• Summarize how Portugal built a trading empire in South
and Southeast Asia.
• Analyze the rise of Dutch and Spanish dominance in the
region.
• Understand how the decline of Mughal India affected
European traders in the region.
• Portugal was the first European power to gain a foothold
in Asia.
• The Portuguese ships were small in size and number, but
superior firepower helped win control of the spice trade
and build a trading empire in Asia
• In 1510, they seized the island of Goa off the coast of
India, making their major military and commercial base.
• Afonso de Albuquerque ended Muslim power by burning
coastal towns and sinking Arab fleets
• In 1511, Albuquerque took Malacca and massacred the
city’s Muslims, making the Europeans hated and feared.
• In less then 50 years, the Portuguese had built a trading
empire, with military and merchant outposts, across the
southern seas
• For most of the 1500s, Portugal controlled the spice trade
between Europe and Asia.
• Despite their sea power, The Portuguese did not conquer
much territory and remained on the fringe of Asian trade
• In stronger empires like India and China they received
permission to trade
• The intolerance of Portuguese missionaries caused
resentment
• The Portuguese sank pilgrim ships going to Mecca,
destroyed Hindu temples, and introduced the Inquisition
• Portuguese explorers encountered many unfamiliar
people and lands in their travel. But perhaps one of the
strangest things they saw was the large, flightless bird
called the dodo, Native to the island of Mauritius, in the
Indian Ocean, the dodo had no experience with people –
and no reason to fear the newcomers.
• The Europeans ate the dodo and the pigs and dogs they
brought with them ate their eggs.
• Within 100 years, the last dodo was gone.
• The Dutch were the first Europeans to challenge
Portuguese domination in Asia.
• In 1599, a Dutch fleet returned from Asia carrying a cargo
of pepper, cloves, and other spices
The Return of the Dutch East India Fleet, 1 May
1599
• Investors earned a 100% profit, leading to a frenzy of
overseas activity
• Dutch warships and trading vessels put the Netherlands
in the forefront of European commerce
• The Dutch used their sea power to set up colonies and
trading posts around the world
• In 1602, a group of wealthy Dutch merchants formed the
Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische
Compagnie)
• In 1641, they captured Malacca from the Portuguese and
opened trade with China
• The Dutch used military force to establish a monopoly
over trade and shipping in the Spice Islands
• Trade made the Dutch wealthy but by the 1700s, England
and France had taken over
• Magellan claimed the archipelago in 1521 and within 50
years, Spain had colonized the islands
• The Philippines became a key link in Spain's overseas
trading empire
• The Spanish shipped
silver from Mexico and
Peru to the Philippines
and used it to buy goods
in China
• Before the 1700s, European traders made little
impression on India
• India was the world leader in textile manufacturing and
exported quantities of silk and cotton cloth
• The Mughal empire, founded in 1526 by Babur, was
larger, richer, and more powerful than any kingdom in
Europe
• The Portuguese, Dutch,
English, and French
were permitted to build
forts and warehouses
in coastal towns
• Conflicts between Hindu and Muslim princes and years of
civil war drained Mughal resources
• In the early 1700s, corruption became widespread and
the government collapsed
• French and English trading companies made alliances
with local officials and independent rajahs
Sepoys of the
Bombay, Bengal
and Madras
armies
• By the mid-1700s, the British and French were fighting
for global power
• War erupted in Europe in 1756 and spread to their
colonies in Asia and the Americas
• Robert Clive of the British East India Company used an
army of British troops and sepoys to drive the French
from their trading posts
June 23 1757: Battle of Plassey,
India. Robert Clive commanding
700 English troops, 550 sailors,
1700 native troops, and 14 guns
defeats Suraj, the Nawab of Bengal,
commanding 40000 cavalry, 60000
foot troops, 50 elephants, and 30
guns served by French artillerists.
Clive’s guns out range those of his
opponents, and the Bengalis flee in
panic after their cavalry are
defeated. The Nawab is later
murdered by his own people.
• By the late 1700s, the
British East India
Company had become
the de facto ruler of
Bengal and influenced
other parts of India