1550 Spain already had established a fortress in Wenang by cheating the Walak head Lolong Lasut. He used the skin of a water buffalo from Benggalen India that the Portuguese brought to the Minahasa. The Spanish convinced Lolong Lasut they needed land the size of the skin of that water buffalo. What they meant was a piece of land the size of a piece of rope made from that skin. The Spanish then used people from Mongodouw to sit in the Portuguese fortress in Amurang in the 1550s so that eventually the Spanish covered all of the Minahasa.
1570 The Portuguese and the Spanish conspired to kill the king of Ternate and created a big commotion in Ternate. Because of that many Islamic traders from Ternate and Tidore escaped to Ratahan. Attacks by sea pirates in Ratahan increased through Bentengan; the pirates used slaves to row their vessels. The slaves of the pirates escaped to Ratahan and the armada of pirate vessels were destroyed by the soldiers of Ratahan - Pasan.
1595 The first Dutch expedition to Asia with the aim to reach the spice islands.The 'Compagnie van Verre' sent three well equipped and armed ships under leadership of Cornelis de Houtman (1565-1599) and Gerrit van Beuningen. Captain Pieter Dirksz de Keyser had the route descriptions from Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611) who had ever made the journey with a Portuguese ship. The 'Mauritius', the 'Hollandia' and the 'Amsterdam', accompanied by the small yacht 'Duyfken', left on 2nd April 1595 from Texel and arrived in Bantam, the most important pepper harbour on West Java, in June 1596. The trip was difficult with many conflicts and losses of life. In August 1597 the three ships returned with 87 survivors of the original 249 crew members. Even though it was no financial success the trip had proven the trip to Asia possible.
The 'Oude Compagnie' (a fusion of a newly established company with the Compagnie van Verre) from Amsterdam equipped a fleet of eight ships under the command of Jacob van Neck (1564-1638). This so called 'Tweede Schipvaart' (Second Ship Voyage) was very succesful and came back from Bantam one year later with four richly laden ships. The other ships sailed onwards to the Molucca islands. Wijbrand van Warwijck (1569-1615) berthed Celebes, Ambon and Ternate, Jacob van Heemskerck (1567-1607) berthed Banda.Also in the harbours Middelburg, Veere and Rotterdam companies were established that sent a total of 14 ships to Asia, under the command of amongst others Gerard le Roy, Cornelis de Houtman and Olivier van Noort (1559-1627).
The Oude Compagnie equipped a total of 7 ships under the command of Steven van der Haghen (1563-1624) and Jacob Wilckens, the 'Nieuwe Brabantse Compagnie' equipped 4 ships under the command of Pieter Both (1550-1615). Steven van der Haghen received the use of the castle Van Verre in Ambon from the inhabitants of the peninsula of Hitu in exchange for military support against the Portuguese. An attack on the Portuguese Leitimor fortress in east Ambon failed. Cornelis de Houtman berthed in Atjeh and died in a battle with the local population.
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 "Replica of The Duyfken")
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