The Second Dutch Expedition to East Indies was an expedition that took place from 1598 to 1600, one of the Dutch forays into the East Indies
spice trade that led to the establishment of the
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
. It was led by
Jacob Cornelius van Neck.
Background
During the 16th century, the
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
dominated the spice trade, but after the
first Dutch expedition to Indonesia
The First Dutch Expedition to East Indies (Dutch: ''Eerste Schipvaart'') was an expedition that took place from 1595 to 1597. It was instrumental in opening up the Indonesian spice trade to the merchants that eventually formed the Dutch E ...
under
Cornelis de Houtman
Cornelis de Houtman (2 April 1565 – 1 September 1599) was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the Po ...
, the backers of that expedition decided that the time was ripe for further forays into the Indonesian spice market. The company behind the first expedition, the
Far-distance Company, and the recently established
New Company for Voyages to East India joined forces and between them managed to raise nearly 800,000
guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empir ...
s, the most money that had ever been raised in the Netherlands for a private venture.
In 1592 the cartographer
Petrus Plancius
Petrus Plancius (; 1552 – 15 May 1622) was a Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and clergyman. He was born as Pieter Platevoet in Dranouter, now in Heuvelland, West Flanders. He studied theology in Germany and England. At the age of 24 he ...
published a series of charts showing, in exact detail, the route to the Indies,
[
] which was the spark that instigated the first Dutch expedition to Indonesia. Plancius was interested in the new venture, and pored over the accounts of the first expedition in order to write a set of sailing directions for the expedition.
Composition of the fleet
Admiral Jacob van Neck was chosen as the leader, with Vice-Admiral
Wybrand van Warwyck and arctic explorer
Jacob van Heemskerck
Jacob van Heemskerck (3 March 1567 – 25 April 1607) was a Dutch explorer and naval admiral.
Early life
Jacob van Heemskerck was born in Amsterdam in 1567. He is described as having delicate feature, large brown eyes, a thin high nose, ...
as his lieutenants.
[Masselman, p. 111] Also aboard was
Willem Janszoon
Willem Janszoon (; ), sometimes abbreviated to Willem Jansz., was a Dutch navigator and colonial governor. Janszoon served in the Dutch East Indies in the periods 16031611 and 16121616, including as governor of Fort Henricus on the island of So ...
.
[Mutch, p. 13] On May 1, 1598, the fleet sailed from
Texel
Texel (; Texels dialect: ) is a municipality and an island with a population of 13,643 in North Holland, Netherlands. It is the largest and most populated island of the West Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea. The island is situated north of De ...
.
The fleet was composed of eight vessels: the and the , which had sailed with the first fleet, as well as the , , , , and a smaller ship, the .
These last five were all named after Dutch provinces.
Voyage
The fleet made excellent time at first, rounding the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is t ...
in only three months.
However, soon after reaching the Cape the fleet was hit by heavy storms, and was split into two parts.
Van Neck with three ships quickly recovered and landed on the East coast of
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
in order to replenish supplies,
while the other ships under Warwyck could not land on Madagascar due to the storm.
[Masselman, p. 112]
To Bantam
![Het Tweede Boeck](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Het_Tweede_Boeck.jpg)
After seven months of sailing in all, Van Neck and his three ships reached the trading city of
Bantam on November 25.
The Bantamese received the Dutch eagerly, because they had recently fought with the Portuguese and destroyed three of their ships, so they hoped to gain protection from any vengeful Portuguese fleets by forging an alliance with Van Neck.
[Milton, p. 135] Within one month he had filled all three ships full of spices.
The other ships, meanwhile, landed on the island of Do Cerne, which they renamed
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
in honor of
Maurice of Nassau
Maurice of Orange ( nl, Maurits van Oranje; 14 November 1567 – 23 April 1625) was '' stadtholder'' of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic except for Friesland from 1585 at the earliest until his death in 1625. Before he became Prince ...
.
[Masselman, p. 113] They left a rooster and seven hens on the island, and also planted many seeds, including some orange and lemon trees.
They then sailed for Bantam, which they reached on December 30, prompting a joyous New Year celebration on the part of Van Neck's men.
Van Neck's return
Van Neck quickly filled one of the four ships brought by Warwyck with spice and then sailed for home with it and the other three that he had already filled.
He reached Amsterdam in July 1599, the journey having taken half as long as the de Houtman expedition.
[Masselman, p. 114] The crew were paraded through the streets behind a troupe of trumpeters as all the bells in the city tolled, then given as much wine as they could drink, while Van Neck was presented with a golden beaker.
Van Neck brought back with him nearly one million pounds of pepper and cloves, as well as half a ship of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon.
The rest of the fleet
Before he sailed for Amsterdam, Van Neck sent the remaining four ships east to the
Spice Islands
A spice is a seed, fruit, root, bark, or other plant substance primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of plants used for flavoring or as a garnish. Spices ar ...
in order to obtain more spices. On their voyage they encountered no trouble except on the coast of
Madura Island
Madura Island is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java. The island comprises an area of approximately (administratively 5,379.33 km2 including various smaller islands to the east, southeast and north that are administrati ...
