Asia+Spice+Trade

=__Asia Spice Trade__=

__European Contact:__
In 1511, Portugal took control of Melaka and soon the Moluccas. These islands were the main source of spices and were the reason that the Portuguese were attracted to the area. Portugal was not able to threaten surrounding areas because of their lack of military and financial resources. So they set up small town along the coast for trading and stations for the spice trade ships.

This changed when the Dutch and English traders came, which were better military wise and more financially wise. The Dutch started to take over the Portuguese in the early 1600's and slowly pushed them out of the spice trade. Then the Dutch pushed the English traders out of the spice trade. The Dutch gradually took over the entire island by using there military forces and by spreading their political presence across the island. In 1619 they set up a fort in Batavia to protect their possessions.

__Effect:__
The European influence was limited to the Malay Peninsula and the Inonesian Archipelago and they didn't really affect the mainland of Southeast Asia. Europe tried to create trading contact with mainland, but they were over powered by them.

Religious believes changes in many of the non-mainland states were many started to convert to Christianity. Budhism was still the religion of mainland states so they were not affected by this as much.