Keumalahayati, or Malahayati, was an admiral of the Aceh Sultanate navy, which ruled the area of modern Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. She was the first woman admiral in the modern world. Her troops were drawn from Aceh's widows and the army named the "Inong Balee", after Fort Inong Balee in the city of Sabang.

Cornelis de Houtman was a Dutch merchant seaman who commanded the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies. Although the voyage was difficult and yielded only a modest profit, Houtman showed that the Portuguese monopoly on the spice trade was vulnerable. A flurry of Dutch trading voyages followed, eventually leading to the displacement of the Portuguese and the establishment of a Dutch monopoly on spice trading in the East Indies.