The Compagnie van Verre sent a four-ship expedition under Cornelis de Houtman toward the Indonesian archipelago. Dutch merchants aimed to enter the Asian spice trade, then dominated by Portuguese...
The fleet reached the port of Banten, where local authorities and merchants controlled access to pepper and other goods. The Dutch were newcomers negotiating entry into an established Asian trade...
The expedition returned after more than two years, with only a fraction of its original crew. It brought back pepper and other commodities and demonstrated that Dutch ships could reach Asian ports,...
