VOC forces capture Malacca

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...

Dutch troops landed near Galle as the VOC campaign against Portuguese power continued. The operation opened a path to one of the island’s most important ports and fortified settlements.

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...

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...

Tasman’s ships anchored in the bay of Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri. On the evening of December 18, Māori waka approached the unfamiliar ships. The encounter unfolded between communities with different...

Dutch forces recaptured Negombo from Portuguese control. The shifting possession of the fort reflects a wider war in which local communities and Kandy were not passive spectators, while the Dutch...