The Dutch got to Bantam 6 years ahead of the English who arrived in 1602. Their own United East India Company (VOC) wanted to monopolise European trade in fine spices. They routinely thwarted the English efforts to trade directly with the Spice Islands of the Bandas and the Moluccas in eastern Indonesia, source of valuable cloves, nutmegs and mace.

Wars were fought over English claims to ‘freedom of the seas’ and it was not until the end of the 1600s that the balance shifted. While the Dutch had focused on Indonesia, the English saw that wealth and power lay elsewhere.