The Dutch East India Company had begun the campaign to destroy Portuguese power in the East in the early seventeenth century, by which time the Portuguese had transformed Malacca into an impregnable fortress (the Fortaleza de Malaca, controlling access to the sea lanes of the Straits of Malacca and the spice trade here.)
The Dutch had begun by launching small incursions and skirmishes against the Portuguese.
The first serious attempt had been the siege of Malacca in 1606 by the third VOC fleet from Holland with eleven ships, led by Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge that led to the naval battle of Cape Rachado.
Although the Dutch had been routed, the Portuguese fleet of Don Martin d'Alphonso de Castro, the Viceroy of Goa, had suffered heavier casualties and the battle had rallied the forces of the Sultanate of Johor in an alliance with the Dutch and later on with the Achehnese.
The Dutch with their local allies assault Malacca and wrest it from the Portuguese in January 1641.
This combined Dutch-Johor-Acheh efforts effectively destroys the last bastion of Portuguese power, removing their influence in the Malay archipelago.
As per the agreement with Johor in 1606, the Dutch take control of Malacca and agree not to seek territories or wage war with the Malay kingdoms.
