VOC troops land near Galle

VOC forces seized Batticaloa from the Portuguese with support from the Kingdom of Kandy. The alliance reflected Kandy’s own strategy against Portuguese power; Dutch expansion then used the foothold to...

The Kingdom of Kandy and the VOC agreed to cooperate against Portuguese rule. Kandy was an active diplomatic and military partner pursuing its own goals. Dutch assistance later enabled a new...

The VOC took Trincomalee’s Portuguese fort, gaining a strategically important harbor. The conquest formed part of an alliance with Kandy but also expanded Dutch military and commercial power along the...

A four-day naval engagement between Dutch and Portuguese forces began off Pernambuco. The contest concerned control of Brazilian ports and sugar exports in a colony where plantation wealth rested on...

The VOC captured Negombo from the Portuguese during its campaign to control Sri Lanka’s coastal forts and cinnamon trade. The Dutch advance depended on Kandy’s alliance, but the resulting company...

The Portuguese garrison surrendered Galle to the VOC after Dutch troops landed nearby. Galle became a key base of Dutch rule and cinnamon extraction, which rested on labor and knowledge of local...

After a prolonged siege, Dutch forces captured Malacca from Portugal with local allies. The conquest shifted control of a major port and strait, but Malay and regional powers remained central actors...

The two states signed a truce intended to suspend conflict, though fighting continued in several colonial theaters. The agreement illustrates how European diplomacy treated overseas territories as...

A WIC fleet captured Luanda, with support from Queen Njinga’s forces and the Kingdom of Kongo in the wider conflict against Portugal. Dutch occupation aimed to secure access to enslaved people for...

Abel Tasman’s VOC expedition sighted the South Island. Māori had long inhabited and named these lands; describing the sighting as “discovery” centers European records and obscures Indigenous knowledge...