Setting the Scene – First Europeans – 2
While the Portuguese and the Spanish tightened their grip on the island groups North of Australia, the Reformation in Europe had kept the Dutch under the boot of Spain. The Dutch rebellion of 1566 against Phillip II of Spain plunged the country into war. Phillip then forced the Portuguese into Spanish service. An alliance was formed between Elizabeth I and the Netherlands. In June 1588, Phillip of Spain sought to destroy the sea power of England once and for all, launching an armada of about 130 ships. The fate of the armada does not need repeating here, only to say that Spanish sea power was nullified for many years.
For the Dutch, it meant that they were free to roam and ramble. The obvious choice was the East, where the Portuguese had held sway for a hundred years. In 1595 a fleet of Dutch ships set sail to the 'Spice Islands' (the Moluccas), now part of modern Indonesia, and more accurately the Sunda Islands. Fleets of ships followed. The Portuguese monopoly of the East Indies was at an end.
Dutch power in the East continued to spread. They traded in the Near East, the Persian Gulf and Red Sea countries. They landed in China and Japan. They set up posts in South Africa, Batavia (modern Djakarta on the island of Java, Indonesia) India, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and Malaya.
The Dutch East India Company was formed in 1602. Their power was such that they virtually ruled the new Dutch possessions in the East. They may have discouraged random exploration by their ships, but they were ever alert for new opportunities for trade. In 1605 they dispatched the small Duyfken (Little Dove) to explore the southern New Guinea coastline. Its commander Willem Jansz (Janszoon) followed the coast for some time before turning south, where he once again sighted land. He then followed a coastline for some 250 miles on a southerly heading. Authenticated records indicate that he was in fact on the West Coast of Cape York peninsular. On coming ashore, some of his men were attacked and killed by natives. Jansz turned back and returned to Bantam on Java in 1606. His expedition was probably the first landing of Europeans on Australian soil.
The standard route from Europe to the Indies, was to follow the coast of Africa, round the Cap of Good Hope, up the East Coast and then across the Indian Ocean into the tropics, where ships were becalmed in the doldrums in intense heat.
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