ABSTRACT
Dutch depredations on the Philippines had begun in 1600, when Oliver van Noort arrived outside Manila Bay with his two remaining ships and began a blockade of the Chinese junks that were bringing silk and other goods to Manila, and which were supposed to provide the principal source of income for that city.1 He had left Holland in 1598 with five ships, one of five separate expeditions with a total of 22 ships. As Spate puts it, ‘More than the spectacular forays of Drake and Cavendish, the arrival of the Dutch heralded the end of the Iberian monopoly of the world, as distinct from the local trade of the Spice islands and the China Seas’.2 Although the Spanish claimed that they were very secretive about their maps and charts, it seems incredible that the best map of the Philippines at that time (by Peter Plancius) was in the hands of van Noort, who was the first Dutchman to present a threat, and it surely expedited his arrival at Manila Bay in 1600.3 De Morga, then Lieutenant Governor, was put in charge of the defence fleet and although de Morga’s ship was sunk, de Morga says that van Noort was captured and executed.4 In fact this is not true, as was pointed out by Rizal in his edition of de Morga: ‘This is not correct, for Olivier van Noordt was able to return with his ship to Rotterdam, although after many misfortunes and adventures.’5
