Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 373 East India Company ([-])

Since its founding in 1602, the Dutch East India Company has spanned over 40 years.In these 40 years, the company has developed from a small scale of only six ships to a huge business with more than 20 ships a year between the mainland and Batavia. In addition, the company is now in There are also 56 large ships in Asia (numbers in 1641) and an even larger number of Chinese Junk ships, which are completely different from 40 years ago.

The company's territory has also expanded many times during these 40 years, from Batavia to Banda, from Ceylon to the Malabar coast, from Bago to Formosa (Taiwan), from Bandar Abbas to Mu Ha, from Tulare to Cape Town, the company has dozens of business stations across three continents, nearly 3000 employees (including more than [-] sailors), and deep personal connections in various countries or regions.

It can be said that after decades of development, the Dutch East India Company has gradually got on the right track and got rid of the lingering financial nightmare in the first 20 years of its establishment.In those early days, the Dutch were doing business while attacking the Portuguese strongholds and ships in the Far East. In addition, they had to build merchant stations and arrange soldiers to garrison them on various spice-producing islands.For this reason, the money spent every year is an astronomical amount, so that the dividends promised to shareholders in the first ten years have not been fulfilled. account.

For this reason, businessmen from all over the world are quite dissatisfied, especially those shareholders of the commercial departments of Zeeland, Delft, and Rotterdam. Huge profits for everyone.However, those powerful Amsterdam businessmen finally suppressed this doubt, and also obtained financial assistance from the Dutch government, and then issued huge corporate bonds for many years in a row, and devoted all their efforts to investing in the East India Company in the Far East. Strategic layout.

After driving out the British East India Company in 1623 to monopolize most of the spice trade, the good times of the Dutch East India Company finally arrived.Their total profits have been rising steadily, and they have begun to generously distribute large dividends to shareholders every year. Under such circumstances, the overwhelming accusations against the East India Company disappeared overnight.

And Batavia, the center of the Dutch rule in the East Indies, just like the East India Company, has a vigorous vitality.The port, which was built in 1619 and seized from the locals by Jean-Pietro Etz Kuhn, Director-General of the Commission of the Indies, is now more and more prosperous under the construction of the Dutch, with more than 5000 permanent Europeans and their families If you count the European-Indian mixed blood and their descendants, there may be 12 to 2 people.Batavia is also the largest port in East India, and the nearby Onteras Island also has the largest ship repair yard in Asia. From December to February every year, there are sometimes as many as 20 ships returning to Europe during this season. It is the largest port under the control of the Dutch.

However, in this seemingly good situation, it is not without hidden worries.The East India Company is now facing the threat of the Mataram Kingdom on the island of Java; at the same time, in the newly occupied city of Malacca, the relationship with the local Sultan of Johor has begun to be somewhat discordant; even in Trincomalee and Galle on the island of Ceylon Fort also had to form a cruiser fleet to ensure the company's absolute control over this sea area; not to mention the Portuguese and Spaniards who had been at war with the East India Company.

In order to deal with these threats, the East India Company is bound to increase the number of employees in Asia—especially sailors and military employees, and these all cost money!

Anthony Van Diemen sat at his desk with some worry. The company's financial situation had just improved a few years ago. It didn’t take long to receive a large amount of dividends and it stopped for a long time. If the commercial profits that should have been distributed due to the deterioration of the security situation are withheld again at this time, it is conceivable that these people will question him again in the East India Pavilion in Amsterdam. The Governor's behavior.

They don't understand the benefits of solving these indigenous forces once and for all, and they don't care about the importance of controlling the Straits of Malacca and Ceylon, they only care about their own interests.Thinking of this, Van Diemen laughed at himself, they are not politicians, they are businessmen, outright profit-seeking businessmen!What's wrong with a businessman who only cares about commercial interests?They don't care about national interests, strategic layout, etc. They only care about when to pay them dividends!

Van Diemen stroked his forehead, and carefully looked at a report in his hand over and over again.This is the report just written to him by his subordinate, Captain Martin Gelitzson Fries. Captain Fries was sent by him to search for the legendary Treasure Island off the coast of Japan. He had returned from Japan a few days ago. Batavia.

