Dutch East India Company - wikipedia Dutch East India Company This article is about the 17th -- 19th - century Dutch multinational company. For American independent record label, see Dutch East India Trading. `` United East India Company '' redirects here. For other uses, see East India Company ( disambiguation ). Dutch East India Company / United East India Company / United East Indies Company Company logo Company flag Native name Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ( VOC ) Former type Publicly traded company Industry Multi-industry Fate Dissolved Predecessor Voorcompagnie / Proto - VOC ( Compagnie van Verre, Brabantsche Compagnie, Magelhaensche Compagnie ) Founded 20 March 1602 ( 1602 - 03 - 20 ) Founder Johan van Oldenbarnevelt Defunct 31 December 1799 ( 1799 - 12 - 31 ) Headquarters Amsterdam, Dutch Republic ( global headquarters ) Batavia, Dutch East Indies ( second headquarters / overseas administrative center ) Area served Europe - Asia ( Eurasia ) Intra-Asia Key people Heeren XVII / Gentlemen Seventeen ( Dutch Republic, 1602 -- 1799 ) Governors - General of the Dutch East Indies ( Batavia, 1610 -- 1800 ) Opperhoofd Products Spice, silk, porcelain, metals, livestock, tea, grains ( rice, soybeans ), sugarcane industry, shipbuilding industry View of Table Bay with ships of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), c. 1683. In the 1600s the size of the Dutch merchant fleet probably exceeded the combined fleets of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. The United East India Company, sometimes known as the United East Indies Company ( Dutch : Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ; or Verenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie in modern spelling ; abbreviated to VOC ), better known to the English - speaking world as the Dutch East India Company or sometimes as the Dutch East Indies Company, was a multinational corporation that was founded in 1602 and became defunct in 1799. It was originally established as a chartered company to trade with India and Indianized Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21 - year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. The VOC was an early multinational corporation in its modern sense. In the early 1600s, by widely issuing bonds and shares of stock to the general public, the VOC became the world 's first formally listed public company. In other words, it was the first corporation to be ever actually listed on an official stock exchange. The VOC was influential in the rise of corporate - led globalization in the early modern period. With its pioneering institutional innovations and powerful roles in world history, the company is considered by many to be the first major modern global corporation, and at its height was the most valuable corporation ever. In 1619 it forcibly established a central position in the Indonesian city of Jayakarta, changing the name to Batavia ( modern - day Jakarta ). Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory. To guarantee its supply it established positions in many countries and became an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment. In its foreign colonies the VOC possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies. With increasing importance of foreign posts, the company is often considered the world 's first true transnational corporation. Along with the Dutch West India Company ( WIC / GWIC ), the VOC became seen as the international arm of the Dutch Republic and the symbolic power of the Dutch Empire. To further its trade routes, the VOC - funded exploratory voyages such as those led by Willem Janszoon ( Duyfken ), Henry Hudson ( Halve Maen ) and Abel Tasman who revealed largely unknown landmasses to the western world. In the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography ( c. 1570s -- 1670s ), VOC navigators and cartographers helped shape geographical knowledge of the modern world as we know them today. Socio - economic changes in Europe, the shift in power balance, and less successful financial management resulted in a slow decline of the VOC between 1720 and 1799. After the financially disastrous Fourth Anglo - Dutch War ( 1780 -- 1784 ), the company was first nationalised in 1796, and finally dissolved in 1799. All assets were taken over by the government with VOC territories becoming Dutch government colonies. Contents 1 Company name, logo, and flag 2 History 2.1 Origins 2.2 Formation, rise, and fall 2.2. 1 Formative years 2.2. 2 Growth 2.2. 3 Reorientation 2.2. 4 Decline and fall 3 Organizational structure 3.1 VOC outposts 3.2 Council of Justice in Batavia 4 Shareholder activism at the VOC and the beginnings of modern corporate governance 5 Main trading posts, settlements, and colonies 5.1 Asia 5.1. 1 Indonesia 5.1. 2 Indian subcontinent 5.1. 3 Japan 5.1. 4 Taiwan 5.1. 5 Malaysia 5.1. 6 Thailand 5.1. 7 Vietnam 5.2 Africa 5.2. 1 Mauritius 5.2. 2 South Africa 6 Main competitors 7 Conflicts and wars involving the VOC 8 Historical roles and legacy 8.1 Institutional innovations and impacts on modern business practices and financial system 8.2 Impacts on social, economic, political, and military history of the Netherlands 8.3 Roles in the history of the global economy and international relations 8.4 Influences on Dutch Golden Age art 8.5 VOC world as a knowledge network in the Dutch maritime world - system 8.5. 1 Contributions in the Age of Exploration 8.5. 1.1 Halve Maen 's exploratory voyage and role in the formation of New Netherland 8.5. 1.2 Dutch exploration and mapping of Australia and Oceania 9 Criticisms 10 Cultural depictions of people and things associated with the VOC 11 Places and things named after the VOC and its people 12 VOC 's important heritage sites 13 Populated places established by people of the VOC 14 VOC archives and records 15 VOC coins 16 Notable VOC ships 17 VOC world studies 18 VOC timeline and historic firsts 18.1 Voorcompagnie period ( proto - VOC ) 18.2 VOC era 19 Gallery 20 Notes 21 References 22 Further reading 23 See also 24 External links Company name, logo, and flag See also : Colonial Indian companies, Colonial India, Greater India, Dutch East Indies, Spanish East Indies, Category : Colonial Indian companies, and East Indiaman The logo of the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC. In terms of creating a corporate identity, the United East India Company ( VOC ) was an early pioneer in business history. In Dutch the name of the company is Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or Verenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie. abbreviated to VOC. The company 's monogram logo was possibly in fact the first globally recognized corporate logo. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital ' V ' with an O on the left and a C on the right leg. It appeared on various corporate items, such as cannon and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the chamber conducting the operation was placed on top ( see figure for example of the Amsterdam Chamber logo ). The adaptability, flexibility, elegance, timelessness, simplicity, symbolism, and symmetry are considered notable characteristics of the VOC 's well - designed monogram logo, those ensured its success at a time when the concept of the corporate identity was virtually unknown. An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, having re-registered the company 's name for the purpose. The flag of the company was red, white, and blue ( see Dutch flag ), with the company logo embroidered on it. Around the world and especially in English - speaking countries, the VOC is widely known as the `` Dutch East India Company ''. The name ' Dutch East India Company ' is used to make a distinction with the ( British ) East India Company ( EIC ) and other East Indian companies ( such as the Danish East India Company, French East India Company, Portuguese East India Company, and the Swedish East India Company ). The company 's alternative names that have been used include the ' Dutch East Indies Company ', ' United East India Company ', ' United East Indian Company ', ' United East Indies Company ', ' Jan Company ', or ' Jan Compagnie '. History Origins See also : First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia, Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia, and Voorcompagnie Further information : Spice trade and Cape Route The `` United East Indian Company '', or `` United East Indies Company '' ( also known by the abbreviation `` VOC '' in Dutch ) was the brainchild of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, the leading statesman of the Dutch Republic. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution centre in northern Europe. After 1591, however, the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fuggers and Welsers, and Spanish and Italian firms, that used Hamburg as the northern staple port to distribute their goods, thereby cutting Dutch merchants out of the trade. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to increase supply to satisfy growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. Demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and therefore each lag in the supply of pepper caused a sharp rise in pepper prices. In 1580 the Portuguese crown was united in a personal union with the Spanish crown, with which the Dutch Republic was at war. The Portuguese Empire therefore became an appropriate target for Dutch military incursions. These factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the `` secret '' Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity. VOC headquarters in Amsterdam The stage was thus set for the four - ship exploratory expedition by Frederick de Houtman in 1595 to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java, where they clashed with both the Portuguese and indigenous Indonesians. Houtman 's expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura. Half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit. Return of the second Asia expedition of Jacob van Neck in 1599 by Cornelis Vroom In 1598, an increasing number of fleets were sent out by competing merchant groups from around the Netherlands. Some fleets were lost, but most were successful, with some voyages producing high profits. In March 1599, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ' Spice Islands ' of Maluku, the source of pepper, cutting out the Javanese middlemen. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and the expedition made a 400 percent profit. In 1600, the Dutch joined forces with the Muslim Hituese on Ambon Island in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch were given the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu. Dutch control of Ambon was achieved when the Portuguese surrendered their fort in Ambon to the Dutch - Hituese alliance. In 1613, the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from their Solor fort, but a subsequent Portuguese attack led to a second change of hands ; following this second reoccupation, the Dutch once again captured Solor, in 1636. East of Solor, on the island of Timor, Dutch advances were halted by an autonomous and powerful group of Portuguese Eurasians called the Topasses. They remained in control of the Sandalwood trade and their resistance lasted throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, causing Portuguese Timor to remain under the Portuguese sphere of control. Formation, rise, and Fall See also : History of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), Evolution of the Dutch Empire, Dutch East India Company in Indonesia, Economic history of the Dutch Republic, and Financial history of the Dutch Republic Formative years Reproduction of a map of the city of Batavia c. 1627, collection Tropenmuseum Dutch Batavia in 1681, built in what is now North Jakarta At the time, it was customary for a company to be set up only for the duration of a single voyage and to be liquidated upon the return of the fleet. Investment in these expeditions was a very high - risk venture, not only because of the usual dangers of piracy, disease and shipwreck, but also because the interplay of inelastic demand and relatively elastic supply of spices could make prices tumble at just the wrong moment, thereby ruining prospects of profitability. To manage such risk the forming of a cartel to control supply would seem logical. The English had been the first to adopt this approach, by bundling their resources into a monopoly enterprise, the English East India Company in 1600, thereby threatening their Dutch competitors with ruin. In 1602, the Dutch government followed suit, sponsoring the creation of a single `` United East Indies Company '' that was also granted monopoly over the Asian trade. For a time in the seventeenth century, they were able to monopolize the trade in nutmeg, mace, and cloves and to sell these spices in Europe and India at fourteen to seventeen times the price they paid in Indonesia ; while Dutch profits soared, the local economy of the Spice Islands was destroyed. With a capital of 6,440,200 guilders, the charter of the new company empowered it to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties with Asian rulers. It provided for a venture that would continue for 21 years, with a financial accounting only at the end of each decade. In February 1603, the Company seized the Santa Catarina, a 1500 - ton Portuguese merchant carrack, off the coast of Singapore. She was such a rich prize that her sale proceeds increased the capital of the VOC by more than 50 %. Also in 1603 the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten, West Java, and in 1611 another was established at Jayakarta ( later `` Batavia '' and then `` Jakarta '' ). In 1610, the VOC established the post of Governor General to more firmly control their affairs in Asia. To advise and control the risk of despotic Governors General, a Council of the Indies ( Raad van Indië ) was created. The Governor General effectively became the main administrator of the VOC 's activities in Asia, although the Heeren XVII, a body of 17 shareholders representing different chambers, continued to officially have overall control. The Isle of Amboina, a 17th - century print, probably English VOC headquarters were located in Ambon during the tenures of the first three Governors General ( 1610 -- 1619 ), but it was not a satisfactory location. Although it was at the centre of the spice production areas, it was far from the Asian trade routes and other VOC areas of activity ranging from Africa to India to Japan. A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought. The Straits of Malacca were strategic but had become dangerous following the Portuguese conquest, and the first permanent VOC settlement in Banten was controlled by a powerful local ruler and subject to stiff competition from Chinese and English traders. In 1604, a second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reached the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda. In Banda, they encountered severe VOC hostility, sparking Anglo - Dutch competition for access to spices. From 1611 to 1617, the English established trading posts at Sukadana ( southwest Kalimantan ), Makassar, Jayakarta and Jepara in Java, and Aceh, Pariaman and Jambi in Sumatra, which threatened Dutch ambitions for a monopoly on East Indies trade. Diplomatic agreements in Europe in 1620 ushered in a period of co-operation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade. This ended with a notorious but disputed incident known as the ' Amboyna massacre ', where ten Englishmen were arrested, tried and beheaded for conspiracy against the Dutch government. Although this caused outrage in Europe and a diplomatic crisis, the English quietly withdrew from most of their Indonesian activities ( except trading in Banten ) and focused on other Asian interests. Growth Graves of Dutch dignitaries in the ruined St. Paul 's Church, Malacca, in the former Dutch Malacca Trade lodge of the VOC in Hooghly, Bengal, by Hendrik van Schuylenburgh, 1665 In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen was appointed Governor - General of the VOC. He saw the possibility of the VOC becoming an Asian power, both political and economic. On 30 May 1619, Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, stormed Jayakarta, driving out the Banten forces ; and from the ashes established Batavia as the VOC headquarters. In the 1620s almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands was driven away, starved to death, or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations. These plantations were used to grow cloves and nutmeg for export. Coen hoped to settle large numbers of Dutch colonists in the East Indies, but implementation of this policy never materialised, mainly because very few Dutch were willing to emigrate to Asia. Another of Coen 's ventures was more successful. A major problem in the European trade with Asia at the time was that the Europeans could offer few goods that Asian consumers wanted, except silver and gold. European traders therefore had to pay for spices with the precious metals, which were in short supply in Europe, except for Spain and Portugal. The Dutch and English had to obtain it by creating a trade surplus with other European countries. Coen discovered the obvious solution for the problem : to start an intra-Asiatic trade system, whose profits could be used to finance the spice trade with Europe. In the long run this obviated the need for exports of precious metals from Europe, though at first it required the formation of a large trading - capital fund in the Indies. The VOC reinvested a large share of its profits to this end in the period up to 1630. The VOC traded throughout Asia. Ships coming into Batavia from the Netherlands carried supplies for VOC settlements in Asia. Silver and copper from Japan were used to trade with India and China for silk, cotton, porcelain, and textiles. These products were either traded within Asia for the coveted spices or brought back to Europe. The VOC was also instrumental in introducing European ideas and technology to Asia. The Company supported Christian missionaries and traded modern technology with China and Japan. A more peaceful VOC trade post on Dejima, an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki, was for more than two hundred years the only place where Europeans were permitted to trade with Japan. When the VOC tried to use military force to make Ming dynasty China open up to Dutch trade, the Chinese defeated the Dutch in a war over the Penghu islands from 1623 to 1624, forcing the VOC to abandon Penghu for Taiwan. The Chinese defeated the VOC again at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay in 1633. The Vietnamese Nguyen Lords defeated the VOC in a 1643 battle during the Trịnh -- Nguyễn War, blowing up a Dutch ship. The Cambodians defeated the VOC in the Cambodian -- Dutch War from 1643 to 1644 on the Mekong River. Dutch factory of Hugly -- Chinsurah in Bengal In 1640, the VOC obtained the port of Galle, Ceylon, from the Portuguese and broke the latter 's monopoly of the cinnamon trade. In 1658, Gerard Pietersz. Hulft laid siege to Colombo, which was captured with the help of King Rajasinghe II of Kandy. By 1659, the Portuguese had been expelled from the coastal regions, which were then occupied by the VOC, securing for it the monopoly over cinnamon. To prevent the Portuguese or the English from ever recapturing Sri Lanka, the VOC went on to conquer the entire Malabar Coast from the Portuguese, almost entirely driving them from the west coast of India. When news of a peace agreement between Portugal and the Netherlands reached Asia in 1663, Goa was the only remaining Portuguese city on the west coast. In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope ( the southwestern tip of Africa, now Cape Town, South Africa ) to re-supply VOC ships on their journey to East Asia. This post later became a full - fledged colony, the Cape Colony, when more Dutch and other Europeans started to settle there. VOC trading posts were also established in Persia, Bengal, Malacca, Siam, Canton, Formosa ( now Taiwan ), as well as the Malabar and Coromandel coasts in India. In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan ( see History of Taiwan ). In 1663, the VOC signed the `` Painan Treaty '' with several local lords in the Painan area that were revolting against the Aceh Sultanate. The treaty allowed the VOC to build a trading post in the area and eventually to monopolise the trade there, especially the gold trade. 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 % on the original investment. Many of the VOC employees inter-mixed with the indigenous peoples and expanded the population of Indos in pre-colonial history Reorientation Reorientation Sword of the East India Company, featuring the V.O.C. monogram of the guard. On display at the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. This Kraak porcelain dish ( in a museum in Malacca ) was emblazoned with the V.O.C. monogram. Trade area of the VOC around 1700 CE. VOC ships in Chittagong or Arakan. City hall of Batavia in 1682 CE. Natives of Arakan sell slaves to the Dutch East India Company, c. 1663 CE. Around 1670, two events caused the growth of VOC trade to stall. In the first place, the highly profitable trade with Japan started to decline. The loss of the outpost on Formosa to Koxinga in the 1662 Siege of Fort Zeelandia and related internal turmoil in China ( where the Ming dynasty was being replaced with the Qing dynasty ) brought an end to the silk trade after 1666. Though the VOC substituted Bengali for Chinese silk other forces affected the supply of Japanese silver and gold. The shogunate enacted a number of measures to limit the export of these precious metals, in the process limiting VOC opportunities for trade, and severely worsening the terms of trade. Therefore, Japan ceased to function as the lynchpin of the intra-Asiatic trade of the VOC by 1685. Even more importantly, the Third Anglo - Dutch War temporarily interrupted VOC trade with Europe. This caused a spike in the price of pepper, which enticed the English East India Company ( EIC ) to enter this market aggressively in the years after 1672. Previously, one of the tenets of the VOC pricing policy was to slightly over-supply the pepper market, so as to depress prices below the level where interlopers were encouraged to enter the market ( instead of striving for short - term profit maximisation ). The wisdom of such a policy was illustrated when a fierce price war with the EIC ensued, as that company flooded the market with new supplies from India. In this struggle for market share, the VOC ( which had much larger financial resources ) could wait out the EIC. Indeed, by 1683, the latter came close to bankruptcy ; its share price plummeted from 600 to 250 ; and its president Josiah Child was temporarily forced from office. However, the writing was on the wall. Other companies, like the French East India Company and the Danish East India Company also started to make inroads on the Dutch system. The VOC therefore closed the heretofore flourishing open pepper emporium of Bantam by a treaty of 1684 with the Sultan. Also, on the Coromandel Coast, it moved its chief stronghold from Pulicat to Negapatnam, so as to secure a monopoly on the pepper trade at the detriment of the French and the Danes. However, the importance of these traditional commodities in the Asian - European trade was diminishing rapidly at the time. The military outlays that the VOC needed to make to enhance its monopoly were not justified by the increased profits of this declining trade. Nevertheless, this lesson was slow to sink in and at first the VOC made the strategic decision to improve its military position on the Malabar Coast ( hoping thereby to curtail English influence in the area, and end the drain on its resources from the cost of the Malabar garrisons ) by using force to compel the Zamorin of Calicut to submit to Dutch domination. In 1710, the Zamorin was made to sign a treaty with the VOC undertaking to trade exclusively with the VOC and expel other European traders. For a brief time, this appeared to improve the Company 's prospects. However, in 1715, with EIC encouragement, the Zamorin renounced the treaty. Though a Dutch army managed to suppress this insurrection temporarily, the Zamorin continued to trade with the English and the French, which led to an appreciable upsurge in English and French traffic. The VOC decided in 1721 that it was no longer worth the trouble to try to dominate the Malabar pepper and spice trade. A strategic decision was taken to scale down the Dutch military presence and in effect yield the area to EIC influence. Eustachius De Lannoy of the Dutch East India Company surrenders to Maharaja Marthanda Varma of the Indian Kingdom of Travancore after the Battle of Colachel. ( Depiction at Padmanabhapuram Palace ) The 1741 Battle of Colachel by Nair warriors of Travancore under Raja Marthanda Varma defeated the Dutch. The Dutch commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy was captured. Marthanda Varma agreed to spare the Dutch captain 's life on condition that he joined his army and trained his soldiers on modern lines. This defeat in the Travancore - Dutch War is considered the earliest example of an organised Asian