, where the king of
Arissabaya, in revenge for an earlier Dutch attack, captured several sailors and extracted a ransom for them.
They reached
Ambon Island
Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The island has an area of and is mountainous, well watered, and fertile. Ambon Island consists of two territories: the city of Ambon, Maluku, Ambon to the south and various districts ('' ...
in March 1599, but there were not enough cloves available, so it was decided that Warwyck would sail north, to
Ternate
Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the we ...
, while Heemskerck would head for the
Banda Islands
The Banda Islands ( id, Kepulauan Banda) are a volcanic group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about south of Seram Island and about east of Java, and constitute an administrative district (''kecamatan'') within the Central M ...
.
[Masselman, p. 115]
Warwyck reached Ternate without incident, and in celebration fired off so much ammunition that the very ground shook. They were received well, primarily because the king of Ternate was at war with neighboring
Tidore
Tidore ( id, Kota Tidore Kepulauan, lit. "City of Tidore Islands") is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. Part of North Maluku Province, the city includes the island ...
, and was happy to have military assistance.
[Masselman, p. 116] Warwyck filled his ships with spices and then headed home, picking up some more pepper at Bantam before reaching Amsterdam in September 1600.
Heemskerck, however, who reached Great Banda in mid-March, 1599, received a chilly welcome from the indigenous inhabitants, who were unhappy due to bad past experiences with the Portuguese, and because a nearby volcanoes had been active recently, foretelling evil.
He eventually succeeded in winning the compliance of the natives, and left behind twenty-two men to stockpile nutmeg so that future Dutch fleets would be able to purchase it without trouble.
He reached home in May 1600.
Results
The expedition was considered a tremendous success, netting a 400% profit for its backers.
[Winchester, p. 19][Mutch, p. 15]
See also
*
First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia
The First Dutch Expedition to East Indies (Dutch: ''Eerste Schipvaart'') was an expedition that took place from 1595 to 1597. It was instrumental in opening up the Indonesian spice trade to the merchants that eventually formed the Dutch E ...
*
Dutch East India Company in Indonesia
Company rule in the Dutch East Indies began when the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, "United East India Company"; VOC) appointed the first governor-general of the Dutch East Indies in 1610, and ended in 180 ...
*
European exploration of Australia
The European exploration of Australia first began in February 1606, when Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon landed in Cape York Peninsula and on October that year when Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, and navigated, Torres Strai ...
*
Janszoon voyage of 1605-6 Janszoon usually abbreviated to Jansz was a Dutch patronym ("son of Jan"). While Janse, Janssens, and especially Jansen and Janssen, are very common surnames derived from this patronym, the form Jansz is quite rare and Janszoon itself does not e ...
*
Voyage of the Pera and Arnhem to Australia in 1623
The ''Pera'' and ''Arnhem'' were two ships from the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Companie'' or ''VOC'') that explored the north Australian coast in 1623. Arnhem Land is named after the ''Arnhem'' while the ship itse ...
*
New Holland (Australia)
''New Holland'' ( nl, Nieuw-Holland) is a historical European name for mainland Australia.
The name was first applied to Australia in 1644 by the Dutch seafarer Abel Tasman. The name came for a time to be applied in most European maps to the ...
*
Australian places with Dutch names
Of an estimated 200 place names the Dutch bestowed on Australian localities in the 17th century as a result of the Dutch voyages of exploration along the western, northern and southern Australian coasts, only about 35 can still be found on c ...
*
History of the Northern Territory
The History of the Northern Territory began over 60,000 years ago when Indigenous Australians settled the region. Makassan traders began trading with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory for trepang from at least the 18th century onw ...
*
History of Western Australia
The human history of Western Australia commenced between 40,000 and 60,000 years ago with the arrival of Aboriginal Australians on the northwest coast. The first inhabitants expanded across the east and south of the continent.
The first record ...
*
History of South Australia
The history of South Australia includes the history of the Australian state of South Australia since Federation of Australia, Federation in 1901, and the area's preceding Indigenous Australian, Indigenous and British colony, British colonial soc ...
*
History of Tasmania
The history of Tasmania begins at the end of the most recent ice age (approximately 10,000 years ago) when it is believed that the island was joined to the Australian mainland. Little is known of the human history of the island until the Britis ...
Notes
References
*
*
*
* {{cite book , title=
Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, August 27, 1883, last= Winchester, first=Simon , author-link= Simon Winchester, year= 2003, publisher= HarperCollins, location=New York , isbn= 0-06-621285-5
Exploration of Indonesia
Portuguese colonialism in Indonesia
1590s in the Dutch Empire
Expeditions from the Netherlands
1598 in Asia
1599 in Asia
1600 in Asia
1598 in the Dutch Republic
1599 in the Dutch Republic
1600 in the Dutch Republic
Dutch exploration in the Age of Discovery