Which Dutch navigator led the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies in 1595?

The Dutch navigator who led the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies in 1595 was Cornelis de Houtman.

De Houtman commanded the expedition organized by the Compagnie van Verre, an Amsterdam venture seeking a direct route to the Indonesian spice markets. The fleet of four ships left Texel on 2 April 1595, carrying about 248 men. Dutch merchants had gathered navigational intelligence from Lisbon and from Jan Huyghen van Linschoten’s account of Portuguese Asia.

The voyage was disastrous in human terms. Disease and poor provisions killed many sailors during a prolonged stop at Madagascar. The fleet reached Banten on Java in June 1596, but de Houtman’s abrasive dealings with the sultan damaged the trading mission. The surviving ships eventually returned to the Netherlands in 1597 with a modest cargo of spices.

Even so, the expedition proved that Dutch ships could reach the East Indies without relying on Portuguese-controlled routes. It helped trigger a wave of later Dutch voyages and contributed to the founding of the Dutch East India Company in 1602. Linschoten supplied valuable information, but de Houtman led the first voyage itself.