power overcoming European military technology and tactics ; and it signalled the decline of Dutch power in India. The attempt to continue as before as a low volume - high profit business enterprise with its core business in the spice trade had therefore failed. The Company had however already ( reluctantly ) followed the example of its European competitors in diversifying into other Asian commodities, like tea, coffee, cotton, textiles, and sugar. These commodities provided a lower profit margin and therefore required a larger sales volume to generate the same amount of revenue. This structural change in the commodity composition of the VOC 's trade started in the early 1680s, after the temporary collapse of the EIC around 1683 offered an excellent opportunity to enter these markets. The actual cause for the change lies, however, in two structural features of this new era. In the first place, there was a revolutionary change in the tastes affecting European demand for Asian textiles, coffee and tea, around the turn of the 18th century. Secondly, a new era of an abundant supply of capital at low interest rates suddenly opened around this time. The second factor enabled the Company easily to finance its expansion in the new areas of commerce. Between the 1680s and 1720s, the VOC was therefore able to equip and man an appreciable expansion of its fleet, and acquire a large amount of precious metals to finance the purchase of large amounts of Asian commodities, for shipment to Europe. The overall effect was approximately to double the size of the company. The tonnage of the returning ships rose by 125 percent in this period. However, the Company 's revenues from the sale of goods landed in Europe rose by only 78 percent. This reflects the basic change in the VOC 's circumstances that had occurred : it now operated in new markets for goods with an elastic demand, in which it had to compete on an equal footing with other suppliers. This made for low profit margins. Unfortunately, the business information systems of the time made this difficult to discern for the managers of the company, which may partly explain the mistakes they made from hindsight. This lack of information might have been counteracted ( as in earlier times in the VOC 's history ) by the business acumen of the directors. Unfortunately by this time these were almost exclusively recruited from the political regent class, which had long since lost its close relationship with merchant circles. Low profit margins in themselves do not explain the deterioration of revenues. To a large extent the costs of the operation of the VOC had a `` fixed '' character ( military establishments ; maintenance of the fleet and such ). Profit levels might therefore have been maintained if the increase in the scale of trading operations that in fact took place had resulted in economies of scale. However, though larger ships transported the growing volume of goods, labour productivity did not go up sufficiently to realise these. In general the Company 's overhead rose in step with the growth in trade volume ; declining gross margins translated directly into a decline in profitability of the invested capital. The era of expansion was one of `` profitless growth ''. Specifically : `` ( t ) he long - term average annual profit in the VOC 's 1630 -- 70 ' Golden Age ' was 2.1 million guilders, of which just under half was distributed as dividends and the remainder reinvested. The long - term average annual profit in the ' Expansion Age ' ( 1680 -- 1730 ) was 2.0 million guilders, of which three - quarters was distributed as dividend and one - quarter reinvested. In the earlier period, profits averaged 18 percent of total revenues ; in the latter period, 10 percent. The annual return of invested capital in the earlier period stood at approximately 6 percent ; in the latter period, 3.4 percent. '' Nevertheless, in the eyes of investors the VOC did not do too badly. The share price hovered consistently around the 400 mark from the mid-1680s ( excepting a hiccup around the Glorious Revolution in 1688 ), and they reached an all - time high of around 642 in the 1720s. VOC shares then yielded a return of 3.5 percent, only slightly less than the yield on Dutch government bonds. Decline and Fall This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( March 2017 ) After 1730, the fortunes of the VOC started to decline. Five major problems, not all of equal weight, explain its decline over the next fifty years to 1780 : There was a steady erosion of intra-Asiatic trade because of changes in the Asiatic political and economic environment that the VOC could do little about. These factors gradually squeezed the company out of Persia, Suratte, the Malabar Coast, and Bengal. The company had to confine its operations to the belt it physically controlled, from Ceylon through the Indonesian archipelago. The volume of this intra-Asiatic trade, and its profitability, therefore had to shrink. The way the company was organised in Asia ( centralised on its hub in Batavia ), that initially had offered advantages in gathering market information, began to cause disadvantages in the 18th century because of the inefficiency of first shipping everything to this central point. This disadvantage was most keenly felt in the tea trade, where competitors like the EIC and the Ostend Company shipped directly from China to Europe. The `` venality '' of the VOC 's personnel ( in the sense of corruption and non-performance of duties ), though a problem for all East India Companies at the time, seems to have plagued the VOC on a larger scale than its competitors. To be sure, the company was not a `` good employer ''. Salaries were low, and `` private - account trading '' was officially not allowed. Not surprisingly, it proliferated in the 18th century to the detriment of the company 's performance. From about the 1790s onward, the phrase perished under corruption ( vergaan onder corruptie, also abbreviated VOC in Dutch ) came to summarise the company 's future. A problem that the VOC shared with other companies was the high mortality and morbidity rates among its employees. This decimated the company 's ranks and enervated many of the survivors. A self - inflicted wound was the VOC 's dividend policy. The dividends distributed by the company had exceeded the surplus it garnered in Europe in every decade but one ( 1710 -- 1720 ) from 1690 to 1760. However, in the period up to 1730 the directors shipped resources to Asia to build up the trading capital there. Consolidated bookkeeping therefore probably would have shown that total profits exceeded dividends. In addition, between 1700 and 1740 the company retired 5.4 million guilders of long - term debt. The company therefore was still on a secure financial footing in these years. This changed after 1730. While profits plummeted the bewindhebbers only slightly decreased dividends from the earlier level. Distributed dividends were therefore in excess of earnings in every decade but one ( 1760 -- 1770 ). To accomplish this, the Asian capital stock had to be drawn down by 4 million guilders between 1730 and 1780, and the liquid capital available in Europe was reduced by 20 million guilders in the same period. The directors were therefore constrained to replenish the company 's liquidity by resorting to short - term financing from anticipatory loans, backed by expected revenues from home - bound fleets. Despite these problems, the VOC in 1780 remained an enormous operation. Its capital in the Republic, consisting of ships and goods in inventory, totalled 28 million guilders ; its capital in Asia, consisting of the liquid trading fund and goods en route to Europe, totalled 46 million guilders. Total capital, net of outstanding debt, stood at 62 million guilders. The prospects of the company at this time therefore were not hopeless, had one of the plans for reform been undertaken successfully. However, the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War intervened. British attacks in Europe and Asia reduced the VOC fleet by half ; removed valuable cargo from its control ; and devastated its remaining power in Asia. The direct losses of the VOC can be calculated at 43 million guilders. Loans to keep the company operating reduced its net assets to zero. From 1720 on, the market for sugar from Indonesia declined as the competition from cheap sugar from Brazil increased. European markets became saturated. Dozens of Chinese sugar traders went bankrupt, which led to massive unemployment, which in turn led to gangs of unemployed coolies. The Dutch government in Batavia did not adequately respond to these problems. In 1740, rumours of deportation of the gangs from the Batavia area led to widespread rioting. The Dutch military searched houses of Chinese in Batavia for weapons. When a house accidentally burnt down, military and impoverished citizens started slaughtering and pillaging the Chinese community. This massacre of the Chinese was deemed sufficiently serious for the board of the VOC to start an official investigation into the Government of the Dutch East Indies for the first time in its history. After the Fourth Anglo - Dutch War, the VOC was a financial wreck. After vain attempts at reorganisation by the provincial States of Holland and Zeeland, it was nationalised by the new Batavian Republic on 1 March 1796. The VOC charter was renewed several times, but was allowed to expire on 31 December 1799. Most of the possessions of the former VOC were subsequently occupied by Great Britain during the Napoleonic wars, but after the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created by the Congress of Vienna, some of these were restored to this successor state of the Dutch Republic by the Anglo - Dutch Treaty of 1814. Organizational structure The United East India Company ( VOC ) - a pioneering early model of the multinational / transnational corporation in its modern sense. 17th - century etching of the Oost - Indisch Huis ( East India House ), the global headquarters of the VOC. It was in Batavia ( present - day Jakarta ) on the island of Java that the VOC established its administrative center, as the second headquarters, with a Governor - General in charge from 1610 onwards. The company also had important operations elsewhere. A bond from the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), dating from 7 November 1623. The VOC was the first company in history to issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public. It was the VOC that invented the idea of investing in the company rather than in a specific venture governed by the company. The VOC was also the first company to use a fully - fledged capital market ( including the bond market and the stock market ) as a crucial channel to raise medium - term and long - term funds. The VOC is generally considered to be the world 's first truly transnational corporation and it was also the first multinational enterprise to issue shares of stock to the public. Some historians such as Timothy Brook and Russell Shorto consider the VOC as the pioneering corporation in the first wave of the corporate globalization era. The VOC was the first multinational corporation to operate officially in different continents such as Europe, Asia and Africa. While the VOC mainly operated in what later became the Dutch East Indies ( modern Indonesia ), the company also had important operations elsewhere. It employed people from different continents and origins in the same functions and working environments. Although it was a Dutch company its employees included not only people from the Netherlands, but also many from Germany and from other countries as well. Besides the diverse north - west European workforce recruited by the VOC in the Dutch Republic, the VOC made extensive use of local Asian labour markets. As a result, the personnel of the various VOC offices in Asia consisted of European and Asian employees. Asian or Eurasian workers might be employed as sailors, soldiers, writers, carpenters, smiths, or as simple unskilled workers. At the height of its existence the VOC had 25,000 employees who worked in Asia and 11,000 who were en route. Also, while most of its shareholders were Dutch, about a quarter of the initial shareholders were Zuid - Nederlanders ( people from an area that includes modern Belgium and Luxembourg ) and there were also a few dozen Germans. The VOC had two types of shareholders : the participanten, who could be seen as non-managing members, and the 76 bewindhebbers ( later reduced to 60 ) who acted as managing directors. This was the usual set - up for Dutch joint - stock companies at the time. The innovation in the case of the VOC was that