History buffs may know that the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC), or Dutch East India Company, was a major force in international trade in the 17th and 18th centuries. It is best known for its trade with the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), China and Japan, but the seeds for this powerful trading relationship with the ‘East’ were sown in India.

And it still shows. In many coastal areas in India, from Surat to Calcutta, signs of Dutch influence remain. Dutch anthropologist Bauke van der Pol recently published a book about this Dutch heritage, entitled The VOC in India.
 
“Cochin, which is now known as Kochi in Kerala state, was the VOC’s main port on India’s west coast,” Mr Van der Pol told RNW. “They still have Dutch street signs there, such as Leliestraat and Peterseliestraat. I organise Dutch Heritage Walks and sometimes people ask me who this guy Peter Selie was. I then explain that peterselie is Dutch for parsley.”
 
Mr Van der Pol first visited India in 1974 as a young student and has been going back ever since. On his travels he collected many facts and anecdotes. He has now incorporated them in his latest book, which reads as a travel guide.
 
Reminders
One of his trips took him to a cemetery in Kochi, where he discovered an old tombstone with a Dutch name on it, Hendriks. After some research, Mr Van der Pol found out that descendants of this man were still living in the area. They even knew that their ancestor was of Dutch origin.
 
The Dutch presence in India lasted for almost two hundred years. The VOC was a major economic force in India from 1604 to 1795, a time when the Dutch conquered and occupied forts that had previously belonged to Portuguese traders.
 
Reminders of this Dutch era are still everywhere – forts, mansions, warehouses and factories were built by the Dutch using Dutch architecture and Dutch materials. Many of these buildings still remain. In some places, even pavements laid by the Dutch are more or less intact.
 
Ordinary people
In his book, Mr Van der Pol chronicles the life of the ordinary Dutchman or woman in those days. In many ways, their lives were not that far removed from those of today’s Dutch expats.
 
“People usually had short term contracts to work and live in India, often for only a year or so,” Mr Van der Pol explains. “But if they did well and earned a promotion, they stayed for longer. They often married Portuguese women, on condition that they would become Protestant."
 
"Most people there held ordinary jobs – carpenters, soldiers or sailors. This is reflected in the old Dutch street names, such as Burgerstraat (Citizen’s Street)."
 
From costume to sari
Even today, traces of India’s influence from the VOC era can be found in the Netherlands. Mr Van der Pol gives clothing as an example. “Some Dutch traditional costumes that were worn in those days and that are still worn in certain regions, reflect India’s use of colours or motifs,” he says.
 
“Many of these traditional costumes are blue and red with a checked pattern. This is now considered typically Dutch, but it’s very reminiscent of what you see in India’s Coromandel coastal region. It would be easy to turn these traditional Dutch costumes into a sari.”