Malay Archipelago

Though the Portuguese traders frequented the coast of Java and Sumatra and established a trading post in Sumatra, they annexed no territory in either; but farther east they founded nu merous forts and factories, notably in Amboyna, the Banda Island, Celebes and Halmahera. Ternate remained the seat of the governor of the Moluccas, who was the highest official in the archipelago, though subordinate to the viceroy or governor of Portuguese India. The first attempt to enter into relations with the states of Borneo was made by D. Jorge de Menezes, who visited Brunei in 1526, and in 1528 sent an unsuccessful envoy to its rajah.

In 1536, after a period of war and anarchy caused by the tyrannical rule of Menezes, Antonio Galva°, the historian, was appointed governor of the Moluccas. He crushed the rebellion and won the affection of the natives by his just and enlightened administration, which had no parallel in the annals of Portuguese rule in the archipelago. He returned to Europe in 154o (see PORTUGUESE LITERATURE), after inaugurating an active mis sionary movement, which was revived in 1546-1547 by Francis Xavier (q.v.). At this period the Portuguese power in the East was already beginning to wane; in the archipelago it was weakened by administrative corruption and by incessant war with native states, notably Bintang and Achin; bitter hostility was aroused by the attempts of Portuguese to establish a commercial monopoly and to convert their subjects and allies (see PORTUGAL: History).

The English and Dutch, 1595-1674.

Pirates from Dieppe visited the archipelago between 1527 and 1539. It is possible that they reached Australia; but their cruise had no political sig nificance, and the Spaniards and Portuguese remained without European competitors until the appearance of Sir Francis Drake in 1579. Sir James Lancaster was active in these seas at the end of the century and visited Achin in 1602. An expedition under Sir Henry Middleton traded in the archipelago in 1604. The Eng lish were simple traders or explorers; far more formidable were the Dutch, who came to the East partly to avenge the injuries in flicted on their country by the Spaniards, partly to break the com mercial monopoly of the peninsula states. As middlemen they already possessed a large interest in the spice trade, for the Portu guese, having no direct access to the principal European markets, had made a practice of sending cargo to the Netherlands for dis tribution by way of the Scheldt and Rhine. The Dutch now sought

to monopolize not only the distribution but the production of spices—an enterprise facilitated by the co-operation of many exiled Portuguese Jews who had settled in Holland.

The first Dutch fleet sailed from Texel, under the command of Cornelius Houtman, on April 2, 1595, and reached Sumatra on Jan. 1, 1596. It visited Madura, and though not a commercial success demonstrated the weakness of the Portuguese. In 1602 the Dutch East India Company (q.v.) was incorporated, and for nearly two centuries this organization played the chief part in the history of the archipelago. By 1604 the Dutch could already claim to be the stronger power at sea. They had attacked the Portu guese in Ceylon (I6oi), established friendly relations with Achin (1602), and defeated a powerful fleet off Banda (1602). In 1606 they concluded a treaty of alliance with the Sultan of Johor, and in 1608 they forced the Portuguese to assent to an armistice for twelve years. On November 29, 1609, Pieter Both was chosen by the states-general, on the nomination of the Dutch East India Company, as first governor-general of Netherlands India. In 1611, the headquarters of the Dutch was changed from Bantam to Jakatra, which in 1619 was renamed Batavia, and was thenceforward the Dutch capital. Meanwhile the English East India Company, chartered in 160o, had also extended its opera tions to the archipelago. After 1611 the commercial rivalry be tween the Dutch and British became acute, and in 1613, 1615 and 1618 commissioners met in London to discuss the matters in dis pute. The result of their deliberations was the Treaty of De fence, signed on June 2, 1619, and modified on Jan. 24, 1620, which arranged for co-operation between the Dutch and British companies, and especially for the maintenance of a joint fleet. But neither company could restrain its agents in the East from aggressive action, and many fresh causes of dispute arose, the chief being the failure of the British to provide the naval forces required for service against the Portuguese, and the so-called "massacre of Amboina" (q.v.) in 1623. The Treaty of Defence lapsed in 1637. The Dutch company opened up trade with Japan and China, and prosecuted the war against Portugal with great vigour, invading Portuguese India and capturing Point de Galle in 1640, Malacca in 1641, Cochin and Cannanore in 1663.