the liability of not just the participanten but also of the bewindhebbers was limited to the paid - in capital ( usually, bewindhebbers had unlimited liability ). The VOC therefore was a limited liability company. Also, the capital would be permanent during the lifetime of the company. As a consequence, investors that wished to liquidate their interest in the interim could only do this by selling their share to others on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Confusion of confusions, a 1688 dialogue by the Sephardi Jew Joseph de la Vega analysed the workings of this one - stock exchange. The VOC consisted of six Chambers ( Kamers ) in port cities : Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, Enkhuizen, Middelburg and Hoorn. Delegates of these chambers convened as the Heeren XVII ( the Lords Seventeen ). They were selected from the bewindhebber - class of shareholders. Of the Heeren XVII, eight delegates were from the Chamber of Amsterdam ( one short of a majority on its own ), four from the Chamber of Zeeland, and one from each of the smaller Chambers, while the seventeenth seat was alternatively from the Chamber of Middelburg - Zeeland or rotated among the five small Chambers. Amsterdam had thereby the decisive voice. The Zeelanders in particular had misgivings about this arrangement at the beginning. The fear was not unfounded, because in practice it meant Amsterdam stipulated what happened. The six chambers raised the start - up capital of the Dutch East India Company : Chamber Capital ( Guilders ) Amsterdam 3,679,915 Middelburg 1,300,405 Enkhuizen 540,000 Delft 469,400 Hoorn 266,868 Rotterdam 173,000 Total : 6,424,588 The raising of capital in Rotterdam did not go so smoothly. A considerable part originated from inhabitants of Dordrecht. Although it did not raise as much capital as Amsterdam or Middelburg - Zeeland, Enkhuizen had the largest input in the share capital of the VOC. Under the first 358 shareholders, there were many small entrepreneurs, who dared to take the risk. The minimum investment in the VOC was 3,000 guilders, which priced the Company 's stock within the means of many merchants. Various VOC soldier uniforms, c. 1783 Among the early shareholders of the VOC, immigrants played an important role. Under the 1,143 tenderers were 39 Germans and no fewer than 301 from the Southern Netherlands ( roughly present Belgium and Luxembourg, then under Habsburg rule ), of whom Isaac le Maire was the largest subscriber with ƒ85, 000. VOC 's total capitalisation was ten times that of its British rival. The Heeren XVII ( Lords Seventeen ) met alternately 6 years in Amsterdam and 2 years in Middelburg - Zeeland. They defined the VOC 's general policy and divided the tasks among the Chambers. The Chambers carried out all the necessary work, built their own ships and warehouses and traded the merchandise. The Heeren XVII sent the ships ' masters off with extensive instructions on the route to be navigated, prevailing winds, currents, shoals and landmarks. The VOC also produced its own charts. In the context of the Dutch - Portuguese War the company established its headquarters in Batavia, Java ( now Jakarta, Indonesia ). Other colonial outposts were also established in the East Indies, such as on the Maluku Islands, which include the Banda Islands, where the VOC forcibly maintained a monopoly over nutmeg and mace. Methods used to maintain the monopoly involved extortion and the violent suppression of the native population, including mass murder. In addition, VOC representatives sometimes used the tactic of burning spice trees to force indigenous populations to grow other crops, thus artificially cutting the supply of spices like nutmeg and cloves. VOC outposts Organization and leadership structures were varied as necessary in the various VOC outposts : Opperhoofd is a Dutch word ( pl. Opperhoofden ), which literally means ' supreme chief '. In this VOC context, the word is a gubernatorial title, comparable to the English Chief factor, for the chief executive officer of a Dutch factory in the sense of trading post, as led by a factor, i.e. agent. See more at VOC Opperhoofden in Japan Council of Justice in Batavia The Council of Justice in Batavia was the appellate court for all the other VOC Company posts in the VOC empire. Shareholder activism at the VOC and the Beginnings of modern corporate governance Both sides of a duit, a coin minted in 1735 by the VOC The seventeenth - century Dutch businessmen, especially the VOC investors, were possibly the history 's first recorded investors to consider the corporate governance 's problems. Isaac Le Maire, who is known as history 's first recorded short seller, was also a sizeable shareholder of the VOC. In 1609, he complained of the VOC 's shoddy corporate governance. On 24 January 1609, Le Maire filed a petition against the VOC, marking the first recorded expression of shareholder activism. In what is the first recorded corporate governance dispute, Le Maire formally charged that the VOC 's board of directors ( the Heeren XVII ) sought to `` retain another 's money for longer or use it ways other than the latter wishes '' and petitioned for the liquidation of the VOC in accordance with standard business practice. Initially the largest single shareholder in the VOC and a bewindhebber sitting on the board of governors, Le Maire apparently attempted to divert the firm 's profits to himself by undertaking 14 expeditions under his own accounts instead of those of the company. Since his large shareholdings were not accompanied by greater voting power, Le Maire was soon ousted by other governors in 1605 on charges of embezzlement, and was forced to sign an agreement not to compete with the VOC. Having retained stock in the company following this incident, in 1609 Le Maire would become the author of what is celebrated as `` first recorded expression of shareholder advocacy at a publicly traded company ''. In 1622, the history 's first recorded shareholder revolt also happened among the VOC investors who complained that the company account books had been `` smeared with bacon '' so that they might be `` eaten by dogs. '' The investors demanded a `` reeckeninge, '' a proper financial audit. The 1622 campaign by the shareholders of the VOC is a testimony of genesis of corporate social responsibility ( CSR ) in which shareholders staged protests by distributing pamphlets and complaining about management self enrichment and secrecy. Main trading posts, settlements, and colonies This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. ( February 2018 ) Main article : List of Dutch East India Company trading posts and settlements See also : Former settlements and colonies of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) See also : Former trading posts of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) See also : Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) Asia Scale model of Dutch trading post on display in Dejima, Nagasaki ( 1995 ). Overview of Fort Zeelandia ( Fort Anping ) in Tainan, Taiwan, painted around 1635 ( National Bureau of Archives, The Hague ). The Dutch Square in Malacca, with Christ Church ( center ) and the Stadthuys ( right ). Gateway to the Castle of Good Hope, a bastion fort built by the VOC in the 17th century. Indonesia Main article : Dutch East India Company in Indonesia See also : Dutch East Indies Batavia, Dutch East Indies Indian subcontinent Main article : Dutch India Dutch Coromandel ( 1608 -- 1825 ) Dutch Suratte ( 1616 -- 1825 ) Dutch Bengal ( 1627 -- 1825 ) Dutch Ceylon ( 1640 -- 1796 ) Dutch Malabar ( 1661 -- 1795 ) Japan See also : VOC Opperhoofden in Japan Hirado, Nagasaki ( 1609 -- 1641 ) Dejima, Nagasaki ( 1641 -- 1853 ) Taiwan Main article : Dutch Taiwan Anping ( Fort Zeelandia ) Tainan ( Fort Provincia ) Wang - an, Penghu, Pescadores Islands ( Fort Vlissingen ; 1620 -- 1624 ) Keelung ( Fort Noord - Holland, Fort Victoria ) Tamsui ( Fort Antonio ) Malaysia Dutch Malacca ( 1641 -- 1795 ; 1818 -- 1825 ) Thailand Ayutthaya ( 1608 -- 1767 ) Vietnam Thǎng Long / Tonkin ( 1636 -- 1699 ) Hội An ( 1636 -- 1741 ) Africa Mauritius Dutch Mauritius ( 1638 -- 1658 ; 1664 -- 1710 ) South Africa Dutch Cape Colony ( 1652 -- 1806 ) Main competitors This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. ( February 2018 ) Years Company 1581 -- 1825 Levant Company 1600 -- 1874 British East India Company 1616 -- 1729 Danish East India Company 1621 -- 1791 Dutch West India Company 1628 -- 1633 Portuguese East India Company 1664 -- 1794 French East India Company 1722 -- 1734 Ostend Company 1731 -- 1813 Swedish East India Company 1752 -- 1757 Emden Company Conflicts and wars involving the VOC This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. ( February 2018 ) See also : Military history of the Dutch East India Company and Battles involving the Dutch East India Company Sino - Dutch conflicts ( 1620s -- 1662 ) Cambodian -- Dutch War Trịnh -- Nguyễn War Dutch -- Portuguese War Malayan -- Portuguese War Sinhalese -- Portuguese War Khoikhoi -- Dutch Wars Travancore -- Dutch War Fourth Anglo - Dutch War Historical roles and legacy A 400 - year evolution of global stock markets ( and capital markets in general ) Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( or Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch ), the world 's first formal stock exchange. The formal stock market in its modern sense -- as one of the potent symbols of modern capitalism -- was a pioneering innovation by the VOC managers and shareholders in the early 17th century. The trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange ( NYSE ) in the early 21st century -- as one of the foremost symbols of American capitalism in the blooming era of Internet. One of the oldest known stock certificates, issued by the VOC Chamber of Enkhuizen, dated 9 Sep 1606. The VOC was the first recorded joint - stock company to get a fixed capital stock. The VOC was also the first publicly listed company ever to pay regular dividends. The VOC was possibly in fact the first ever blue - chip stock. In Robert Shiller 's words, the VOC was `` the first real important stock '' in the history of finance. Founded in 1602, the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), the world 's first formally listed public company, started off as a spice trader. In the same year, the VOC undertook the world 's first recorded IPO. `` Going public '' enabled the company to raise the vast sum of 6.5 million guilders quickly. The VOC 's institutional innovations helped lay the foundations for modern corporations like multinational / transnational corporations and capital markets that now dominate the world 's economic system. With regard to the VOC 's importance in global corporate history, Australian journalist Hugh Edwards ( 1970 ) writes, `` The Vereenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie was the most powerful single commercial concern the world has ever known. General Motors, British Tobacco, Ford, The Shell Company, Mitsubishi, Standard Oil -- any of the other giant holdings of today are on the level of village bootmakers compared with the might and power and influence once wielded by the VOC. '' In his book Amsterdam : A History of the World 's Most Liberal City ( 2013 ), Russell Shorto summarizes the VOC 's greatness : `` Like the oceans it mastered, the VOC had a scope that is hard to fathom. One could craft a defensible argument that no company in history has had such an impact on the world. Its surviving archives -- in Cape Town, Colombo, Chennai, Jakarta, and The Hague -- have been measured ( by a consortium applying for a UNESCO grant to preserve them ) in kilometers. In innumerable ways the VOC both expanded the world and brought its far - flung regions together. It introduced Europe to Asia and Africa, and vice versa ( while its sister multinational, the West India Company, set New York City in motion and colonized Brazil and the Caribbean Islands ). It pioneered globalization and invented what might be the first modern bureaucracy. It advanced cartography and shipbuilding. It fostered disease, slavery, and exploitation on a scale never before imaged. '' A pioneering early model of the multinational corporation in its modern sense, the company is also considered to be the world 's first true transnational corporation. In the early 1600s, the VOC became the world 's first formally listed public company because it was the first corporation to be ever actually listed on a formal stock exchange. The VOC had a massive influence on the evolution of the modern corporation by creating an institutional prototype for subsequent large - scale business enterprises ( multinational / transnational corporations in particular ) and their rise to become a highly significant socio - politico - economic force of the modern world as we know it today. In many respects, modern - day publicly - listed global companies ( including Forbes Global 2000 companies ) are all the `` descendants '' of a business model pioneered by the VOC in the 17th century. During its golden age, the company played crucial roles in business, financial, socio - politico - economic, military - political, diplomatic, ethnic, and exploratory maritime history of the world. In the early modern period, the VOC was also the driving force behind the rise of corporate - led globalization, corporate power, corporate identity, corporate culture, corporate social responsibility, corporate ethics, corporate governance, corporate finance, corporate capitalism, and finance capitalism. With its pioneering institutional innovations and powerful roles in world history, the company is considered by many to be the first major, first modern, first global, most valuable, and most influential corporation ever seen. The VOC was also arguably the first historical model of the megacorporation. Institutional innovations and impacts on modern business practices and financial system Further information : Economic history of the Dutch Republic, Financial history of the Dutch Republic, Dutch Financial Revolution, Financial capitalism, Financial system, Global financial system, International financial centre, History of financial markets, Financial markets, History of capitalism, and Corporate globalization A 17th - century engraving depicting the Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Amsterdam 's old bourse, a.k.a. Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch ), built by Hendrick de Keyser ( c. 1612 ). The Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser ), launched by the Dutch East India Company in the early 1600s, was the world 's first official ( formal ) stock exchange when it began trading the VOC 's freely transferable securities, including bonds and shares of stock. Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser ) by Emanuel de Witte, 1653. The process of buying and selling the VOC 's shares, on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, became the basis of the world 's first official ( formal ) stock market, a milestone in the history of capitalism. The VOC played a crucial role in the rise of corporate - led globalization, corporate governance, corporate identity, corporate social responsibility, corporate finance, modern entrepreneurship, and financial capitalism. During its golden age, the company made some fundamental institutional innovations in economic and financial history. These financially revolutionary innovations allowed a single company ( like the VOC ) to mobilize financial resources from a large number of investors and create ventures at a scale that had previously only been possible for monarchs. In the words of Canadian historian and sinologist Timothy Brook, `` the Dutch East India Company -- the VOC, as it is known -- is to corporate capitalism what Benjamin Franklin 's kite is to electronics : the beginning of something momentous that could not have been predicted at the time. '' The birth of the VOC is often considered to be the official beginning of the corporate globalization era with the rise of large - scale business enterprises ( multinational / transnational corporations in particular ) as a truly formidable socio - politico - economic force that significantly affect humans lives in every corner of the world today. As the world 's first publicly traded company and first listed company ( the first company to be ever listed on an official stock exchange ), the VOC was the first company to issue stock and bonds to the general public. Considered by many experts to be the world 's first truly ( modern ) multinational corporation, the VOC was also the first permanently organized limited - liability joint - stock company, with a permanent capital base. The VOC shareholders were the pioneers in laying the basis for modern corporate governance and corporate finance. The VOC is often considered as the precursor of modern corporations, if not the first truly modern corporation. It was the VOC that invented the idea of investing in the company rather than in a specific venture governed by the company. With its pioneering features such as corporate identity ( first globally recognized corporate logo ), entrepreneurial spirit, legal personhood, transnational ( multinational ) operational structure, high and stable profitability, permanent capital ( fixed capital stock ), freely transferable shares and tradable securities, separation of ownership and management, and limited liability for both shareholders and managers, the VOC is generally considered a major institutional breakthrough and the model for large corporations that now dominate the global economy. The Dam Square in Amsterdam, by Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde, c. 1660. In the picture of the centre of highly cosmopolitan and tolerant Amsterdam, Muslim / Oriental figures ( possibly Ottoman or Moroccan merchants ) are shown negotiating. While the VOC was a major force behind the economic miracle of the Dutch Republic in the 17th - century, the VOC 's institutional innovations played a decisive role in the rise of Amsterdam as the first modern model of a ( global ) international financial centre. The VOC was the driving force behind the rise of Amsterdam as the first modern model of ( global ) international financial centres that now dominate the global financial system. During the 17th century and most of the 18th century, Amsterdam had been the most influential and powerful financial centre of the world. The VOC also played a major role in the creation of the world 's first fully functioning financial market, with the birth of a fully fledged capital market. The Dutch were also the first who effectively used a fully - fledged capital market ( including the bond market and the stock market ) to finance companies ( such as the VOC and the WIC ). It was in the 17th - century Dutch Republic that the global securities market began to take on its modern form. And it was in Amsterdam that the important institutional innovations such as publicly traded companies, transnational corporations, capital markets ( including bond markets and stock markets ), central banking system, investment banking system, and investment funds ( mutual funds ) were systematically operated for the first time in history. In 1602 the VOC established an exchange in Amsterdam where VOC stock and bonds could be traded in a secondary market. The VOC undertook the world 's first recorded IPO in the same year. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Amsterdamsche Beurs or Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch ) was also the world 's first fully - fledged stock exchange. While the Italian city - states produced first formal bond markets, they did n't develop the other ingredient necessary to produce a fully fledged capital market : the formal stock market. The Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) became the first company to offer shares of stock. The dividend averaged around 18 % of capital over the course of the company 's 200 - year existence. The launch of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange by the VOC in the early 1600s, has long been recognized as the origin of ' modern ' stock exchanges that specialize in creating and sustaining secondary markets in the securities ( such as bonds and shares of stock ) issued by corporations. Dutch investors were the first to trade their shares at a regular stock exchange. The process of buying and selling these shares of stock in the VOC became the basis of the first official ( formal ) stock market in history. It was in the Dutch Republic that the early techniques of stock - market manipulation were developed. The Dutch pioneered stock futures, stock options, short selling, bear raids, debt - equity swaps, and other speculative instruments. Amsterdam businessman Joseph de la Vega 's Confusion of Confusions ( 1688 ) was the earliest book about stock trading. Impacts on social, economic, political, and military history of the Netherlands Further information : Economic history of the Netherlands ( 1500 -- 1815 ), Dutch economic miracle ( c. 1590s -- 1600s ), Dutch Financial Revolution, and Dutch Golden Age The shipyard of the United East India Company ( VOC ) in Amsterdam ( 1726 engraving by Joseph Mulder ). The shipbuilding district of Zaan, near Amsterdam, became one of the world 's earliest known industrialized areas, with around 900 wind - powered sawmills at the end of the 17th century. By the early seventeenth century Dutch shipyards were producing a large number of ships to a standard design, allowing extensive division of labour, a specialization which further reduced unit costs. The VOC was founded as a wartime ( government - backed but privately financed ) joint venture by the nascent Dutch republican government with competing Dutch trading companies. It was a time when the newly formed Dutch Republic was at their revolutionary war against the powerful Spanish Empire and Iberian Union ( 1579 -- 1648 ). And therefore, the VOC was historically a fully functioning military - political - commercial complex in its own right rather than a pure trading company or shipping company. In the early modern period, the VOC was the largest private employer in the Low Countries. The company was a major force behind the financial revolution and economic miracle of the young Dutch Republic in the 17th century. During their Golden Age, the Dutch Republic ( or the Northern Netherlands ), as the resource - poor and obscure cousins of the more urbanized Southern Netherlands, rose to become the world 's leading economic and financial superpower. Despite its lack of natural resources ( except for water and wind power ) and its comparatively modest size and population, the Dutch Republic dominated global market in many advanced industries such as shipbuilding, shipping, water engineering, printing and publishing, map making, pulp and paper, lens - making, sugarcane refining, overseas investment, financial services, and international trade. The Dutch Republic was an early industrialized nation - state in its Golden Age. The 17th - century Dutch mechanical innovations / inventions such as wind - powered sawmills and Hollander beaters helped revolutionize shipbuilding and paper ( including pulp ) industries in the early modern period. The VOC 's shipyards also contributed greatly to the Dutch domination of global shipbuilding and shipping industries during the 1600s. `` By seventeenth century standards, '' as Richard Unger affirms, Dutch shipbuilding `` was a massive industry and larger than any shipbuilding industry which had preceded it. '' By the 1670s the size of the Dutch merchant fleet probably exceeded the combined fleets of England, France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. Until the mid-1700s, the economic system of the Dutch Republic ( including its financial system ) was the most advanced and sophisticated ever seen in history. From about 1600 to 1720, the Dutch had the highest per capita income in the world, at least double that of neighbouring countries at the time. However, in a typical multicultural society of the Netherlands, the VOC 's history ( and especially its dark side ) has always been a potential source of controversy. In 2006 when the Dutch Prime Minister Jan Pieter Balkenende referred to the pioneering entrepreneurial spirit and work ethics of the Dutch people and Dutch Republic in their Golden Age, he coined the term `` VOC mentality '' ( VOC - mentaliteit in Dutch ). It unleashed a wave of criticism, since such romantic views about the Dutch Golden Age ignores the inherent historical associations with colonialism, exploitation and violence. Balkenende later stressed that `` it had not been his intention to refer to that at all ''. But in spite of criticisms, the `` VOC - mentality '', as a characteristic of the selective historical perspective on the Dutch Golden Age, has been considered a key feature of Dutch cultural policy for many years. Roles in the history of the global economy and international relations Further information : Foreign relations of the Dutch Republic, Corporate globalization ( economic globalization ), World - systems theory, History of capitalism, Economic history of Taiwan, and Economic history of South Africa The arrival of King Charles II of England in Rotterdam, 24 May 1660 by Lieve Verschuier. King Charles II of England