Cornelis de Houtman

Cornelis de Houtman was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade was vulnerable. A flurry of Dutch trading voyages followed, eventually leading to the displacement of the Portuguese and the establishment of a Dutch monopoly on spice trading in the East Indies.

2 April 1565

Born on the same birth day (2 April): 181 • Amr El Solia • Avi Benedi • Bill Romanowski • Bo Callaway • Brian Glover • Buddy Ebsen • Carlos Salcido • Ed Dorn • Emmylou Harris • Hank Steinbrenner • Hans Rosenthal • Harald Andersson • Harindranath Chattopadhyay • James Vance (comics) • Luke Appling • Lynn Westmoreland • Léon Gambetta • Max Ernst • Miguel Ángel Moyá • Pascale Nadeau • Remo D'Souza • William Donne (cricketer)