The 16th to the 18th Century
English exploration begins.
During the 1500s the English looked north for their own route to the east. They did not find one, but in 1600 Elizabeth I chartered the British East India Company and began to take control in India. In 1780 the Dutch and English fought a war over the spice trade that destroyed the Dutch East India Company. By 1799 the Dutch lost all spice trading centers, and the company closed.