A Spy or a Go-between? Jan Huygen van Linschoten, the Itinerario and the Rise of Dutch Overseas Expansion (1583–1611)

This chapter examines the Dutch-Iberian relations, with a focus on the well-known case of Jan Huygen van Linschoten, the famous Dutch traveler to Portuguese Asia in the 1580s. It discusses the methods used by Van Linschoten to acquire Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) maritime knowledge, and how his reshaping of the contents for the Itinerario publication in 1596 affected not only Dutch overseas expansion, but also the English and French maritime expansion in the early 17^th century. Additionally, the chapter demonstrates how, at the transition to the 17^th century, Iberian maritime knowledge had become so widespread among its maritime rivals that it became impossible for the Iberian Crowns to successfully implement secrecy policies.