Introduction
The English were more interested in war than trade in the days of Henry VIII, but in the reigns of Henry’s daughters Mary I (1553-1558) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603) English mariners began to imitate their Continental neighbours and reach out to the Far East. This did not greatly please their neighbours, who resented the competition.
AT that time the Dutch were under the rule of Spain, but in 1572 they revolted, and in 1580 they declared themselves free. In the same year King Philip II of Spain* made himself King of Portugal too, and soon afterwards he ordered that all Dutch ships found in Spanish waters should be seized, and that all Spanish and Portuguese ports should be closed to them. In this way he hoped to ruin the trade of the rebellious Dutchmen. But they, finding that they could no longer trade with Lisbon, resolved to seek the way to India for themselves and trade direct.
Just as the Moors* had tried to keep the Portuguese out of India, so now the Portuguese tried to keep out the Dutch, and there was much fighting both by land and sea. Even after the Dutch reached India the Portuguese tried to make mischief between them and the natives. These were no true traders, they said, but spies come to view the land, and later they would return in force to conquer it.*
But the Dutch were hardy and brave, and not easily discouraged. In 1588 the Spanish Armada was defeated by the English,* and after that Spain had few ships and men to spare for fighting in distant seas.
* Philip was King of Spain from 1556, King of Portugal from 1580, and King of Naples and Sicily from 1554, until his death in 1598. As a member of the royal Hapsburg family he had also been ruler of the Netherlands since 1556. Mary I (r. 1553-1558) married Philip in 1554, and Philip was of the opinion that on her death he should have added the crown of England to all the rest.
* Strictly speaking, the Moors were a Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent in northwest Africa and Spain, but Marshall extends the term to include Muslim rulers of Arab descent in India and the Far East.
* As often happens, the Portuguese were accusing the Dutch of doing exactly what the Spanish and Portuguese did themselves. See Hideyoshi Changes His Mind.
* See The Spanish Armada.
Précis
When the Netherlands broke from Spain in 1580, the King of Spain denied Dutch merchants access to Portuguese imports from India in the hope of breaking their economy. But the Dutch found their own way to India, and after England broke Spain’s naval supremacy by crushing her Armada in 1588, Holland rose to be Europe’s prime importer of Eastern goods. (60 / 60 words)
When the Netherlands broke from Spain in 1580, the King of Spain denied Dutch merchants access to Portuguese imports from India in the hope of breaking their economy. But the Dutch found their own way to India, and after England broke Spain’s naval supremacy by crushing her Armada in 1588, Holland rose to be Europe’s prime importer of Eastern goods.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, besides, just, or, since, whereas, who.
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