The company fortress : military engineering and the Dutch East India Company in South Asia, 1638-1795 / Erik Odegard.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Odegard, Erik, author.

Series:

Colonial and Global History Through Dutch Sources

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie.

Fortification--India--History.

Fortification.

Fortification--Sri Lanka--History.

Military engineering--India--History.

Military engineering.

Military engineering--Sri Lanka--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 292 pages) : illustrations, maps

Place of Publication:

Leiden, The Netherlands : Leiden University Press, [2020]

Summary:

The remains of Dutch East India Company forts are scattered throughout littoral Asia and Africa. But how important were the specific characteristics of European bastion-trace fortifications to Early Modern European expansion? The Company Fortress takes on this question by studying the system of fortifications built and maintained by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in present-day India and Sri Lanka. It uncovers the stories of the forts and their designers, arguing that many of these engineers were in fact amateurs and their creations contained serious flaws. Subsequent engineers were hamper.

Contents:

Appendix 1. Some Remarks on Terminology and Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Bibliography

Archival Sources

Printed Primary Sources

Literature

Index

Maps and Images

Tables

Backcover

Chapter 7. A Plague of Engineers: Ceylon 1780-1789

War: The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in Asia, 1780-1784

The Beginning of the Post-War Debates

Criticizing Reimer

The Exact Science of Fortification: French Plans For Colombo, Galle, and Trincomalee

Reimer's Rebuttal

Conclusion

Chapter 8. The Military Committee: The Generality Intervenes, 1787-1792

Colombo

Cochin

Galle

Trincomalee and Oostenburg

Chapter 9. Fall of a Fortress

The Fall of the System

The British Verdict

The Military Evolution of the South Asian States

Designing the New Naarden in India: Van Reede At Negapatnam

The Malabar Coast, 1670-1717

Chapter 5. Mughal Decline and the Company: from Chowghat to Bedara 1717-1759

New Fortifications in Bengal and Coromandel

Bengal, 1757-1759: A New Fort and Disaster at Biderra

Chapter 6. After Bedara: Attempting to Improve Defenses, 1759-1780

Engineers in India and on Ceylon

Debating the Model Fortress: Negapatnam, 1760-1762

Ceylon from the War with Kandy to the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War

Malabar 1760-1780: The Breakdown of Neutrality

Conclusion

Conclusion

Chapter 2. "A Company of Commerce, but also of State" The VOC in South Asia

A Federal Company

A Multitude of Monopolies : The Company and its Commercial Policies in Asia and Europe

Soldiers, Sailors, Engineers: The Company's Armed Forces

Chapter 3. The Van Goens System: Building the Fortifications, 1650-1675

Controlling Territory and Commerce

A Typology of the VOC's Forts in South Asia

Rebuilding the Fortifications

Chapter 4. Criticism and Construction: Debating and Building the Forts, 1675-1700

Criticizing van Goens's Vision

Frontcover

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Fortification and Urban Design

The Military Revolution and its Effects on European Expansion: Fact or Fiction?

Method, Sources, and Structure

Chapter 1. Artillery Fortification at Home and Abroad

The Italian Invention

Adaptation in the Netherlands: The "Old Dutch System"

French Developments in Defense and Siege Warfare

Menno van Coehoorn and the New Dutch System

The Trace Moderne of Cormontaigne-Ramecourt

Beyond the Bastion

Other Influences: Indo-Portuguese and Indian Military Engineering

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

90-8728-346-6

OCLC:

1204135909