The Dutch in India
- Commercial enterprise was the principal driving force behind the Dutch decision to undertake voyages to the East.
- In 1602, the States General of the Netherlands amalgamated numerous smaller trading companies into a single Dutch East India Company (VOC).
- This company was granted extensive powers of its own — the authority to wage war, conclude treaties, take possession of territory, and erect fortresses as needed.
- Following their arrival in India, the Dutch founded their first factory at Masulipatnam (in present-day Andhra Pradesh) in 1605.
- They subsequently established trading centres across various parts of India, quickly emerging as a serious commercial threat to the Portuguese.
- The Dutch captured Nagapatam, near Madras (Chennai), from the Portuguese, and made it their principal stronghold in South India.
- They subsequently established trading centres across various parts of India, quickly emerging as a serious commercial threat to the Portuguese.
- Dutch trade in India centred on indigo manufactured in the Yamuna valley and Central India, textiles and silk from Bengal, Gujarat, and the Coromandel coast, saltpetre from Bihar, and opium and rice from the Ganga valley.
Anglo-Dutch Rivalry
- The English, rising to prominence in Eastern trade around the same period, soon posed a serious challenge to Dutch commercial interests — a rivalry that quickly escalated from mere commercial competition into outright armed conflict.
- The bitter enmity between the Dutch and the English in the East reached its climax at Amboyna (in present-day Indonesia, captured by the Dutch from the Portuguese in 1605), where the Dutch massacred ten Englishmen and nine Japanese in 1623.
- This incident further intensified rivalry between the two European trading companies. After prolonged conflict, both sides eventually reached a compromise in 1667, under which the English agreed to withdraw all claims over Indonesia, while the Dutch withdrew from India to concentrate instead on their considerably more profitable trade in Indonesia.
Decline of the Dutch in India
- Having reached this compromise, the Dutch increasingly redirected their commercial attention towards the trade of the Malay Archipelago.
- The Battle of Bedara (November 1759) was fought between British and Dutch forces in India — a battle in which the Dutch were decisively defeated by the British.
- Ultimately, the Dutch were never particularly interested in empire-building within India; their priorities remained firmly commercial.
- Their principal commercial interest, in any case, lay in the Spice Islands of Indonesia, from which they continued to earn substantial profit through trade.
