1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910810613303321

Autore

Odegard Erik

Titolo

The Company Fortress : Military Engineering and the Dutch East India Company in South Asia, 1638-1795 / / Erik Odegard

Pubbl/distr/stampa

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

©[2020]

ISBN

90-8728-346-6

Descrizione fisica

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

Collana

Colonial and Global History Through Dutch Sources

Disciplina

382.094920509032

Soggetti

Military engineering

Fortification

Military engineering - Sri Lanka - History

Military engineering - India - History

Fortification - Sri Lanka - History

Fortification - India - History

History

Sri Lanka

India

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

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 -- Conclusion -- Chapter 9. Fall of a Fortress -- The Fall of the System -- The British Verdict -- Conclusion -- The Military Evolution of the South Asian States



Designing the New Naarden in India: Van Reede At Negapatnam -- The Malabar Coast, 1670-1717 -- Conclusion -- 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 -- Conclusion -- 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 -- Conclusion -- 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 -- Conclusion -- 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

Sommario/riassunto

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.