| This article is about the trading company. For the record label, see
Dutch East India Trading.
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 States General granted it a monopoly to carry out 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 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. Methods used to maintain the monopoly
included the violent suppression of the native population, not stopping short of extortion and mass murder.
A more peaceful 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 re-supply VOC ships on their journey to East Asia. This post later became a fully-fledged colony when more Dutch
and 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 (Canton), Formosa (now Taiwan) and southern
India. In 1662, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan.
By 1669, the VOC was the richest private company the world had ever seen, with over 150
merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and a dividend payment 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 East Indies.
After the fourth war between the United Provinces and England (1780-1784), the VOC got into financial trouble, and in 1799, the company was
dissolved, four years after the end of the States General. The East Indies were awarded to The Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
VOC ships
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