from the Coromandel Coast, 17th or 18th century, made for the Japanese market. Private collection,
Nara Prefecture. By late 1530 the Coromandel Coast was home to three Portuguese settlements at
Negapatão,
São Tomé de Meliapore, and
Paliacate. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Coromandel Coast was the scene of rivalries among European powers for control of the India trade. The British established themselves at
Fort St George (
Madras) and
Masulipatnam, the
Dutch at Pulicat,
Sadras, the
Belgians at
Covelong, the French at
Pondicherry,
Karaikal and
Nizampatnam, the
Danish in
Dansborg or
Tranquebar. The Coromandel Coast supplied
Indian Muslim eunuchs to the Thai palace and court of
Siam (modern Thailand). The Thai at times asked eunuchs from China to visit the court in Thailand and advise them on court ritual since they held them in high regard. Eventually the British won out, although France retained the tiny enclaves of
Pondichéry and
Karaikal until 1954.
Chinese lacquer goods, including boxes, screens, and chests, became known as "Coromandel" goods in the 18th century, because many Chinese exports were consolidated at the Coromandel ports. Two of the famous books on the economic history of the Coromandel Coast are
Merchants, companies, and commerce on the Coromandel Coast, 1650–1740 (Arasaratnam, Oxford University Press, 1986) and
The World of the Weaver in Northern Coromandel, (P. Swarnalatha, Orient Longman, 2005). On 26 December 2004, one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern history, the
Indian Ocean earthquake, struck off the western coast of
Sumatra (Indonesia). The
earthquake and subsequent tsunami reportedly killed over 220,000 people around the rim of the
Indian Ocean. The tsunami devastated the Coromandel Coast, killing many and sweeping away many coastal communities. == Vegetation ==