Konkan, Kanara and Malabar Coasts

A highly detailed sea chart depicting the Malabar and Konkan Coasts, from the ‘Secret Atlas’ of the Dutch East India Company.

The present sea chart covers the Malabar and Konkan Coasts, which since the mid-17th Century, were among the primary theatres of operation for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in India. Up to this point, the VOC produced master charts of Asian waters that generally remained in manuscript form so that their dissemination could be carefully controlled, such that valuable intelligence would not fall into the hands of rival powers. However, by the mid-18th Century, it was decided that these charts would be printed by a trusted mapmaker in limited quantities, with their dissemination carefully controlled. The present chart is from the resulting ‘Secret Atlas’ of the VOC, issued in Amsterdam by Johannes van Keulen II, which was privileged for the use of the Company’s captains.The style of the chart reflects the best practices of Dutch maritime cartography, which from the early 17th Century rose to dominate the genre. All major ports are identified and some are marked by the flags of the nations or companies that controlled the trade flowing through them.

This chart embraces the west coast of India from ‘Vingorla’ (Vengurla, Maharashtra), in the north, all the way down past ‘Cochin’ (Kochi), in the south. The main ports, working from north to south, commencing along the ‘Kust van Cuncan’ (Konkan Coast), are ‘Goa’, the capital of Portuguese India; ‘Carvar’ (Karwar, featuring a British East India Company (EIC) flag); and ‘Bassalore’ (Basrur, with both VOC and EIC flags).

The coastline labeled ‘Canara’ refers to the Kanara Coast (the coast of modern day Karnataka), of which ‘Manguloore’ (Mangalore, with the flag of the Nayakas of Keladi) is the preeminent port. The ‘Kust van Malabar’ (Malabar Coast) features ‘Cannanoor’ (Kannur, VOC flag); ‘Tellechery’ (Thalassery, EIC flag); ‘Calicut’ (Kozhikode, EIC flag); ‘Cranganoor’ (Kodungallur, VOC flag); and ‘Cochin’ (Kochi, VOC flag).