Dinamardinga and Farasidinga, Balasore, Orissa India

Dinamardinga began as a Danish (not Dutch) settlement and it\'s well renovated cemetery was in use for several centuries. The area was occupied by Portuguese and French traders and both the English & Danish East India Companies as early as 1625.

All European companies started their trading activities in the ports of Orissa. Balasore town, being the head quarters of the district was an important maritime town in mediaeval times through the river Budhabalanga. Northeast from Bhubaneswar, this medieval maritime trading port was first established by the British in 1642 with subsequent competition from the French and the Dutch. Portions of the town occupied by the French were named as “Farasidinga” and the portions occupied by the Dutch were called “Dinamardinga”. The ruins of the foreign possessions still exist. The French and the Dutch set up factories mainly dealing with textiles, saltpeter, rice, salt that were exported.

This is one of the best examples of a small European burial ground with tum-bas, pyramids, pavilions and columns.While few inscriptions exist from the 1700\'s, there are markers that remain from that era, and plenty from the early 1800\'s when the British began using the cemetery. Exact GPS coordinates could not be provided for this cemetery, but both it and the nearby old French settlement cemetery of Farasidinga are popular tourist sites.