Following successful expeditions to the East Indies [Indonesia]; the Dutch set up a factory and a fortress in Bantam; which was later moved to the new capital in Jakarta.

The Dutch East India Company; or VOC; was set up in 1602 to exploit the East Indies and; in particular; the Moluccas or Spice Islands; which were the world's major provider of nutmeg; mace; cloves and pepper. Until that point; the spice trade had been dominated by the Portuguese.

Between 1602 and 1796; the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4;785 ships; and netted more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods.