Two years after, another expedition was sent out by the merchants of London, under John Davis, who, on this and two subsequent voyages, discovered several passages trending westward, which warranted the hope of finding a northwest passage.  Beside the strait named after him, it is probable that on his third voyage, in 1587, he passed through the passage now named after Hudson.  His discoveries were not followed up for some twenty years, when Henry Hudson was despatched in 1607 with a crew of ten men and a boy.  He reached Spitzbergen, and reached 80 deg.  N., and in the following year reached the North (Magnetic) Pole, which was then situated at 75.22 deg.  N. Two of his men were also fortunate enough to see a mermaid—­probably an Eskimo woman in her kayak.  In a third voyage, in 1609, he discovered the strait and bay which now bear his name, but was marooned by his crew, and never heard of further.  He had previously, for a time, passed into the service of the Dutch, and had guided them to the river named after him, on which New York now stands.  The course of English discovery in the north was for a time concluded by the voyage of William Baffin in 1615, which resulted in the discovery of the land named after him, as well as many of the islands to the north of America.

Meanwhile the Dutch had taken part in the work of discovery towards the north.  They had revolted against the despotism of Philip II., who was now monarch of both Spain and Portugal.  At first they attempted to adopt a route which would not bring them into collision with their old masters; and in three voyages, between 1594 and 1597, William Barentz attempted the North-East Passage, under the auspices of the States-General.  He discovered Cherry Island, and touched on Spitzbergen, but failed in the main object of his search; and the attention of the Dutch was henceforth directed to seizing the Portuguese route, rather than finding a new one for themselves.

The reason they were able to do this is a curious instance of Nemesis in history.  Owing to the careful series of intermarriages planned out by Ferdinand of Arragon, the Portuguese Crown and all its possessions became joined to Spain in 1580 under Philip II., just a year after the northern provinces of the Netherlands had renounced allegiance to Spain.  Consequently they were free to attack not alone Spanish vessels and colonies, but also those previously belonging to Portugal.  As early as 1596 Cornelius Houtman rounded the Cape and visited Sumatra and Bantam, and within fifty, years the Dutch had replaced the Portuguese in many of their Eastern possessions.  In 1614 they took Malacca, and with it the command of the Spice Islands; by 1658 they had secured full possession of Ceylon.  Much earlier, in 1619, they had founded Batavia in Java, which they made the centre of their East Indian possessions, as it still remains.