the dutch and the spanish secured a monopoly over the spice trade.
who secured a monopoly over the spice trade?
the dutch and the spanish
cornelis de houtman









































cornelis de houtman (2 april 1565 – 1 september 1599), brother of frederick de houtman, was a dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from europe to indonesia and who thus begun the dutch spice trade. at the time, the portuguese empire held a monopoly on the spice trade, and the voyage was a symbolic victory for the dutch, even though the voyage itself was a disaster. houtman was also a spy, having worked against the portuguese by bringing back to the netherlands privileged nautical information obtained during his stay in portugal.









































section::::the voyage.
cornelis de houtman
moroccan traveller ibn battutah (14th century) has recorded the considerably huge presence of muslim merchants and settlements of sojourning traders in most of the ports of kerala. immigration, intermarriage and missionary activity/conversion — secured by the common interest in the spice trade — helped in this development. from the seventh century, the monopoly of overseas spice trade in the arabian sea was safe with the arab and persian shipping magnates from the malabar coast. fortunes of these merchants depended on the political patronage of the native chiefs of calicut (kozhikode), cannanore (kannur), cochin (kochi), and quilon (kollam). the chiefs of these tiny kingdoms derived a great part of their revenue from taxing the spice trade. a 13th century granite inscription, in old malayalam and arabic, at muchundi mosque in calicut mentions a donation by the king to the mosque. the inscription is the only surviving historical document recording royal endowment by a hindu ruler, in the form of a grant, to the muslim community in kerala.
mappila