66 A Short History of the Middle East
ing the Cape Route, the English tried to by-pass it by seeking a
North-East Passage round northern Europe to the Far East, and in
1553 founded the Muscovy Company for this purpose. 'The ad-
vocates of the scheme asserted with confidence that in Cathay with
its cool climate, its teeming and (it was believed) wealthy popula-
tion, a lucrative market for English woollens would certainly be
found; while, once the dangers of the northern ice had been passed,
it would be a comparatively easy matter to proceed from Cathay
to the Moluccas, and there lade for the return voyage the spices so
much in demand in the European markets.'1 The climatic diffi-
culties of the North-East Passage frustrated these hopes; but
Antony Jenkinson, commander of the Company's fleet, travelled
from Moscow down the Volga and crossed the Caspian to establish
trade-relations with the Persian capital at Qazvin in 1561. This
roundabout route was, however, abandoned twenty years later
owing to the founding of the Levant Company and to the anarchy
which was already threatening Persia.
In 1583 four English travellers set out on an exploratory journey
from Aleppo to Malacca via Baghdad and the Persian Gulf. In
1591, the year in which the sole survivor of this expedition arrived
in England, three English ships were sent via the Cape to the Far
East on a voyage of reconnaissance, the Portuguese power being
now in decline. Meanwhile the Dutch had in 1581 wrested their
independence from Spain, and were now ready to embark on the
commercial enterprises which the dense population of their small
country, totalling about half that of contemporary England,
forced upon them. By 1599 the Dutch had sent successful expedi-
tions to the East Indies; and in that year the English East India Co.
was founded, largely by merchants of the Levant Co., cto set forth a
voyage to the East Indies and the other isles and countries there-
abouts.' In its infancy the Company undertook a voyage only once
every two or three years, each being separately financed by sub-
scriptions and levies from its members. The Dutch companies, on
the other hand, were federated in 1602 into the 'United East India
Company', practically a department of state with a permanently
subscribed capital of the then immense sum of over half-a-million
pounds.2 Soon it was 'covering the Indian Ocean with its fleets,
threatening to displace the loose Portuguese monopoly in favour
1 Foster, op.cit., 5 f.
* J, A. Williamson, Short History of British Expansion, I, 219.