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The Dutch–Portuguese War was an armed conflict involving Dutch forces, in the form of the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company, against Phillip II of Spain the nominally King of Spain and Portugal possessions, even the Portuguese Empire. Beginning in 1602, the conflict primarily involved the Dutch companies invading mostly Portuguese colonies in the Americas, Africa, India and the Far East, and some Spanish possessions like Spanish Formosa.<br/><br/> The war can be thought of as an extension of the Eighty Years War and Thirty Years' War being fought in Europe at the time between Spain and the Netherlands, as Portugal was in a dynastic union with the Spanish Crown, after the 1580 Portuguese succession crisis, for most of the conflict. However, the conflict had little to do with the war in Europe and served mainly as a way for the Dutch to gain an overseas empire and control trade at the cost of the Portuguese. English forces also assisted the Dutch at certain points in the war.<br/><br/> The result of the war was that although Portugal won in South America and Africa, the Dutch were clearly the victors in the Far East and South Asia. English ambitions also greatly benefited from the long standing war between its two main rivals in the Far East.