Complex sentence: Matelief was put in command of a fleet of eleven ships of the Dutch East India Company with the destination of Malacca, an inconvenient stronghold for non-Portuguese ships heading for the Indonesian Archipelago, China or Japan.
Split into simpler sentences: Matelief was put in command of a fleet of eleven ships of the Dutch East India Company with the destination of Malacca. Malacca was an inconvenient stronghold for non-Portuguese ships heading for the Indonesian Archipelago, China or Japan.