Portuguese East India Company Portuguese East India Company The Portuguese East India Company ( or ) was a short-lived ill-fated attempt by Philip III of Portugal to create a national chartered company to look after interests in Portuguese India in the face on encroachment by the Dutch and English following the personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns. Portuguese trade with India had been a crown monopoly since the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama opened the sea route to India in 1497-99. The monopoly had been managed by the Casa da Índia, the royal trading house founded around 1500. The Casa was responsible
Indonesia–Portugal relations Indonesia–Portugal relations Indonesia–Portugal relations are foreign bilateral relations between Indonesia and Portugal. Portuguese explorer and trader first reached Indonesian archipelago during the age of exploration in the 16th century in order to search for spices in the Indies. In 1999, Indonesia and Portugal restored diplomatic relations, which were severed following the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. Indonesia has an embassy in Lisbon and Portugal has an embassy in Jakarta. Since gaining foothold in Southeast Asian region by acquiring port of Malacca in 1511, Portuguese sent exploratory expeditions into Indonesian archipelago, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable