Latest / The Rise of Colonialism: How Europe Divided the World — Fexingo History / The Battle of Macau 1622: Dutch vs Portuguese in China
Transcript
- Lucas: So last time we talked about the Dutch East India Company's spice monopoly, how Jan Pieterszoon Coen basically conquered the Banda Islands for nutmeg. But the VOC wasn't just after spices—they were after everything. And one of their biggest prizes was China. Luna: Right, the China trade. Porcelain, silk, tea—the stuff that made Europe go wild. Lucas: Exactly. But the problem was, the Portuguese had already locked down the main gateway to China: Macau. They'd been there since 1557, paying a ground rent to the Ming dynasty, running a lucrative trade route between Canton—that's Guangzhou—and Nagasaki, Japan. The VOC wanted in, badly. Lucas: So in 1622, they decided to take Macau by force. The Dutch East India Company assembled a formidable fleet: 13 ships, about 1,300 men, including Dutch soldiers, English mercenaries, and Japanese ronin—masterless samurai from the recent Sengoku civil wars. They were armed with arquebuses and cannons, and they were confident. Luna: What was the Portuguese side looking like? Lucas: Desperate. The Portuguese garrison in Macau was tiny. Governor Lopo Sarmento de Carvalho had maybe 50 Portuguese soldiers, plus around 100 African slaves who were trained to fight, and a few hundred Chinese residents and some Japanese Christian exiles. Total, maybe 300 men capable of bearing arms. They were massively outnumbered. Lucas: The Dutch landed on June 24, 1622, on the eastern side of the Macau peninsula, near what is now the city's airport. But to get to the city proper, they had to cross a narrow strip of land called the Isthmus of Mong-Ha. And that's where Carvalho decided to make his stand. Luna: So the Portuguese were essentially defending a bottleneck. Lucas: Right. But the Dutch had a plan. They landed their troops and started marching toward the Portuguese defenses. Carvalho had prepared a rudimentary earthwork and positioned a few cannons. The Dutch, under Admiral Cornelis Reyersz, advanced in formation. But then something incredible happened. Lucas: The Portuguese had a single bronze cannon—a 12-pounder—positioned on a hill. As the Dutch columns approached, the gunner, a man named António Rodrigues, fired a shot. It hit the Dutch powder wagon—yes, the wagon carrying their gunpowder supplies. The explosion was catastrophic. It killed scores of men instantly and threw the Dutch lines into chaos. Luna: Wait, one cannonball? That's almost unbelievable. Lucas: It's one of those moments where history hinges on a single shot. The Dutch lost their momentum. Their soldiers panicked. Carvalho then led a counterattack—Portuguese soldiers, African slaves, and Chinese auxiliaries charging down the hill with swords and pikes. The Dutch broke and ran back to their boats, leaving behind hundreds dead. Lucas: The final Dutch casualty count was over 300 killed, plus many wounded. The Portuguese lost maybe 10 men. It was a stunning victory. And it had long-term consequences. Luna: So the Dutch just gave up on China after that? Lucas: Not exactly. They realized Macau was too tough a nut to crack. So they shifted their attention elsewhere. In 1624, they seized the Pescadores Islands, off the coast of Taiwan, and then built Fort Zeelandia on Taiwan itself. That became their base for trading with China and Japan—but from the sidelines. Macau remained Portuguese until 1999. Lucas: The battle also had a fascinating cultural side note. Among the Portuguese defenders were Japanese Christian exiles—samurai who had fled the persecution of Christians in Japan. They fought fiercely. And some of the Dutch mercenaries were also Japanese ronin. So you had Japanese fighting Japanese on opposite sides, in a battle for control of a Chinese port, commanded by Europeans. Luna: That's a truly global story. It's amazing how all these threads connect. Lucas: Exactly. The Battle of Macau in 1622 is a reminder that colonialism wasn't just about European powers versus indigenous people—it was also about Europeans fighting each other, using local allies and mercenaries, in a high-stakes game for control of global trade.