Piracy in the Caribbean in the New World were violated with greater frequency by the merchants of other nations. The Spanish port on the island of Trinidad off the northern coast of South America, permanently settled only in 1592, became a major point of contact between all the nations with a presence in the Caribbean. In the early 17th century, expensive fortifications and the size of the colonial garrisons at the major Spanish ports increased to deal with the enlarged presence of Spain's competitors in the Caribbean, but the treasure fleet's silver shipments and the number of Spanish-owned merchant ships operating in the region
Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 Dutch–Venezuelan crisis of 1908 In 1908 a dispute broke out between the Netherlands and Venezuela when the Venezuelan president, Cipriano Castro, cut off trade with the Dutch island of Curaçao on the grounds that it was harbouring political refugees from Venezuela. Venezuela expelled the Dutch ambassador, prompting a Dutch dispatch of three warships - a "pantserschip" (coastal defence ship), the "Jacob van Heemskerk", and two protected cruisers, the "Gelderland" and the "Friesland". The Dutch warships had orders to intercept every ship that was sailing under the Venezuelan flag. On 12 December, the "Gelderland" captured the Venezuelan coast guard ship "Alix"