In 1740, Imhoff dispatched a naval contingent under Eustachius De Lannoy to attack Travancore. The Dutch navy and artillery were vastly superior. In the initial battles, Lannoy was victorious; but when he captured the port of Colachel, Varma sent his full force to besiege Colachel. Varma knew that in a frontal attack, the Dutch artillery would blast them out of existence. So, he quietly blockaded Colachel and cut off supplies. He knew that, if he held fast till the monsoons arrived, the sea would become too stormy for the Dutch Navy to provide logistic support.

The monsoon rains came and Lannoy struggled to keep his gunpowder dry.  Unfortunately for him, a wildly lucky shot from a Travancore cannon landed smack on his armoury, ignited the gunpowder. Everything exploded. Without fire power and food, Lannoy surrendered. Now, Varma made an offer that Lannoy could not refuse: a good position in the Travancore army.

And, Lannoy promptly defected! He rapidly rose to become Travancore’s trusted General, or “Valiya Kapittan” (literally meaning “Great Captain”). De Lannoy modernised the Travancore Army, upgraded artillery, and reinforced forts. The Udayagiri Fort (60 Kms from Thiruvananthapuram) that he built is still called “Dillanai Kotta” (local speak for: “De Lannoy’s Fort”).

The Dutch continued to fight Varma for a few more years, but with indifferent results: King Varma knew their methods! Finally, they made peace with Varma. They were losing access to Kerala’s spice, and the cost of maintaining a military presence was bleeding them.  Ultimately, they left India forever. Colachel was a minor battle, but had major geo-political impact. De Lannoy served Travancore loyally for 37 years and never returned to Holland. His tomb, with inscriptions in Latin and Tamil, is inside his beloved Udayagiri Fort!

Now for a surprise… Lannoy was not really ethnic Dutch, but belonged to an immigrant noble family from the Franco-Belgian border town of Lannoy! America’s longest serving President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also descended from immigrants of the same De Lannoy family. Delano… De Lannoy… get the connection? That makes our De Lannoy and Roosevelt country cousins of sorts. Settled in different countries — but country cousins, nevertheless!

To hear more fascinating tales involving the King of Travancore, join us on the Kingdom of Gods Trail in Trivandrum.