Page:History of India Vol 6.djvu/268

 210 ENGLAND'S ATTEMPTS TO REACH INDIA English Levant Company, expanded in 1593 into an overland Indian company, found itself menaced. The union of the Spanish and Portuguese crowns, in this respect also, compelled the Eastern trade to seek a new route. Among concurrent causes which led to the founding of the Dutch and English East India Companies the travels of Linschoten and Fitch held a distinctive place. From 1583 to 1589, John Huyghen van Linschoten of THE HARBOUR OF GOA IN 1772. Haarlem dwelt at Goa in the train of the Portuguese archbishop. A keen observer, and a Dutchman at heart, Linschoten on his return to Europe in 1592 placed at the service of his country the stores of knowledge which he had accumulated in Indo-Portuguese employ. The States-General granted him a license to publish his work in 1594, and although the First Part, or the Itinerario proper, was not completed till 1596, the Second Part, setting forth the routes to India, was available in 1595. Its effect was instantaneous. In 1595 a squadron of four ships was despatched under Cornelius Houtman