Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch, literally "United East Indies Company") was established on March 20, 1602, when the government of the Netherlands granted it a monopoly to carry out Dutch colonial activities in Asia. It is considered the first company that issued shares of stock.
The VOC consisted of 6 Chambers (Kamers) in Amsterdam, Middelburg (for Zeeland), Enkhuizen, Delft, Hoorn and Rotterdam. Delegates of these chambers convened as the Heeren XVII (the Lords Seventeen). The Kamers contributed delegates to the seventeen in proportion to the capital that they had subscribed; Amsterdam's delegates numbered eight.
The company established its headquarters in Batavia on Java (now Jakarta, Indonesia). Other colonial outposts were also established in the Dutch East Indies what later became Indonesia, such as on the Spice Islands (Moluccas), which include the Banda Islands where the VOC forcibly maintained a monopoly over nutmeg and mace.
A VOC trade post on Deshima, an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki, was for a long time the only place where Europeans could trade with Japan.
In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope (south end of Africa, currently in South Africa) to resupply VOC ships on their journey to East Asia. This post later became a conventional colony when other Europeans started to settle there. VOC outposts were also established in Persia (now Iran), Bengal (now Bangladesh and part of India), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Malacca (Melaka, now in Malaysia), Siam (now Thailand), mainland China (Kanton), Formosa (now Taiwan) and southern India. In 1662, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan. By 1669, the VOC was the richest company the world had ever seen, with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and paid a dividend of 40%.
The company was in almost constant conflict with the English; relations were particularly embittered after the Amboyna Massacre in 1623. During the 18th century, its possessions were increasingly focused on the Dutch East Indies. After the fourth war between the Dutch Republic and England (1780-1784), the VOC got into financial trouble, and in 1798, the company was dissolved. The Dutch East Indies were awarded to The Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
VOC ships
See also
- Jan Pieterszoon Coen
- The British East India Company, founded in 1600
- The Danish East India Company
- The Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621
- The French East India Company, founded in 1664
- The Swedish East India Company, founded in 1731
External links
- oldest share (http://www.oldest-share.com/) - the oldest share in the world (VOC 1606)
af:Verenigde Oos-Indiese Kompanjie
de:Niederländische Ostindien-Kompanie
fr:Compagnie hollandaise des Indes orientales
id:VOC
nl:Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie
ja:オランダ東インド会社
sv:Holländska Östindiska Kompaniet