The first phase of '''European colonization of Southeast Asia''' took place throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. They wanted to gain monopoly over the spice trade as this trade was very valuable to the Europeans due to high demand for various spices such as [[black pepper|pepper]], [[cinnamon]], [[nutmeg]], and [[clove|cloves]]. This demand led to the arrival of [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]], [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]], [[Dutch Empire|Dutch]] and later [[French colonial empire|French]] and [[British Empire|British]] marine spice traders. Fiercely competitive, the Europeans soon sought to eliminate each other by forcibly taking control of the production centres, trade hubs and vital strategic locations, beginning with the Portuguese acquisition of [[Portuguese Malacca|Malacca]] in 1511. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, conquests focused on ports along the maritime routes, that provided a secure passage of maritime trade. It also allowed foreign rulers to levy taxes and control prices of the highly desired Southeast Asian commodities.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://en.unesco.org/silkroad/about-silk-road |title=About the Silk Road |publisher=Unesco | access-date= 13 December 2018 }}</ref><!-- EDITORIAL NOTE: , [[Maluku Islands|Maluku]] and [[Portuguese Timor|Timor]], and the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] established themselves beginning from their conquest of [[Manila]] which expand into a larger territory of [[Spanish East Indies]]. Throughout the 18th and 18th centuries, the Dutch arrived in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] and established the [[Dutch East Indies]], and the [[British Empire|British]] established themselves in the [[Strait Settlements]] and further to [[British Malaya]] and [[British Borneo|Borneo]] as well in [[British rule in Burma|Burma]]. In the 19th century, the French joined their European counterparts in establishing [[French Indochina]].--> By the 19th century, virtually all Southeast Asian lands had been forced into the various spheres of influence of European global players. [[Thailand|Siam]], which had served as a convenient buffer state, sandwiched between British Burma and French Indochina was the only country to avoid direct foreign rule. However, its kings had to contend with repeated humiliations, accept [[Bowring Treaty|unequal treaties]] among massive British and French political interference and territorial losses after the [[Franco-Siamese War]] in 1893 and the [[Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://countrystudies.us/thailand/17.htm |title=The Crisis of 1893 |editor-last=LePoer |editor-first=Barbara Leitch |work=Thailand: A Country Study |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |year=1987 |access-date=14 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/hist/eia/documents_archive/friendship-treaty.php | title =Empire in Asia | publisher = National University of Singapore |author= Aloysius Ng |access-date= 14 December 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Treaty between Great Britain and Siam|journal=The American Journal of International Law |date=1909 |volume=3|issue=4|pages=297–304|jstor=2212641|doi=10.2307/2212641|last1=Paget |first1=Ralph |last2=Varoprakar |first2=Devawongse }}</ref>