WIC forces occupy Luanda

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...

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...

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...

Portuguese-Brazilian forces defeated Dutch troops at Mount Tabocas, an early turning point in the Pernambuco uprising. The resistance joined local interests against Dutch rule, whose plantation...

Pieter Stuyvesant arrived to govern New Netherland. Dutch rule was layered over Lenape and other Indigenous homelands and relied on unequal trade, land pressure, and military power. The colony also...