Ships fitted, either to trade or to fight, and having on board a
great number of soldiers, were sent out within a very few years after the
establishment of the company. Amboyna and the Moluccas were first entirely
wrested from the Portuguese: factories and settlements were in process of
time established from Balsora, at the mouth of the Tigris in the Persian
Gulf; along the coasts and islands of India, as far as Japan. Alliances
were formed with many of the Indian princes: and in many parts,
particularly on the coasts of Ceylon, and at Pulicat, Masulipatam,
Negapatam, and other places along the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar,
they were themselves, in fact, the sovereigns. The centre of all their
Indian commerce was fixed at Batavia in Java, the greatest part of this
island belonging to them. From this general sketch of the extent of
country, which was embraced, either by their power or their commerce, it is
evident that the Indian trade was almost monopolized by them; and as they
wisely employed part of the wealth which it produced, to establish and
defend their possessions, they soon became most formidable in this part of
the world, sending out a fleet of 40 or 50 large ships, and an army of
30,000 men.
They were not, however, content, but aimed at wresting from the Portuguese
almost the only trade which remained to them; viz.
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