It lies 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kaveri River.

[4] King Christian IV had sent his envoy Ove Gjedde who established contact with Raghunatha Nayak of Thanjavur.

An annual tribute was paid by the Danes to the Rajah of Tanjore until the colony was sold to the British East India Company in 1845.

Its name means "place of the singing waves"; the old designation Trankebar remains current in modern Danish.

[11] In 1639, experienced seafarer, Willem Leyel, was sent to Tranquebar on the order of Christian IV of Denmark to inspect the Danish East India Company's troublesome financial conditions.

The Tranquebar Rebellion in 1648 may have started as a response to Leyel making a treaty with the Mughals to stop local Danish piracy.

[12] Although the company had been abolished, the colony was a royal property and still held by a garrison unaware of court developments back at home.

As the number of Danes-Norwegians declined through desertions and illness, an illiterate commoner, Eskild Anderson Kongsbakke was loyal to his country and successfully held the fort until May of 1669; when the Crown dispatched the frigate Færø to re-establish an official outpost.

[13] Among the first Protestant missionaries to set foot in India were two Lutherans from Germany, Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg and Heinrich Pluetschau, who began work in 1705 in the Danish settlement of Tranquebar.

He was a member of the Lutheran clergy who responded to the appeal of King Frederick IV of Denmark to establish a mission for the natives of Tranquebar.

[16] At first they only made little progress in their religious efforts, but gradually the mission spread to Madras, Cuddalore and Tanjore.

[17] Tranquebar was occupied by the British in February 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars but was restored to Denmark following the Treaty of Kiel in 1814.

[22] The church, along with other buildings of the Tranquebar Mission was damaged during the tsunami of 2004, and were renovated at a cost of ₹ 7 million, and re-consecrated in 2006.

A single storied building was constructed along three inner sides of the rampart, with barracks, warehouse, kitchen, and jail.