Question

How did the portuguese, spanish, dutch, and british initiatives in asia differ from one another?

Answer 1

The portuguese established military bases in different key locations in Asia and created a trading post empire: to be able control trade routes by forcing merchant ships to pay duties. They didn't want to control the territory, just the commerce and they ended up selling shipping services.

The Spanish had different plans. They gave gifts and do favors to the Philippines's chiefs in order to gain control over them. They also used Catholicism to control their subjects and promised them a better life only if they worshipped their god. This way they achieved the total control over the territory and silver production.

The Dutch controlled shipping and production of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and mace. They took control of a several South East Asian spice producing islands and forced their people to sell only to the them. If they refused to this condition, they destroyed crops. Private trading companies gave the Dutch financing and made them commercially sophisticated.

Since the Dutch kept the British out o the spice monopoly, they settled in India. They weren't able to take over because the Mughal Empire extremely strong, but the got permission to establish trading bases using subtantial payments and bribes. They were focused on Indian cotton textiles, which were a huge demand in Europe.