Dutch East India Company (Indonesia/Batavia) 113 Dutch East India Company (Indonesia/Batavia) England’s Sir Francis Drake and the British fleet defeated the invading Spanish Armada in 1588 on San Juan, Puerto Rico Hawkins died off Puerto Rico and Drake became ill from dysentery and died on January 28, 1596, while in the process of mounting a further attack on San Juan Placed in a lead coffin, Drake was buried at sea with his crew burning the town of Puerto Bello as a dedication to his passing Drake’s life was one of adventure and determination, which helped enrich England with his plunder He established claims to the New World and made England a recognized naval power See also piracy in the Atlantic world; ships and shipping; slave trade, Africa and the; voyages of discovery Further reading: Kelsey, Harry Sir Francis Drake: The Queen’s Pirate New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2000; Marrin, Albert The Sea King: Sir Francis Drake and His Times New York: Atheneum, 1995; Sugden, John Sir Francis Drake London: Pimlico, 1996; Whitfield, Peter Sir Francis Drake: British Library Historic Lives London: British Library Publishing, 2004 Theodore W Eversole The Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) is better known in English as the Dutch East India Company, a joint stock company formed in 1602 and granted a monopoly for all trade between the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Magellan The VOC had a twofold purpose: first, to organize and promote Dutch trade in the East Indies, vital because the area produced extremely precious spices; second, to raise revenue for the Dutch War of Independence against Spain In East Asia, the VOC was successful in evicting the Portuguese from their holdings and establishing a base at Batavia (modern Jakarta) from which to control the island of Java In time, the VOC was transformed from a military-trading organization to administrator of a colonial empire By 1799 the company’s usefulness had been outlived and because of corruption was dissolved by the Dutch government From its inception the VOC was premitted by the Dutch government to enter into diplomatic relations with foreign powers and to engage in military actions to further Dutch interests, including seizing land and building forts In Southeast Asia, Protestant Dutch and English contended for influence with Catholic Portuguese and French While Portugal and France were interested in religious conversion of local people as well as trade, Britain and the Netherlands were primarily interested in commerce Its first Dutch overseas base at Ambon was won from the Portuguese and used as a staging post for the import and reexport of pepper and other spices It next established a permanent base on Java in order to play a greater role in trade throughout Southeast Asia They selected a site and named it Batavia, which became their permanent headquarters The VOC overcame local opposition with their superior weapons and the British decided to focus on India The VOC gradually controlled all of Java and spread its influence to other islands Through a series of naval campaigns, it attempted to create a monopoly of trade in the islands and so fought against local powers and against Indian and Malay states also It gained control of land and regulated the growth of pepper and other crops Dutch rule was harsh, forcibly relocating local people and exploiting them In 1740, conflict broke out between the Chinese community in Batavia and Dutch officials It became