Fries reported to him in the letter: In July, he sailed along the coast of Japan with the sailing ship "Castelliku" to the vicinity of Hokkaido Island, and did not find the so-called Treasure Island, but he thought he had discovered Asia. Two extended promontories of the continental and American continents.He named the cape extending from the island of Hokkaido the Land of the National Assembly (actually Ituru Island), and the cape extending from the American continent named the Land of the Company (actually Defu Island). Naturally, the strait was named the Fries Strait by him.

Governor Van Diemen didn't have much interest in the first half, it was just an "ordinary" geographical discovery, and he was more concerned about the second half of Captain Frith's narration.Captain Frith said in the letter that he discovered a strange ship in the waters near the Capitol (Eturup Island) at the end of July and early August.This ship looks very big, and there is a huge flat chimney in the midship, and smoke is still coming out of the chimney. eagle flag.

This is the ship of the East Coasters!When Governor Van Diemen saw this, this idea immediately popped into his mind.He is not an ignorant person who knows nothing about the New World. In fact, he has always paid attention to collecting information on countries or forces that may threaten the Dutch East India Company.As for the East Coast Republic of China, a country that confronted the East India Company in the Cape Town area, he naturally spent a lot of time understanding it.

It's a pity that everything about this comet-like country is too mysterious. There are only a few fragments of rumors that cannot withstand careful scrutiny, and many messages are even contradictory. This makes the always rigorous Governor Van Diemen at a loss.He only knew that this country possessed many technologies coveted by Europeans. For this reason, whether it was the Netherlands, Spain, France, or Portugal, they all sent spies in to try to steal all the information worth stealing, and in fact they were not without gains.

The Dutch East India Company is also very interested in the people on the East Coast, but the country's navy and army are also very strong, and their geographical location is very critical, so the members of the East India Company are only interested.Because everyone who can think normally understands that if there is nothing wrong, it is better not to be in a hostile relationship with the people on the east coast, especially for the Dutch East India Company, which positions itself as a businessman.

But now there is also a problem. Captain Frith said that he saw people from the East Coast on the grounds of the Congress. This fact is probably not wrong, so what are the people from the East Coast doing there?How did they get there?Thinking of this, Van Diemen was a little vigilant.Maybe they entered the coast of China through the Strait of Malacca at some point we didn't notice?The Governor thinks this is the most likely possibility, but it is not impossible. For example, they are taking the southern route, and this route is exactly what Governor Van Diemen is currently actively exploring.

As early as last August, he ordered Apel Tasman to explore the southern continent.Tasman went south along the west coast of later Australia, then sailed eastward along the south coast, and finally discovered Tasmania (he named the island Van Diemen Land), South Island of New Zealand, Tonga, Fiji and other places. , and did not return to Batavia until June of this year.

Although he doesn't know how big the southern continent is, how the coastline goes, and how the oceans are connected, Governor Van Diemen has reason to believe that maybe the people on the east coast really know where the southern route leads.Maybe they bypassed the mainland from the south and then went north into the sea of ​​northeastern Japan?So what was their purpose in going there?Captain Frith reported that the East Coasters were fishing at the time, so perhaps they still had a foothold or a port on some land near there?

In this way, the problem becomes serious.The governor's eyes were fixed on the report, but he thought quickly in his mind: Could they have gone to make a deal with the Japanese?Do they want to squeeze out the East India Company and monopolize Japanese trade?Or maybe they have gone through the path of the Chinese, so that they can import a large amount of silk, porcelain, tea and other valuables in China and sell them back to Europe?Or what did they think about the East India Company's Formosa Island, and wanted to incite local indigenous riots to drive out the East India Company?

The more the Governor thought about it, the more he felt that something was wrong. Although most people on the east coast really sneaked across the Strait of Malacca, his intuition kept reminding him that maybe things were not that simple.

Perhaps I should strengthen my garrison and fleet in Formosa?he asked himself softly.

(End of this chapter)