Born 1585, the Netherlands
Died 1616
Since the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal had controlled European commerce in the Far East, including the rich spice trade of the East Indies. But after the Netherlands declared its independence from Spain in 1581, the rising young nation—with its large population of merchants and seamen—decided to challenge Portugal’s declining position in the Orient. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the Netherlands had displaced Portugal as the major maritime and trading power in Southeast Asia. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company was formed to establish trade policy and control in the area. The Dutch government granted the company exclusive rights to trade in the Indies. The company was allowed its own armed forces on land and sea, and could wage war against Spain and Portugal. It could also establish trading posts and colonies, make treaties, and had legal authority over the territories it managed.
Independent Dutch businessmen did not think that the trade monopoly of the Dutch East India Company was fair. The firm had control of trade to and from the Orient, either around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope or through the Strait of Magellan at the southern end of South America—the only two routes known and used by European traders.
This page contains 201 words.
Jacob Le Maire article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 1,855 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page).
Order our Jacob Le Maire Article
