Concise Indian History: Dutch in India

Advent in East

Seeking the profit made by Portuguese in the East, the Dutch also undertook voyages in the same direction.
In 1596, Cornrlis de Houtman was the first Dutchman to arrive at Sumatra & Bantam (Indonesia).
In 1602, the Dutch (Netherlands) administration formed the Dutch East India Company for trading related activities in the East including India.
The Company was also empowered to conclude treaties, carry on war (if necessary), take possession of territory and to erect fortresses.

Dutch Settlements in East Indies.

In 1605, the Dutch established their first factory at Masulipatnam (in Andhra).
They expanded their trading centres at different parts of the nation and thus became a threat to the Portuguese. Their main stronghold in South India was Madras (Chennai) & Nagapatam, which they captured from the Portuguese.
They offered multiple factories across India at Pulicat (North of Madras) (1609), Surat (1616), Bimlipatam 1641), Karaikal (1645), Chinsura (1653), Cochin (1663), Kasimbazar (near Murshidabad), Baranagar, Patna & Nagapatnam.
They mainly made profit through spice trade but carried other commodities like indigo (manufactured in the Yamuna valley), textile & silk (from Bengal, Gujarat & the Coromandel), opium & rice (from the Ganga valley) and saltpetre (from Bihar).

The Dutch were not alone in this conquest to gain control over the Eastern market. Their competitors were the English, who were rising to prominence in the Eastern trade.
Commercial rivalry soon transformed into bloodshed . In 1623, the Dutch massacred 10 Englishmen along with 9 Japanese at Amboyna (a place in present day Indonesia, which was captured from the Portuguese by the Dutch in 1605).
After an extended warfare, both the sides came to a peace negotiation in 1667 according to which the Dutch withdrew from India to concentrate on their more profitable trade in Indonesia, in response of the British withdrawing all their claims on Indonesia.
In the third Anglo-Dutch war (1672-74), three home bound English ships were captured by the Dutch in the Bay of Bengal. The response by the English resulted the crushing defeat of the Dutch in the battle of Hoogly (November 1759), killing the Dutch ambitions in India.
They were present in the Indian sub continent from 1605 to 1825.