sailed from Breda to Delft in May 1660 in a yacht owned by the VOC. HMY Mary and HMY Bezan ( both were built by the VOC ) were given to Charles II, on the restoration of the monarchy, as part of the Dutch Gift. Overview of Fort Zeelandia in Dutch Formosa ( in the 17th - century ). It was in the Dutch rule period of Taiwan that the VOC began to encourage large - scale mainland Chinese immigration. As an early modern pioneer of outward foreign direct investment ( FDI ), the VOC 's economic activities changed the demographic and economic history of the island forever. Vineyard in the Paarl ward of Franschhoek ( Western Cape Province ). The South African wine industry ( New World wine ) is among the lasting legacy of the VOC era. The VOC was a transcontinental employer and an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment at the dawn of modern capitalism. In his book The Ecology of Money : Debt, Growth, and Sustainability ( 2013 ), Adrian Kuzminski notes, `` The Dutch, it seems, more than anyone in the West since the palmy days of ancient Rome, had more money than they knew what to do with. They discovered, unlike the Romans, that the best use of money was to make more money. They invested it, mostly in overseas ventures, utilizing the innovation of the joint - stock company in which private investors could purchase shares, the most famous being the Dutch East India Company. '' Wherever Dutch capital went, there urban features were developed, economic activities expanded, new industries established, new jobs created, trading companies operated, swamps drained, mines opened, forests exploited, canals constructed, mills turned, and ships were built. In the early modern period, the Dutch were pioneering capitalists who raised the commercial and industrial potential of underdeveloped lands whose resources they exploited. This paved the way to the Dutch Republic 's prosperity, as it could awaken socio - economic dynamism elsewhere. The VOC existed for almost 200 years from its founding in 1602, when the States - General of the Netherlands granted it a 21 - year monopoly over Dutch operations in Asia until its demise in 1796. During those two centuries ( between 1602 and 1796 ), the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent only 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795, and the fleet of the English ( later British ) East India Company, the VOC 's nearest competitor, was a distant second to its total traffic with 2,690 ships and a mere one - fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. 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 a dividend payment of 40 % on the original investment. In terms of military - political history, the VOC, along with the Dutch West India Company ( WIC / GWIC ), was seen as the international arm of the Dutch Republic and the symbolic power of the Dutch Empire. The VOC was historically a military - political - economic complex rather than a pure trading company ( or shipping company ). The government - backed but privately financed company was effectively a state in its own right, or a state within another state. For almost 200 years of its existence, the VOC was a key non-state geopolitical player in Eurasia. The company was much an unofficial representative of the States General of the United Provinces in foreign relations of the Dutch Republic with many states, especially Dutch - Asian relations. The company 's territories were even larger than some countries. The VOC had seminal influences on the modern history of many countries and territories around the world such as New Netherland ( New York ), Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Mauritius, Taiwan, and Japan. Influences on Dutch Golden Age art Further information : Art of the Dutch Golden Age and Dutch Golden Age painting Hansken, a young female Asian elephant from Dutch Ceylon, was brought to Amsterdam in 1637, aboard a VOC ship. Rembrandt 's Hansken drawing is believed to be an early portrait of one of the first Asian elephants described by science. Rembrandt 's self - portrait as an oriental potentate with a kris / keris, a Javanese blade weapon from the VOC era ( etching, c. 1634 ). Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar, by Dutch Golden Age painter Willem Kalf ( c. 1660s ). 17th - century Chinese porcelain wares ( imported by the VOC ) are often depicted in many Dutch Golden Age genre and still life paintings. Shop window display of Delftware in the market place, Delft. East Asian - inspired Delftware, a lasting cultural and economic legacy of the VOC era. From 1609 the VOC had a trading post in Japan ( Hirado, Nagasaki ), which used local paper for its own administration. However, the paper was also traded to the VOC 's other trading posts and even the Dutch Republic. Many impressions of the Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt 's prints were done on Japanese paper. From about 1647 Rembrandt sought increasingly to introduce variation into his prints by using different sorts of paper, and printed most of his plates regularly on Japanese paper. He also used the paper for his drawings. The Japanese paper types -- which was actually imported from Japan by the VOC -- attracted Rembrandt with its warm, yellowish colour. They are often smooth and shiny, whilst Western paper has a more rough and matt surface. Moreover, the VOC 's imported Chinese porcelain wares are often depicted in many Dutch Golden Age genre paintings, especially in Jan Vermeer 's paintings. VOC world as a knowledge network in the Dutch maritime world - system Further information : Rangaku, Science and technology in the Dutch Republic, Cartography in the Dutch Republic, Jacobus Bontius, Jan Jansz. Weltevree, Hendrick Hamel, Johan Nieuhof, Cornelis de Bruijn, Andries Beeckman, Isaac Titsingh, Dodo, Hansken, Black swan, and Black swan theory The cover of the Hortus Malabaricus by Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot Drakenstein. Black swans on the shore of the Swan River ( Western Australia ), with the Perth skyline in the background. The thousand - year - old conclusion `` all swans are white '' was disproved by the VOC navigator Willem de Vlamingh 's 1697 discovery. During the Dutch Golden Age, the Dutch -- using their expertise in doing business, cartography, shipbuilding, seafaring and navigation -- traveled to the far corners of the world, leaving their language embedded in the names of many places. Dutch exploratory voyages revealed largely unknown landmasses to the civilized world and put their names on the world map. The Dutch came to dominate the map - making and map printing industry by virtue of their own travels, trade ventures, and widespread commercial networks. As Dutch ships reached into the unknown corners of the globe, Dutch cartographers incorporated new geographical discoveries into their work. Instead of using the information themselves secretly, they published it, so the maps multiplied freely. For almost 200 years, the Dutch dominated world trade. Dutch ships carried goods, but they also opened up opportunities for the exchange of knowledge. The commercial networks of the Dutch transnational companies, i.e. the VOC and West India Company ( WIC / GWIC ), provided an infrastructure which was accessible to people with a scholarly interest in the exotic world. The VOC 's bookkeeper Hendrick Hamel was the first known European / Westerner to experience first - hand and write about Joseon - era Korea. In his report ( published in the Dutch Republic ) in 1666 Hendrick Hamel described his adventures on the Korean Peninsula and gave the first accurate description of daily life of Koreans to the western world. The VOC trade post on Dejima, an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki, was for more than two hundred years the only place where Europeans were permitted to trade with Japan. Rangaku ( literally ' Dutch Learning ', and by extension ' Western Learning ' ) is a body of knowledge developed by Japan through its contacts with the Dutch enclave of Dejima, which allowed Japan to keep abreast of Western technology and medicine in the period when the country was closed to foreigners, 1641 -- 1853, because of the Tokugawa shogunate 's policy of national isolation ( sakoku ). Contributions in the Age of exploration More information : Maritime history of the Dutch East India Company ; Dutch Republic in the Age of Discovery ; Cartography in the Dutch Republic ; Golden Age of Dutch cartography / Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography Regions of Oceania ( including Australasia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia ). `` The Island Continent '' Australia was the last human - inhabited continent to be largely known to the civilized world. The VOC 's navigators were the first non-natives to undisputedly discover, explore and chart coastlines of Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. Abel Tasman 's routes of the first and second voyage. The Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) was also a major force behind the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery ( c. 1590s -- 1720s ). The VOC - funded exploratory voyages such as those led by Willem Janszoon ( Duyfken ), Henry Hudson ( Halve Maen ) and Abel Tasman revealed largely unknown landmasses to the civilized world. Also, in the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography ( c. 1570s -- 1670s ), the VOC 's navigators and cartographers helped shape modern geographical and cartographic ( like world map ) knowledge as we know them today. Halve Maen 's exploratory voyage and role in the formation of New Netherland Further information : Halve Maen, New Netherland, History of New York ( state ), History of New York City, and History of North America A replica of the VOC 's Halve Maen ( captained by Henry Hudson, an Englishman in the service of the Dutch Republic ) passes modern - day lower Manhattan, where the original ship would have sailed while investigating New York harbor. In 1609, English sea captain and explorer Henry Hudson was hired by the VOC émigrés running the VOC located in Amsterdam to find a north - east passage to Asia, sailing around Scandinavia and Russia. He was turned back by the ice of the Arctic in his second attempt, so he sailed west to seek a north - west passage rather than return home. He ended up exploring the waters off the east coast of North America aboard the vlieboot Halve Maen. His first landfall was at Newfoundland and the second at Cape Cod. Hudson believed that the passage to the Pacific Ocean was between the St. Lawrence River and Chesapeake Bay, so he sailed south to the Bay then turned northward, traveling close along the shore. He first discovered Delaware Bay and began to sail upriver looking for the passage. This effort was foiled by sandy shoals, and the Halve Maen continued north. After passing Sandy Hook, Hudson and his crew entered the narrows into the Upper New York Bay. ( Unbeknownst to Hudson, the narrows had already been discovered in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano ; today, the bridge spanning them is named after him. ) Hudson believed that he had found the continental water route, so he sailed up the major river which later bore his name : the Hudson. He found the water too shallow to proceed several days later, at the site of present - day Troy, New York. Upon returning to the Netherlands, Hudson reported that he had found a fertile land and an amicable people willing to engage his crew in small - scale bartering of furs, trinkets, clothes, and small manufactured goods. His report was first published in 1611 by Emanuel Van Meteren, an Antwerp émigré and the Dutch Consul at London. This stimulated interest in exploiting this new trade resource, and it was the catalyst for Dutch merchant - traders to fund more expeditions. In 1611 -- 12, the Admiralty of Amsterdam sent two covert expeditions to find a passage to China with the yachts Craen and Vos, captained by Jan Cornelisz Mey and Symon Willemsz Cat, respectively. In four voyages made between 1611 and 1614, the area between present - day Maryland and Massachusetts was explored, surveyed, and charted by Adriaen Block, Hendrick Christiaensen, and Cornelius Jacobsen Mey. The results of these explorations, surveys, and charts made from 1609 through 1614 were consolidated in Block 's map, which used the name New Netherland for the first time. Dutch exploration and mapping of Australia and Oceania See also : European exploration of Australia, New Holland ( Australia ), Van Diemen 's Land, Nova Zeelandia, Australasia, and Exploration of the Pacific Further information : History of Australia, History of the Northern