Dutch fleet captures a Spanish treasure convoy

VOC authorities arrested Bandanese orang kaya (community leaders) and used torture during interrogations about an alleged conspiracy. The proceedings supplied a justification for executions and...

VOC officials executed dozens of Bandanese orang kaya after coercive interrogations and a summary proceeding. Scholarly accounts commonly identify 44 people, while figures and descriptions vary across...

The States General chartered the Dutch West India Company (WIC), giving it monopoly rights over Dutch commerce in the Atlantic and Americas and powers to wage war, build forts, and govern. The company...

A Dutch West India Company (WIC) fleet seized Salvador, the capital of Portuguese Brazil. The occupation targeted a major sugar-producing colony and port in a region whose wealth depended on...

After a year-long occupation, a large Iberian expedition forced the Dutch garrison to surrender Salvador. The episode shows that Dutch colonial expansion faced organized resistance and depended on...

A WIC fleet landed near Olinda and Recife, beginning a major invasion of Portuguese Brazil. Dutch plans to seize sugar wealth relied on plantation production sustained by enslaved Africans, while...

Dutch troops took Olinda after landing in Pernambuco. The seizure was part of the WIC campaign to control the region’s sugar economy and ports. Its colonial project intensified violence over land...

The WIC occupied Recife, a key harbor and commercial center. The port became the base of Dutch rule in northeastern Brazil and a node in Atlantic sugar and slave-trading networks. Its strategic...

The WIC authorized a campaign to seize Curaçao from Spain. The decision was part of a wider project to control Caribbean ports, shipping, and strategic routes. Curaçao would later become a major Dutch...

Johan van Walbeeck’s WIC expedition took control of Curaçao. The conquest brought the island into a Dutch imperial system built around military power and Atlantic commerce. Indigenous Caquetío...