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The picture shows the obverse and reverse of the medal commemorating the capture of a Portuguese galleon Santiago by two Zeeland merchant ships on March 16, 1602, off Saint Helena in the South Atlantic. This was a victory in the Dutch war of independence, since their enemy, Philip III, king of Spain, ruled Portugal as Philip II, treating the kingdom as a Spanish province. The Zeeland ships and their prize sailed into Middelburg on July 7, 1602. The directors of the Zeeland East India Company (VOC) had the medal minted in Middelburg; silver and, reportedly, gold examples were handed out to members, friends, and investors.
The obverse of the medal shows the Zeeland lion chasing a horse on the globe with the inscriptions: NON SVFFICIT ORBIS (The world is not enough) and QVO SALTAS INSEQVAR (Where you go, I will follow).
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