Territory, History of Western Australia, History of South Australia, History of Tasmania, History of New Zealand, History of Fiji, History of Tonga, and History of Oceania A typical map from the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography. Australasia during the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery ( c. 1590s -- 1720s ) : including Nova Guinea ( New Guinea ), Nova Hollandia ( mainland Australia ), Van Diemen 's Land ( Tasmania ), and Nova Zeelandia ( New Zealand ). Australia ( Nova Hollandia ) was the last human - inhabited continent to be explored and mapped ( by non-natives ). The Dutch were the first to undisputedly explore and map Australia 's coastline. In the 17th century, the VOC 's navigators and explorers charted almost three - quarters of the Australian coastline, except the east coast. Detail from a 1657 map by Jan Janssonius, showing the western coastline of Nova Zeelandia. In terms of world history of geography and exploration, the VOC can be credited with putting most of Australia 's coast ( then Hollandia Nova and other names ) on the world map, between 1606 and 1756. While Australia 's territory ( originally known as New Holland ) never became an actual Dutch settlement or colony, Dutch navigators were the first to undisputedly explore and map Australian coastline. In the 17th century, the VOC 's navigators and explorers charted almost three - quarters of Australia 's coastline, except its east coast. The Dutch ship, Duyfken, led by Willem Janszoon, made the first documented European landing in Australia in 1606. Although a theory of Portuguese discovery in the 1520s exists, it lacks definitive evidence. Precedence of discovery has also been claimed for China, France, Spain, India, and even Phoenicia. Hendrik Brouwer 's discovery of the Brouwer Route, that sailing east from the Cape of Good Hope until land was sighted and then sailing north along the west coast of Australia was a much quicker route than around the coast of the Indian Ocean, made Dutch landfalls on the west coast inevitable. The first such landfall was in 1616, when Dirk Hartog landed at Cape Inscription on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, off the coast of Western Australia, and left behind an inscription on a pewter plate. In 1697 the Dutch captain Willem de Vlamingh landed on the island and discovered Hartog 's plate. He replaced it with one of his own, which included a copy of Hartog 's inscription, and took the original plate home to Amsterdam, where it is still kept in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. In 1627, the VOC 's explorers François Thijssen and Pieter Nuyts discovered the south coast of Australia and charted about 1,800 kilometres ( 1,100 mi ) of it between Cape Leeuwin and the Nuyts Archipelago. François Thijssen, captain of the ship ' t Gulden Zeepaert ( The Golden Seahorse ), sailed to the east as far as Ceduna in South Australia. The first known ship to have visited the area is the Leeuwin ( `` Lioness '' ), a Dutch vessel that charted some of the nearby coastline in 1622. The log of the Leeuwin has been lost, so very little is known of the voyage. However, the land discovered by the Leeuwin was recorded on a 1627 map by Hessel Gerritsz : Caert va n't Landt van d'Eendracht ( `` Chart of the Land of Eendracht '' ), which appears to show the coast between present - day Hamelin Bay and Point D'Entrecasteaux. Part of Thijssen 's map shows the islands St Francis and St Peter, now known collectively with their respective groups as the Nuyts Archipelago. Thijssen 's observations were included as soon as 1628 by the VOC cartographer Hessel Gerritsz in a chart of the Indies and New Holland. This voyage defined most of the southern coast of Australia and discouraged the notion that `` New Holland '' as it was then known, was linked to Antarctica. In 1642, Abel Tasman sailed from Mauritius and on 24 November, sighted Tasmania. He named Tasmania Anthoonij van Diemenslandt ( Anglicised as Van Diemen 's Land ), after Anthony van Diemen, the VOC 's Governor General, who had commissioned his voyage. It was officially renamed Tasmania in honour of its first European discoverer on 1 January 1856. In 1642, during the same expedition, Tasman 's crew discovered and charted New Zealand 's coastline. They were the first Europeans known to reach New Zealand. Tasman anchored at the northern end of the South Island in Golden Bay ( he named it Murderers ' Bay ) in December 1642 and sailed northward to Tonga following a clash with local Māori. Tasman sketched sections of the two main islands ' west coasts. Tasman called them Staten Landt, after the States General of the Netherlands, and that name appeared on his first maps of the country. In 1645 Dutch cartographers changed the name to Nova Zeelandia in Latin, from Nieuw Zeeland, after the Dutch province of Zeeland. It was subsequently Anglicised as New Zealand by James Cook. Various claims have been made that New Zealand was reached by other non-Polynesian voyagers before Tasman, but these are not widely accepted. Criticisms See also : Criticisms of corporations The VOC 's economic activity in Mauritius largely contributed to the extinction of the dodo, a flightless bird that was endemic to the island. `` One of the paradoxes of the Company ( VOC ) is that the Dutch were the most liberal and humane nation in Europe at that time, and yet they created in the Company a very efficient monstrosity. It should not be forgotten that the Netherlands at the time was a newly independent nation, in true existential peril from their former Spanish masters, who committed a number of atrocities on Dutch soil. In this situation the Netherlands needed the huge monopoly profits promised by Jan Pieterszoon Coen 's vision for the Company, which entailed not only shutting out other European powers with violence, but even dominating trade among the Asians themselves. '' -- American philosopher Graham Harman, 2016 In spite of the VOC 's historical successes and contributions, the company has long been criticized for its quasi-absolute commercial monopoly, colonialism, exploitation ( including use of slave labour ), slave trade, use of violence, environmental destruction ( including deforestation ), and overly bureaucratic in organizational structure. Cultural depictions of people and Things associated with the VOC This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. ( February 2018 ) Main article : List of works about the Dutch East India Company Charles Davidson Bell 's 19th - century painting of Jan van Riebeeck, the founder of Cape Town, arrives in Table Bay in 1652. The statue of Willem de Vlamingh with the Hartog Plate, Vlieland. Monument to the `` Tsar - Carpenter '' Peter I of Russia ( Peter the Great ) in St. Petersburg, Russia. Tsar Peter the Great worked as a ship 's carpenter in the VOC 's shipyards in Amsterdam and Zaandam ( Saardam ). Batavia : a shipwreck on the Houtman Abrolhos in 1629, made famous by the subsequent mutiny and massacre that took place among the survivors. ( see also Batavia ( opera ) ) Flying Dutchman : a legendary ghost ship in several maritime myths, likely to have originated from the 17th - century golden age of the VOC. Hansken : a female Asian elephant from Dutch Ceylon. The young elephant Hansken was brought to Amsterdam in 1637, aboard a VOC ship. Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt made some historical drawings of Hansken. Batavia, Dutch East Indies : 1650s / 1660s paintings of scenes from everyday life by Dutch Golden Age painter Andries Beeckman, one of the few painters who travelled to the Dutch East Indies in the 17th century. Cosmos : A Personal Voyage : in the 6th episode Travellers ' Tales of the popular documentary TV series Cosmos ( 1980 ), American astronomer Carl Sagan, who also served as host, took a look at the voyage to Jupiter and Saturn, and compared these events with the adventuring spirit of the Dutch Golden Age explorers ( including the VOC 's navigators ). The Sino - Dutch War 1661 : 2000 Chinese historical drama film. The film is loosely based on the life of Koxinga ( Zheng Chenggong ) and focuses on his battle with the VOC for control of Dutch Formosa at the Siege of Fort Zeelandia. Ocean 's Twelve : a 2004 American comedy heist film inspired by the historical story from the VOC 's IPO and the first shares of stock ever traded publicly in history. The VOC 's stock certificate is the focused heist by the burglars in the movie. The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, 2010 historical novel by British author David Mitchell. My Father 's Islands : Abel Tasman 's Heroic Voyages : a 2012 juvenile fiction by Christobel Mattingley, written from the perspective of Tasman 's young daughter, Claesgen. The fictional story was inspired by a 1637 painting of the Tasman family by the Dutch Golden Age painter Jacob Gerritsz. Cuyp, one of the treasures of the National Library of Australia. The Tsar - Carpenter : a cultural depiction of Tsar Peter the Great ( Peter I of Russia ) in his undercover visit to the Dutch Republic as part of the Grand Embassy mission ( 1697 -- 1698 ). When Peter the Great wanted to learn more about the Dutch Republic 's sea power, he came to study seamanship, shipbuilding industry and carpentry in Amsterdam and Zaandam ( Saardam ). Through the agency of Nicolaas Witsen, mayor of Amsterdam and an expert on Russia, Tsar Peter I worked as a ship 's carpenter in the VOC 's shipyards in Holland. ( see also Zar und Zimmermann ( opera ) and The Czar and the Carpenter ( film ) ) Megacorporation or mega-corporation : a quasi-fictional term / concept derived from the combination of the prefix mega - with the word corporation, possibly inspired by the VOC 's history. It refers to a ( quasi-fictional ) corporation that is a massive conglomerate, possessing quasi-governmental powers and holding monopolistic control over markets. Black swan theory : a metaphor or metatheory of science popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. It was possibly inspired by Willem de Vlamingh 's 1697 discovery. De Vlamingh was the first known European / Western to observe and describe black swans and quokkas, in Western Australia. Places and Things named after the VOC and its people This section is in a list format that may be better presented using prose. You can help by converting this section to prose, if appropriate. Editing help is available. ( February 2018 ) For the full list of places explored, mapped, and named by people of the VOC, see List of place names of Dutch origin. See also : Australian places with Dutch names Tasman Sea, a marginal sea situated between Australia and New Zealand. Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) : 10649 VOC ( minor planet ) Willem Blaeu : 10652 Blaeu ( minor planet ) Willem Bontekoe : 10654 Bontekoe ( minor planet ) Hendrik Brouwer : Brouwer Route Pieter de Carpentier : Gulf of Carpentaria Jan Carstenszoon : Mount Carstensz ; Carstensz Pyramid ; Carstensz Glacier Jan Pieterszoon Coen : Coen River Anthony van Diemen : Anthoonij van Diemenslandt ( Van Diemen 's Land ) ; Van Diemen Gulf Maria van Diemen : Maria Island ; Cape Maria van Diemen Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein : Drakenstein ( mountain ranges ) ; Drakenstein ( local municipality ) Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff : Graaff - Reinet Dirk Hartog : Dirk Hartog Island ; Hartog 's Plate Wiebbe Hayes : Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort Frederick de Houtman : Houtman Abrolhos ; 10650 Houtman ( minor planet ) Henry Hudson : Hudson River ; Hudson Valley ; Hudson Bay Joan Maetsuycker : Maatsuyker Islands ; Maatsuyker Island Pieter Nuyts : Nuyts Archipelago ; Nuyts Land District ; Nuytsia Francisco Pelsaert : Pelsaert Island ; Pelsaert Group Petrus Plancius : Planciusdalen ; Planciusbukta ; 10648 Plancius ( minor planet ) Jan van Riebeeck : Riebeeckstad ; Riebeek - Kasteel ; Riebeeckosaurus Joost Schouten : Schouten Island Simon van der Stel : Simonstad ( Simon 's Town ) ; Stellenbosch ; Stellenbosch University Hendrik Swellengrebel : Swellendam Salomon Sweers : Sweers Island Abel Tasman : Tasmania ; Tasman Sea ; Tasman Bay ; Tasman River ; Mount Tasman ; Tasman Highway ; Tasman Bridge ; Abel Tasman National Park ; Tasman District ; Tasmanian devil Maarten Gerritsz Vries : Vries Strait Nicolaes Witsen : 10653 Witsen ( minor planet ) VOC 's important heritage sites This section contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. ( February 2018 ) See also : Former settlements and colonies of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), Former trading posts of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), Former