International Space Law - A Mapping in 2024
(Transcript of a Lecture at the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru)
On 24 February 1603, three Dutch ships belonging to the then-newly formed Dutch East India Company anchored off the Strait of Singapore. Later that night, a large Portuguese carrack, Santa Catarina, anchored next to them. It was a gigantic U‑shaped boat carrying nearly a thousand people (majority slaves), 1200 bales of Chinese raw silk, several hundred ounces of musk, and a large amount of Ming porcelain. Losing no time, the Dutch ships attacked the Portuguese carrack the next day, which surrendered that very evening, and the booty (amounting to 3 million Dutch guilders) was carried back by the Dutch East India Company — which staked its claim before the Amsterdam Admiralty Board. The Admiralty Board allowed the taking as a ‘prize’, leading to an immediate increase (almost 100% by some accounts) in the capital of the Dutch East India Company and a prominent spark to the then-nascent Dutch-Portuguese war (1598−1663).