The first Dutch expedition to Asia leaves Texel

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,...

The States General merged competing Dutch pre-companies into the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) and gave it a monopoly over Dutch trade in a vast area between the Cape of Good Hope and the...

VOC Governor-General Jan Pieterszoon Coen appealed to the company’s directors for more soldiers, ships, and money to confront Bandanese resistance and English competition. The appeal shows how the...

VOC forces captured the Javanese port town of Jayakarta. The company destroyed much of the settlement and built its fortified administrative centre there, later called Batavia (today Jakarta). This...