Joris van Spilbergen (1568 in Antwerp – 13 January 1620 in Bergen op Zoom) was a Dutch naval officer.
Joris van Spilbergen was born in Antwerp in 1568.[1]
His first major expedition was in 1596, when he sailed to Africa.
He then left for Asia on 5 May 1601, from Veere, a seaport on the island of Walcheren in Zealand, in command of the fleet of the company of Balthazar de Moucheron (a trading company before the establishment of the VOC). His ships were the Ram, Schaap, and Lam.[2] Spilbergen met the king of Kandy (Sri Lanka) Vimala Dharma Suriya in 1602, and discussed the possibility of trade in cinnamon.