THE BRITISH MISSION TO KARAIKAL (1624)
John Johnson, an English sailor with a Danish ship Christian , marooned on the Bay of Bengal coast, travelled inland to Tanjore and had an audience with the Nayak king. He wrote back ... the Great Naik demands to know what the reason is that the English do not desire to trade in his land as well as the Portugal, saying they shall have the pepper and anything the land doth afford and likewise buy the commodities that they do bring with them as tin, lead, iron and red cloth is well sold. Little does our nation know how they are expected all this land, thus the Danes do trade under the name English and are marvellous well used. [1] Upon receiving Johnson's favourable report, the East India Company sent a mission from their factory at Bantam (in Java), to negotiate with the Nayak king. Initially, the king promised a grant of the port of Karaikal free of duties. The ship Hart anchored at Karaikal on the 23rd of May 1624 and the agents proceeded inland upon receiving an i...