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Portugal controlled the spice trade between Europe and Asia.
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The portuguese seized the island "Goa" off the coast of India.
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The Portuguese had built a trading empire with military and merchant outposts.
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The Portuguese took the East Indies port of Malacca.
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The Protestant Northern Provinces won independence.
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Magellan had claimed the archipelago for Spain.
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Spain had conquered and colonized the islands.
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A Dutch fleet returned to Amsterdam from Asia after more than a years absence.
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The Portuguese had converted fewer than a million people to Christianity.
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A group of wealthy Dutch merchants formed the "Dutch East India Company".
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The Dutch captured Malacca from the Portuguese and opened trade with China.
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The growing power of England and France contributed to the decline of the Dutch trading empire in the East.
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The British and the French had become locked in a bitter struggle for global power.
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It had used it's great wealth to dominate most of India.
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The Dutch maintained an empire in Indonesia.