The college was established by Frederick IV in 1714 to institutionalise the work he began by funding Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau's mission at the Danish colony of Fort Dansborg (Tranquebar) in India.
Its first chairman (præses) was Johan Georg von Holstein (16 February 1662 – 26 December 1730),[1] who was the namesake for Holsteinsborg (now Sisimiut) in Greenland.
It was administered in conjunction with the Moravian missions there and the various chartered companies, particularly the Royal Greenland Trading Department.
Early on, the well-endowed college could provide an extensive scientific library to missionaries like Hans Glahn, Otto Fabricius, and Andreas Ginge who studied the flora, fauna, and meteorology of Greenland during their missions.
[2] Money was so limited in the later 18th century that all but five missionaries were returned to Denmark in 1792 and British hostility during the Napoleonic Wars brought the number down to a single person.