 | Imperialism in Asia: Encyclopedia II - Imperialism in Asia - Dutch trade and colonization in Asia
Imperialism in Asia - Dutch trade and colonization in Asia
Imperialism in Asia - The rise of Dutch control over Asian trade in the 17th century
Portuguese decline in Asia was accelerated by the attacks on their commercial empire by the Dutch and the English, which began a global struggle over empire in Asia that lasted until the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. The Netherlands revolt against Spanish rule facilitated Dutch encroachment of the Portuguese monopoly over South and East Asian trade. The Dutch looked on Spain's trade and colonies as potential spoils in war. When the two crowns of the Iberian peninsula were joined in 1581, the Dutch felt free to attack Portuguese territories in Asia.
By the 1590s a number of Dutch companies were formed to finance trading expeditions in Asia. Because competition lowered their profits, and because of the doctrines of mercantilism, in 1602 the companies united into a cartel and formed the Dutch East India Company, and received from the government the right to trade and colonize territory in the area stretching from the Cape of Good Hope eastward to the Strait of Magellan.
In 1605 armed Dutch merchants captured the Portuguese fort at Amboyna in the Moluccas, which was developed into the first secure base of the company. Over time the Dutch gradually consolidated control over the great trading ports of the East Indies. Control over the East Indies trading ports allowed the company to monopolize the world spice trade for decades. Their monpoloy over the spice trade became complete after they drove the Portuguese from Malacca in 1641 and Ceylon in 1658.
Dutch East India Company colonies or outposts were later established in Atjeh (Aceh), 1667; Macassar, 1669; and Bantam, 1682. The company established its headquarters at Batavia (today Jakarta) on the island of Java. Outside the East Indies, the Dutch East India Company colonies or outposts were also established in Persia (now Iran), Bengal (now Bangladesh and part of India), Mauritius (1638-1658/1664-1710), Siam (now Thailand), mainland China (Canton), Formosa (now Taiwan) (1624-1662), and southern India (1616-1795). In 1662, Zheng Chenggong (also known as Koxinga) expelled the Dutch from Taiwan. (see History of Taiwan)Further, the Dutch East India Company trade post on Dejima (1641- 1857), an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki, was for a long time the only place where Europeans could trade with Japan.
In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope (the southwestern tip of Africa, currently in South Africa) to restock company ships on their journey to East Asia. This post later became a fully-fledged colony, the Cape Colony (1652-1806). As Cape Colony attracted increasing Dutch and European settlement, the Dutch founded the city of Kaapstad (Cape Town).
By 1669, the Dutch East India Company was the richest private company in history, with a huge fleet of merchant ships and warships, tens of thousands of employees, a private army consisting of thousands of soldiers, and a reputation on the part of its stockholders for high dividend payments.
Imperialism in Asia - Decline of the Dutch in Asia and the rise of Britain
The company was in almost constant conflict with the English; relations were particularly tense following the Amboyna Massacre in 1623. During the 18th century, Dutch East India Company possessions were increasingly focused on the East Indies. After the fourth war between the United Provinces and England (1780–1784), the company suffered increasing financial difficulties. In 1799, the company was dissolved.
The East Indies were awarded to The Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. After the Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch concentrated their colonial enterprise in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) throughout the 19th century. The Dutch lost control over the East Indies to the Japanese during the much of the Second World War. Following the war, the Dutch fought Indonesian independence forces after Tōkyō surrendered to the Allies in 1945.
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