Subsequently, in 1580, the rights of Portugal over Indian territories were assigned to Spain as the latter’s sovereignty extended to Portugal. However, since the Protestant Reformation had undermined the authority of the Catholic Church and the Pope, one of the consequences was the revolt of the Dutch against the Spanish, which resulted in the loss of Spain’s monopoly over trade in the East, particularly in Java, between 1595 and 1599. Fearing Dutch monopoly over eastern trade, the English East India Company was established. It is clear from this sequence of events that Bharat’s colonisation
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