colonies

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             Most of the silver found in America eventualy wound up in India and China. European goods were not nearly as good to barter with the well manufatured Asian goods. For this, Europeans used thier gold and silver to trade for Asian spices, silk, and cotton cloth.
             Progees.
             While the Spainish were colonizing northern South America, the Portugese were settling in present-day Brazil. Like the Spanish, The Portugese took over the land and then forced the natives to work it. However, they were also establishing a different kind of commercial empire in the Indian Ocean. This system was based upon trade and war, and at first they had absolutely no competition- the Chinese had brought thier fleets back home, the Indian and Arab ships carried no guns, and the other European countries had not yet entered this field. .
             By the early 16th century, the Prtugese had established a string of bases that formed a gateway between the Indian Ocean and the China Sea. The Portugese could now control all sea trade in the entire region. Thier power, however, was entirely navel and they were unable to treaten land-based empires. Also, when larger European nations had arrived in the area, the Portugese navel supremacy was gone.
             Dutch.
             By the early 17th century, the Dutch had taken over as the primary Euopean colonial power in Asia. They took control of the Moluccas and instituted a new plantation system. These plantations were much like the Spanish settlements where they used native people to tend the lands. The Dutch plantations, however, were dedicated to a single Cash Crop to make money. .
             The Dutch also colonized parts of North America. They based thier claims to the land on the explorations of Henry Hudson. In 1609 Hudson visited where is now present-day New York City and explored the river that now bears his own name. Over the next few years, the Dutch dispatched some trading vessels to the region, which they named New Netherland.