Incursion of the Spanish and Dutch
By Jayleen Li
College Board Themes
3. State Building, Expansion, Conflict
4. Creation, Expansion, & Interaction of Economic Systems
These College Board Themes relate to this objective because both the Spanish and the Dutch wanted to expand into southeast Asia to create cities to promote trade and to interact with other economic systems. But while both of them went to conquer these regions, they faced conflict from the local people.
Information
Europeans traded peacefully with Asian countries and never tried to conquer existing territories except for Philippines and Indonesia in southeast Asia. These regions were easy to conquer because the regions weren't powerful states.
Conquest of Philippines
Conquest of Philippines
- Miguel López de Legazpi lead Spanish forces into Philippines in 1565 and succeeded easily since the Philippines had no central government and no organized resistance.
- Spanish policy was focused on trade and Christianity
- Manila, a port city, was a big hub for merchants and other commercial activity
- Spanish relied on Chinese merchants, since they brought silk, a item that the Spanish wanted
- Spanish rulers also tried to spread Christianity throughout Manila by opening schools and sending many missionaries. Filipinos at first resisted Christianity, but later the Philippines became densely populated with Christians.
Conquest of Java
- Dutch people went to conquer Indonesia, but they had different goals in mind than the Spanish.
- Dutch focused on trade, mostly in spices.
- The Dutch wanted to control the Batavia, a city created on the island of Java to attract Chinese and Malay merchants who came from the Sunda Strait, and to create a monopoly over spice production and trade for the VOC, Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or The Dutch East India Company.
- But the Dutch alone could not rule over the entire southeast Asian area, so they made alliances with the locals to keep peace.
- The result of the Dutch rule of Batavia made the Netherlands become richer than ever before
Comparison to Mongols and The Islamic Expansion
Mongols
The Spanish and the Dutch both conquered regions in southeast Asia mostly to increase their trade and their economy. This is like the Mongols conquering many regions of Asia, like Russia, just to force tribute payments on to the new land the Mongols just conquered. The Mongols captured areas like Russia so that their economy would be strengthened, parallel to the actions of the Spanish and the Dutch.
The Islamic Expansion
The Islamic Expansion is very much alike the conquests of the Spanish of Philippines. Though the Muslims wanted to diffuse Islam and the Spanish Roman Catholicism, both countries wanted to spread their religion into the new areas that they gained control over.
The Spanish and the Dutch both conquered regions in southeast Asia mostly to increase their trade and their economy. This is like the Mongols conquering many regions of Asia, like Russia, just to force tribute payments on to the new land the Mongols just conquered. The Mongols captured areas like Russia so that their economy would be strengthened, parallel to the actions of the Spanish and the Dutch.
The Islamic Expansion
The Islamic Expansion is very much alike the conquests of the Spanish of Philippines. Though the Muslims wanted to diffuse Islam and the Spanish Roman Catholicism, both countries wanted to spread their religion into the new areas that they gained control over.