<P> By the early 17th century, the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC) began contesting Portuguese power in the East . At that time, the Portuguese had transformed Malacca into an impregnable fortress, the Fortaleza de Malaca, controlling access to the sea lanes of the Straits of Malacca and the spice trade there . The Dutch started by launching small incursions and skirmishes against the Portuguese . The first serious attempt was the siege of Malacca in 1606 by the third VOC fleet from Holland with eleven ships, commanded by Admiral Cornelis Matelief de Jonge that led to the naval battle of Cape Rachado . Although the Dutch were routed, the Portuguese fleet of Martim Afonso de Castro, the Viceroy of Goa, suffered heavier casualties and the battle rallied the forces of the Sultanate of Johor into an alliance with the Dutch and later on with the Aceh Sultanate . </P> <P> Around that same time period, the Sultanate of Aceh had grown into a regional power with a formidable naval force and regarded Portuguese Malacca as potential threat . In 1629, Iskandar Muda of the Aceh Sultanate sent several hundred ships to attack Malacca, but the mission was a devastating failure . According to Portuguese sources, all of his ships were destroyed and lost some 19,000 men in the process . </P> <P> The Dutch with their local allies assaulted and finally wrested Malacca from the Portuguese in January 1641 . This combined Dutch - Johor - Aceh efforts effectively destroyed the last bastion of Portuguese power, reducing their influence in the archipelago . The Dutch settled in the city as Dutch Malacca, however the Dutch had no intention to make Malacca their main base, and concentrated on building Batavia (today Jakarta) as their headquarters in the orient instead . The Portuguese ports in the spice - producing areas of Mollucas also fell to the Dutch in the following years . With these conquests, the last Portuguese colonies in Asia remained confined to Portuguese Timor, Goa, Daman and Diu in Portuguese India and Macau until the 20th century . </P> <P> The early core of the fortress system was a quadrilateral tower called Fortaleza de Malaca . Measurement was given as 10 fathoms per side with a height of 40 fathoms . It was constructed at the foot of the fortress hill, next to the sea . To its east was constructed a circular wall of mortar and stone with a well in the middle of the enclosure . </P>

To whom did the portuguese lose malacca in 1641