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Dutch naval officer Joris van Spilbergen (1568—1620) embarked on his first expedition when he went to Africa in 1596. He then set sail for Asia on May 5, 1601, commanding the fleet for the Moucheron trading company, a forerunner of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He met King Vimala Dharma Suriya of Senkadagalapura (Maha Nuvara), today known as Kandy, in Ceylon in 1602 with a view to trading for the island's cinnamon.<br/><br/> In 1607, Spilbergen, onboard Aeolus, fought at the Battle of Gibraltar. In 1614, he sailed beyond the Straits of Magellan and raided the Spanish settlements of the coast of California. He circumnavigated the earth, and returned to Holland in 1617. Spilbergen died a poor man in Bergen-op-Zoom in 1620.