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English East India Company's First Voyage (1601)

Type Event Region Europe Time 1601–1602

In 1601 Sir James Lancaster led the company's first fleet from England via the Cape of Good Hope to Southeast Asia, reaching Aceh and Bantam in 1602 …

Timeline

  1. 1601Torbay · BritainThe English East India Company, chartered on 31 December 1600, dispatched four merchant ships under Lancaster's overall command. The fleet sailed from Torbay carrying Elizabeth I's royal letter, bound for the spice islands of the East Indies.
  2. 1601Cape of Good Hope · South AfricaThe fleet sailed south around the Cape of Good Hope, resupplied off South Africa, and continued east. This leg overlapped with contemporary Dutch East India Company routes, marking Britain's formal entry into the oceanic competition for the Asian spice trade.
  3. 1602Bantam · JavaIn 1602 the fleet reached Bantam in Java, signed a trade agreement with the local sultan, and purchased large quantities of pepper; it had earlier obtained trading rights in Aceh, Sumatra. The profitable first voyage laid the economic foundation for the company's later expeditions and colonial expansion.

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