The Dutch Empire lasted from 1600 to 1975 and beyond; even now there are some Caribbean island dependencies left. The size, shape, and nature of the empire has evolved and altered, but over those centuries the Dutch colonies have been an important, if fluctuating, component of the national consciousness. Economic advantages were very considerable, but arguably the Dutch gained just as much in terms of self-confidence and status for their small nation: in the nineteenth century the empire was seen as absolutely essential in terms of both economics and prestige. Even in the twenty-first century, a centrist prime minister could call for a return to “the mentality of the VOC” (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, United East Indies Company), a remark that was not universally well received.

Calvin’s theology and ecclesiastical practices reached the shores of Asia by way of the Dutch and their efforts to monopolize spice trading in the South and Southeast Asia regions starting from the late sixteenth through the seventeenth centuries. Following the Union of Utrecht of January 1579,1 the two northern provinces of the Netherlands, Holland and Zeeland, acknowledged only one branch of Protestantism, namely Calvinism, as the accepted form of religion. While the other five provinces declared that people were free to choose their own form of religion, in practice, the Reformed church became the privileged church in the Dutch Republic. When the Dutch under the leadership of Cornelis de Houtman arrived in Banten (or Bantam) in the northwest corner of Java in 1596 to begin their exploration of monopoly of spice trading, they paved the way for Calvinism to be introduced to the majority of the Southeast Asian regions.