Page 133 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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the Bay of Bengal was further expanding eastwards to Bengal (Area ) and Aracan (modern Myamar, Area ). After a few exploration voyages in the previous period, the number of visits to these two areas grew to nearly . The most important destination in this region remained the Coromandel Coast with again a large increase (of around %) to visits. After the VOC had settled a peace agreement with the English at the beginning of this peri- od, hostilities with the Iberians again intensified. It seems that the direction for military action was linked to available military capacity, with action moving back from the region of the Spice Islands, where the VOC fought the English, to the Portuguese strongholds in the Strait of Ma- lacca again. By pursuing the Portuguese and their allies in this region, the VOC hoped to con- trol this very strategic connection between the Far East and the Indian Ocean region. Since the Sunda Strait was already controlled by the VOC, they could then exert complete control over the shipping routes between east and west Asia. The frequency of the VOC shipping in this area was double that of the previous years and even higher again than in the first period. The volume of these ships, however, was even lower than in the previous period, indicating the change in ship type already mentioned in Part . C t s a E Arabia Afrika Region Arabian Sea Region Bay of Bengal Region Sumatra Region Strait of Malacca Region Java Sea Region Route Spice Islands Region Route Far East Persia 139 Bengal 106 China 394 Kalimantan Java 736 Taiwan h i n a a t s a o C l e d a m o b a r r A n y o n h t a u B o M S i a n i S fC B e S e h n C a e g a a S l e a l a b a r S t r a i t oM f I o a l a c c a Malaysia Sumatr n S a B v a d a J a S a a i d n e a e a a Map .: Development of the frequency of the VOC shipping < India Sri Lanka Vietnam Thailand (Siam) Cambodia 56 172 The increase in the number of visits to China (Area ) was spectacular. In the previous period there were only four visits, against arrivals on the China coast and arrivals in the region of Taiwan and the Pescadores (Area ) for -. The background to this spectacular growth was the extensive military campaign launched by the VOC when they had freed up their mili- tary capacity by settling their position on the Spice Islands. No longer did the VOC confine itself to a blockade of the Philippines, (which in the early s was even conducted with a joint Anglo-Dutch fleet), to intercept trade between China and the Spanish, but they actively en- An analysis of the development of VOC shipping in Asia until Sulawesi Lesser Sunda Island Spice Islands 317 Philippines Japan O c e n
