India had trade with the East-Indies islands during the Gupta period and even earlier. Even when Mughal rule was established in India in the 16th century AD, this trade was being carried on without any major hindrance. The main items of Indian export are cotton cloth, cereals, oil seeds, jowar, sugar, rice, indigo, aromatic substances, aromatic wood and plants, camphor, cloves, coconut, skins of various animals, skins of rhinoceros and leopards, sandalwood There were wood, opium, pepper and garlic. These products went to European countries as well as Eastern countries like Java, Sumatra, Boda, Malaya, Borneo, Akni, Pegu, Siam, Betum etc. During that period opium was sent from India to Pegu (Lower Burma), Java, China, Malaya, Persia and Arab countries. During the period when the Mughal rule was taking its roots in India, the competition in small countries of Europe to trade with the spice islands of the Eastern Islands was reaching its peak.
Competition for supremacy over the seas in European countries
In the last decade of the 15th century, different countries of Europe started an expedition to find sea routes to distant countries so that they could trade with them. Portugal, a small country in Europe, was at the fore in this campaign. The Portuguese took control of the entire coastline from Hormuz in the Persian Gulf to Malacca in Malaya and the Spice Islands in Indonesia. In order to maintain their trading clout, they fought fiercely with other European countries. They did not hesitate at all to rob and plunder in the sea. A famous British historian of the nineteenth century has written - 'The Portuguese made trading their main profession, but like the British and the Dutch, they did not mind looting as soon as they got the opportunity.'
Portugal was a very small country. Its population in the sixteenth century was only one million. Therefore, Portugal could not maintain its commercial dominance over the Persian Gulf to the eastern spice islands for long. In the second half of the sixteenth century, England, the Netherlands and France waged a struggle against the monopoly of Spain and Portugal. Spain and Portugal had to be ruined in this conflict. Portugal and Spain continued to fight among themselves. Spain became the possession of Portugal in AD 1580.
Dutch people used to live in a small European country called Holland. This country was located in Europe between Germany and Belgium. Later he changed the name of his country to Netherlands. These people had long traded spices in the eastern islands. The Dutch had to buy spices from the eastern countries in Portugal, which they then sold to northern Europe. When Spain took over Portugal, the Dutch needed to find new routes to trade spices from the eastern islands, leaving the traditional route. In AD 1602, the Dutch formed the Dutch East India Company for the purpose of trading with India and the East-Indies islands.
Due to the occupation of Portugal, Spain started speaking in the seas, but in AD 1588, the British broke the Spanish naval superiority by defeating the Spanish fleet called Armeda. This victory enabled the British and Dutch merchants (Netherlands) to use the route to the island of Uttamasha to come to India and participate in the competition to establish an empire in the east. In the end the Dutch occupied Indonesia and the British took control of India, Sri Lanka and Malaya. In India, nothing was left under the control of the Portuguese except Goa, Daman and Deu. France also tried to establish its dominance over the sea routes like Portugal, Netherlands, Spain and England, but France was going through unrest within the country, so it was left behind in this competition. Between AD 1604-19, the French government established the French East India Company twice, but these companies were unsuccessful. During the reign of Louis XIV, his minister Calbert established the French East India Company for the third time in AD 1644. This company was entrusted with the task of establishing colonies and spreading Christianity along with trade in India and East-Indies countries.
Conflict between the Portuguese and the Dutch for the Spice Islands
The Portuguese captured Malacca in AD 1511 and soon they were able to establish their dominance over the East-Indian islands. Dutch merchants of Holland (Netherlands) had to buy spices from the East-Indies countries from the markets of Portugal, but when Portugal was captured by Spain in AD 1580 and Spain was beaten by England in AD 1588, the Dutch people directly He started moving towards the East-Indies countries. In AD 1602, the Dutch East India Company was established in Holland. They came with the aim of entering the spice markets of India as well as South-East Asia. Soon the Dutch began to dominate the Portuguese. He established power over Amboyana in AD 1605 and conquered Jakarta in AD 1619 and established a city named "Batavia" on its ruins. In AD 1639, he laid siege to Goa in India and two years later, in AD 1641, captured Malacca from the Portuguese. In AD 1658, the Dutch took control of the last Portuguese settlement of Ceylon. The Dutch opened their trading centers in the Coromandel Coast, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa in the Gujarat province of India. The Dutch mainly traded in spices, neem, raw silk, glass, rice and opium. The Dutch finally collapsed in India after their defeat against the British in the "Battle of Vedra" in AD 1759, but they were able to maintain their dominance over the East-Indies islands.
Dutch East India Company's rule over Indonesia
In the middle of the 18th century, the Java Mataram Muslim dynasty had to surrender its territory and power to the Dutch East India Company. In AD 1749, the Dutch East India Company became the de facto ruling power of Java.
Exploitation of Spice Islands by Dutch
The Dutch exploited the South-East Asian islands terribly. From the 16th to the 18th century, Holland (Netherlands) was considered the richest country in Europe. The people of Indonesia had been cultivating rice, which was their staple diet for centuries, but the Dutch captured them and made them slaves and made them grow sugarcane and coffee so that they could earn more profit in the international market. Due to this there was a shortage of food grains and hunger spread on these islands.
Napoleon Bonaparte's rule over the Indonesian islands
Between AD 1789-99, there was a political and social revolution in France during the time of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon Bonaparte, the new emperor of France, took control of many islands of East Asia and Central Asia including Indonesia, and French sovereignty was established in Indonesia.
The rule of England over the Indonesian islands
In AD 1811, Britain snatched Indonesia from Napoleon Bonaparte. England also could maintain authority over Indonesia for only 8 years. According to the decision taken in the Vienna Congress held in AD 1819, England handed over the Indonesian islands to Holland (Dutch).