Question

How did other European nations impact trade in Asia?

Answer 1

European colonisation of Southeast Asia began as Western influence started to enter the area around the 16th century, when the Dutch and Portuguese were attracted by the lucrative spice trade. The Portuguese arrived in Malacca, Maluku and Timor, and the Spanish established themselves beginning from their conquest of Manila which expand into a larger territory of Spanish East Indies. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the Dutch arrived in Batavia and established the Dutch East Indies, and the British established themselves in the Strait Settlements and further to British Malaya and Borneo as well in Burma. In the 19th century, the French joined their European counterparts in establishing French Indochina. By the turn of the century, all Southeast Asian nations were colonised except for Thailand. European colonisation can be split into two distinct phases: the early phase before the Industrial Revolution, and the phase marked by the Industrial Revolution. The primary motivation for the first phase was the accumulation of wealth, but in the second phase, there was a change in the role of the Europeans in Southeast Asia, and capitalistic concerns were no longer the only source of motivation.