Dutch Exploration

While Spain and Portugal had dominated exploration, other nations also began to send out explorers. One of these nations was the Netherlands.

In the late 1500s A.D. the Dutch enjoyed one of the highest standards of living among all the Europeans. They had grown wealthy through trade and commerce. However, their homeland was small, and there was little room for farming or manufacturing. In order to maintain their wealth, the Dutch decided to look at colonizing new lands.

Dutch leaders founded The Dutch East India Company to help expand trade throughout the Indian Ocean. They established their headquarters on the island of Batavia in Indonesia, in 1619. They then used Batavia as a base to further push their control outward in the region.