners and traders of PortoNovo, Nagore,
Nagapakanam, and Tranquebar utilised the French ports for their trading activities. Thus
the French settlements were fovourable to the Muslim merchants and their trading activities,
which was a blessing in disguise.
V-IV-THE DANES
The Danish settlement of Dansborg (Tranquebar) was founded on the Coromandel in
1620. Raghunatha Nayak of Thanjavur permitted the Danish Captain Ove Cede to build a
fort at Tranquebar and trade freely with his subjects, and mlnt coins.1s*
The fort was built In 1621. The English factory records testify the prosperity of the Danish
trade in Coromandel during this decade. They entered into textile trade and Med to
procure painted cloth in Pondicheny and PortoNovo in competition with the Dutch.'"
At first the Danes traded with Ceylon. Their capital resources were very limited.
They opened up trade between Coromandel and Tennaserim, thus directly coming into
conflict with the Portuguese at Nagapattanam. They traded with Maccassar and improted
clwes, much to the chsgrin of the VOC. They also traded with Ache. They contracted the
local vessels to frieght their goods to Bengal.l'z
The attempt of the English to establish a factory at Thanjavur Nayak's tenttoy In
I624 could not matoy$aBw because of the influence of the Danes in Nayak's c~urt"~.