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In the aftermath of the attempted invasion of England by the Spanish Armada, Europe found itself to be a very different place. The balance of power in Europe had shifted away from Spanish domination and all the rest of the colonial powers in Europe,

while they wanted their slice of the pie. In England, many of the young and ambitious ships captains who had sailed under men like Drake and Hawkins and Winter,

they petitioned the Queen to sail for the East Indies.

They finally had the strength to sail for the East Indies for

decades, even perhaps centuries, the Spanish and Portuguese had kept that from being an option,

but Drake had proved that they could sail those waters with relative safety.

In the year 1600, Elizabeth granted many of these merchants an official royal charter.

This formed the English East India Company, and it gave them a monopoly on trade with the East.

Now the East India Company will be a major player in the story to come. Their interactions

with Caribbean Pirates is the stuff of legend.

But for now, despite their monopoly, their position was not as strong as it might seem.

You see, a monopoly really only applied to other English merchants.

They had plenty of competition in Asia.

First of all, these were Portuguese waters and the Portuguese were still there.

Though this was the Portuguese empire under Philip, and they were significantly weaker than they had been.

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