<P> In 1640, the VOC obtained the port of Galle, Ceylon, from the Portuguese and broke the latter's monopoly of the cinnamon trade . In 1658, Gerard Pietersz . Hulft laid siege to Colombo, which was captured with the help of King Rajasinghe II of Kandy . By 1659, the Portuguese had been expelled from the coastal regions, which were then occupied by the VOC, securing for it the monopoly over cinnamon . To prevent the Portuguese or the English from ever recapturing Sri Lanka, the VOC went on to conquer the entire Malabar Coast from the Portuguese, almost entirely driving them from the west coast of India . When news of a peace agreement between Portugal and the Netherlands reached Asia in 1663, Goa was the only remaining Portuguese city on the west coast . </P> <P> In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope (the southwestern tip of Africa, now Cape Town, South Africa) to re-supply VOC ships on their journey to East Asia . This post later became a full - fledged colony, the Cape Colony, when more Dutch and other Europeans started to settle there . </P> <P> VOC trading posts were also established in Persia, Bengal, Malacca, Siam, Canton, Formosa (now Taiwan), as well as the Malabar and Coromandel coasts in India . In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan (see History of Taiwan). </P> <P> In 1663, the VOC signed the "Painan Treaty" with several local lords in the Painan area that were revolting against the Aceh Sultanate . The treaty allowed the VOC to build a trading post in the area and eventually to monopolise the trade there, especially the gold trade . </P>

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