Dutch-Portuguese Rivalry in Asia: from Java to Macau to Malacca
- Spencer Low
- 37 minutes ago
- 4 min read
For most of the 16th century, the Portuguese had a "No Trespassing" sign over the sea routes to Asia. They kept their navigation charts—the roteiros—under literal lock and key. But every secret has a price.
Enter Jan Huygen van Linschoten, a Dutch spy working as a secretary to the Portuguese Archbishop in Goa. He spent years copying top-secret Portuguese sailing directions and trade secrets. In 1595, he published them in a blockbuster book, the Reys-gheschrift vande navigatien der Portugaloysers in Orienten (Travel Accounts of Portuguese Navigation in the Orient). Suddenly, the Portuguese "monopoly" was common knowledge. That same year, the Dutch sent their first ships to Java, and by 1602, the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC) was born. The Dutch weren't the only ones reading Linschoten’s leaked files. The English followed in 1602, led by James Lancaster, and set up a trading post in Banten, West Java.
For the next 80 years, Banten was the centre of a tense poker game. The local Sultanate grew exceedingly rich trading pepper with the Portuguese, but they used the English as a buffer to keep the Dutch from getting too powerful. By 1619, the Dutch Governor, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, could not hold back anymore. This was a man who would later reveal himself as someone who could be brutally violent in order to achieve his goals. He destroyed the city of Jayakarta and built Batavia (modern-day Jakarta) on its ashes. The English, who had helped the local Prince besiege the Dutch just months earlier, were forced to retreat to their corner in Banten.
Back in Europe, the English and Dutch governments realized that fighting each other was only helping the Portuguese and Spanish, who had been united under the same monarch since the Iberian Union in 1580. They therefore forced their respective East India companies into a marriage of convenience through a treaty in 1619. They created a joint Fleet of Defence to blockade Portuguese ports. Imagine the tension: English and Dutch sailors, who hated each other, were now forced to share rations and coordinates. It was a partnership built on pure suspicion.
The ultimate test of this alliance came in June 1622, when the target was Macau. If the "Allies" could take Macau, they would control the lucrative trade between China and Japan. But here is the twist: Governor-General Coen was a greedy strategist. He sent secret orders that the English were welcome to help with the naval blockade, but they were strictly forbidden from setting foot on land or taking any share of the spoils. The English captains weren't fools; they stayed on their vessels and watched the Dutch attempt the landing alone.
The result? The Portuguese (assisted by loyal African slaves who fought with legendary bravery) pulled off a miraculous defence. A lucky cannon shot from the Monte Fort hit a Dutch gunpowder wagon, blowing the invasion to pieces. The Dutch retreated to Batavia in disgrace, while the English likely watched with a self-satisfied smirk.
While the defence of Macau saved the Portuguese presence in China, their heart in Southeast Asia was still Malacca. Since 1511, Malacca had been the "Golden Chersonese," the strategic chokepoint controlling all trade between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
The Dutch knew that as long as the Portuguese held Malacca, the VOC could never truly own the spice trade. After evicting the Portuguese from the Moluccas starting in 1605, the Dutch set their sights on the big prize.
In 1641, the Dutch did what they couldn't do in Macau: they formed a winning alliance. They partnered with the Sultanate of Johor, who provided the ground troops and local knowledge. After a brutal five-month siege that saw both sides decimated by famine and disease, the Portuguese finally surrendered. This wasn't just a battle; it was the moment the Dutch officially took over the Portuguese network in Southeast Asia. Malacca became a Dutch town, and the Portuguese were effectively cut off from their Indonesian spice routes forever.
The "frenemy" phase between the English and Dutch didn't last. In 1623, the Dutch executed ten English traders in the Amboyna Massacre on charges of treason. This messy divorce ended English-Dutch cooperation in the region.
The English realized they couldn't beat the Dutch military machine in the islands, so they began shifting their focus to India—a move that would eventually lead to the British Empire. They hung on to their post in Banten until 1682, when a Dutch-backed Sultan finally kicked them out for good.
The Dutch and English fought for the land, but they couldn't erase the Portuguese soul. To build Batavia, the Dutch brought in thousands of Portuguese-speaking people known as the Mardijkers—freed slaves who practiced Catholicism and spoke a Portuguese creole.
Even today, in North Jakarta’s Kampung Tugu, you can still see this legacy. This community preserved Portuguese traditions for centuries through Keroncong music. That distinctive, ukulele-driven sound that defines Indonesian national culture? It started with the Portuguese-inspired songs of the Mardijkers.