properties of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), Populated places established by the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), and Buildings and structures associated with the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) Netherlands : Amsterdam ( Oost - Indisch Huis ) ; Zaandam Indonesia : Java ( Jakarta ) South Africa : Western Cape ( Cape Town ; Stellenbosch ; Swellendam ; Franschhoek ; Paarl ) Taiwan : Tainan ( Fort Zeelandia ) Japan : Nagasaki ( Hirado & Dejima ) Malaysia : Malacca ( Christ Church & Stadthuys ) Australia : Western Australia ( Dirk Hartog Island & Houtman Abrolhos ) Populated places established by people of the VOC Cape Dutch style - influenced eclectic building of the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk in Swellendam. The Cape Dutch architecture, along with Afrikaans language and Afrikaans literature, is among the lasting legacy of the VOC - era Afrikaans culture in South Africa. Populated places ( including cities, towns and villages ) established / founded by people of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ). Batavia ( Dutch East Indies ), modern - day Jakarta. Tainan, the oldest urban area in Taiwan. Kaapstad ( Cape Town ), the oldest urban area in South Africa and one of the first permanent European settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa. Constantia ( Cape Town 's suburb ) is considered one of the oldest wine - producing regions in the Southern Hemisphere. Stellenbosch, the second oldest urban area ( town ) in South Africa. Swellendam, the third oldest urban area ( town ) in South Africa. Graaff - Reinet, the fourth oldest urban area ( town ) in South Africa. Franschhoek, a town in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Paarl, the third oldest European settlement in South Africa and the largest town in the Cape Winelands. Simonstad ( Simon 's Town ), a town near Cape Town, South Africa. Dutch Mauritius, the first permanent human settlement ever in Mauritius. VOC Archives and records The VOC 's operations ( trading posts and colonies ) produced not only warehouses packed with spices, coffee, tea, textiles, porcelain and silk, but also shiploads of documents. Data on political, economic, cultural, religious, and social conditions spread over an enormous area circulated between the VOC establishments, the administrative centre of the trade in Batavia ( modern - day Jakarta ), and the board of directors ( the Heeren XVII / Gentlemen Seventeen ) in the Dutch Republic. The VOC records are included in UNESCO 's Memory of the World Register. VOC coins Main article : Dutch East India Company coinage Bronze doit of the VOC, depicting the company 's monogram - logo and its date of production. Notable VOC ships See also : East Indiaman See also : Category : Ships of the Dutch East India Company. See also : Category : Ship designs of the Dutch Republic Replicas have been constructed of several VOC ships, marked with an ( R ) Akerendam Amsterdam ( R ) Arnhem Batavia ( R ) Braek Concordia Dromedaris ( `` Dromedary camel '' ) Duyfken ( `` Little Dove '' ) ( R ) Eendracht ( 1615 ) ( `` Unity '' ) Galias Grooten Broeck ( `` Great Stream '' ) Goede Hoop ( `` Good Hope '' ) Gulden Zeepaert ( `` Golden Seahorse '' ) Halve Maen ( `` Half moon '' ) ( R ) Haerlem Hoogkarspel Heemskerck Hollandia Klein Amsterdam ( `` Small Amsterdam '' ) Landskroon Leeuwerik ( `` Lark '' ) Leyden Limmen Mauritius Meermin ( `` Mermaid '' ) Naerden Nieuw Hoorn ( `` New Hoorn '' ) Oliphant ( `` Elephant '' ) Pera ( `` Perak '', Malay for `` silver '' ) Prins Willem ( `` Prince William '' ) ( R ) Reijger Ridderschap van Holland ( `` Knighthood of Holland '' ) Rooswijk Sardam Texel Utrecht Vergulde Draeck ( `` Gilded Dragon '' ) Vianen Vliegende Hollander ( `` Flying Dutchman '' ) Vliegende Swaan ( `` Flying Swan '' ) Walvisch ( `` Whale '' ) Wapen van Hoorn ( `` Arms of Hoorn '' ) Wezel ( `` Weasel '' ) Zeehaen ( `` Sea Cock '' ) Zeemeeuw ( `` Seagull '' ) Zeewijk Zuytdorp ( `` South Village '' ) VOC world Studies Main article : List of works about the Dutch East India Company See also : Category : Historians of the Dutch East India Company The Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) is one of the best expertly researched business enterprises in history. For almost 200 years of the Company 's existence ( 1602 -- 1800 ), the VOC was effectively a state, an empire, or a world in its own right. The VOC world has been the subject of a vast amount of literature. As North & Kaufmann ( 2014 ) notes, `` the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) has long attracted the attention of scholarship. Its lengthy history, widespread enterprises, and the survival of massive amounts of documentation -- literally 1,200 meters of essays pertaining to the VOC may be found in the National Archives in The Hague, and many more documents are scattered in archives throughout Asia and in South Africa -- have stimulated many works on economic and social history. Important publications have also appeared on the trade, shipping, institutional organization, and administration of the VOC. Much has also been learned about the VOC and Dutch colonial societies. Moreover, the TANAP ( Towards a New Age of Partnership, 2000 -- 2007 ) project has created momentum for research on the relationship between the VOC and indigenous societies. In contrast, the role of the VOC in cultural history and especially in the history of visual and material culture has not yet attracted comparable interest. To be sure, journals and other travel accounts ( some even with illustrations ) by soldiers, shippers, and VOC officials among others have been utilized as sources. '' Some of the notable VOC scholars including Charles Ralph Boxer, Leonard Blussé, Femme Gaastra, Oscar Gelderblom, Joost Jonker, Om Prakash, Sinnappah Arasaratnam, Jaap R. Bruijn, Nigel Worden, and Günter Schilder. For scholarly works ( books and articles ) about the VOC world, see article section : List of works about the Dutch East India Company # Non-fiction. VOC timeline and historic firsts The publication of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius in 1570 marked the official beginning of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography ( c. 1570s -- 1670s ). In the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery ( c. 1590s -- 1720s ), the Dutch Republic 's seafarers and explorers ( including the VOC 's navigators ) became the first non-natives to undisputedly discover, explore and map coastlines of the Australian continent ( including Mainland Australia, Tasmania, and their surrounding islands ), New Zealand, Tonga, and Fiji. Voorcompagnie period ( proto - VOC ) 1579 : Establishment of the Union of Utrecht as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces ( or the Dutch Republic ). 1580 : Establishment of the Iberian Union ( 1580 -- 1640 ) by Philip II, King of Spain and Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands ( Heer der Nederlanden in Dutch ). 1581 : Act of Abjuration. 1585 : Fall of Antwerp. 1594 -- 1598 : Establishment of the Compagnie van Verre, one of the forerunners of the United East India Company / Dutch East India Company ( VOC ). 1595 -- 1597 : First systematic mapping of the far southern sky in history of celestial cartography ( 12 Dutch - created southern constellations ). In the first Dutch expedition to the East Indies, Dutch navigators Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman introduced and listed the 12 new southern constellations ( including Apus, Chamaeleon, Dorado, Grus, Hydrus, Indus, Musca, Pavo, Phoenix, Triangulum Australe, Tucana, and Volans ). These 12 southern constellations first appeared on a 35 - cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 / 1598 in Amsterdam by Petrus Plancius ( one of the founders of the Dutch East India Company ) and Jodocus Hondius. 1596 : Dutch explorer Willem Barentsz and his crew became the firsts to undisputedly discover and chart the Svalbard archipelago while searching for the Northern Sea Route ( Northeast Passage ) to the Far East. 1596 : The publication of Jan Huygen van Linschoten 's Itinerario in Amsterdam opened the Indian Ocean world for the European geographical imagination. Van Linschoten is credited with publishing in Europe important classified information about Asian trade and navigation that was hidden by the Iberian great powers ( the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire ). 1598 -- 1600 : Second Dutch expedition to the East Indies. 1599 -- 1602 : Establishment of the Brabantsche Compagnie, one of the forerunners of the United East Indies Company / Dutch East India Company ( VOC ). 1600 : Establishment of the British East India Company ( 1600 -- 1874 ). VOC era 1602 : On March 20, the United East Indies Company / United East India Company ( Vereenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie, or VOC in Dutch ), often referred to by the British as the Dutch East India Company, the world 's first true transnational corporation, was originally established as a chartered company. The VOC was the first joint - stock company to get a fixed capital stock and the first recorded ( public ) company ever to pay regular dividends. 1606 : The first ( undisputed ) documented European sighting of and landing on the Australian continent ( Nova Hollandia ) by the VOC navigator Willem Janszoon aboard the Duyfken. 1608 -- 1825 : Establishment of Dutch Coromandel by the VOC. 1609 : The VOC ship Halve Maen 's exploratory voyage, a milestone in the history of New York ( including New York City ) and North America. English explorer Henry Hudson, in the employ of the VOC, sailed the Halve Maen through the Narrows into Upper New York Bay. He was looking for a westerly passage to the Far East. 1609 : Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius wrote Mare Liberum, a foundational treatise on modern international law of the sea, while being a counsel to the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) over the seizing of the Santa Catarina Portuguese carrack issue. 1609 : The first recorded corporate governance dispute, took place on January 24 ( 1609 ) between the shareholders / investors ( most notably Isaac Le Maire ) and directors of the VOC. 1609 : The first recorded short seller in history, Isaac Le Maire, a sizeable shareholder of the VOC. 1609 : Establishment of the Bank of Amsterdam ( Amsterdamsche Wisselbank in Dutch ), arguably the world 's first central bank. 1610 : An early mechanism of financial regulation practice was the first recorded ban on short selling, by the Dutch authorities. 1611 : The world 's first official / formal stock exchange ( Amsterdam Stock Exchange, or Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser in Dutch ) and stock market were launched by the VOC in Amsterdam. 1611 : The VOC was the first corporation to be ever actually listed on an official / formal stock exchange. In other words, the VOC was the world 's first formally listed public company ( or publicly listed company ). 1611 : Discovery of the Brouwer Route by the VOC navigator Hendrik Brouwer. 1616 : The VOC navigator Dirk Hartog made the first recorded European landing on the west coast of the Australian continent. 1616 : Hartog Plate, the first known European artefact found on Australian soil ( Dirk Hartog Island ). 1616 -- 1825 : Establishment of Dutch Suratte by the VOC. 1616 : Establishment of the Danish East India Company ( 1616 -- 1729 ). 1619 : Establishment of Batavia at the site of the razed city of Jayakarta by the VOC. 1619 : Batavia Castle ( Kasteel van Batavia in Dutch ) was built by the VOC. 1621 : Establishment of the Dutch West India Company ( WIC / GWIC in Dutch ). 1622 : On January 24, Amsterdam - based businessman Isaac Le Maire filed a petition against the VOC, marking the first recorded expression of shareholder activism or shareholder rebellion. 1623 : Amboyna massacre. 1624 -- 1634 : Fort Zeelandia / Fort Anping ( Dutch Formosa ) was built by the VOC. 1624 -- 1662 : Tainan ( Dutch Formosa ), the first urban area to be established in Taiwan. 1627 -- 1825 : Establishment of Dutch Bengal by the VOC. 1627 : The VOC explorers François Thijssen and Pieter Nuyts made the first recorded European landing on the south coast of the Australian continent and charted about 1,800 kilometres of it between Cape Leeuwin and the Nuyts Archipelago. 1628 : Establishment of the Portuguese East India Company ( 1628 -- 1633 ). 1629 : Wiebbe Hayes Stone Fort ( West Wallabi Island ), the first known European structure to be built on the Australian continent. It was built by survivors of the Batavia shipwreck and massacre. 1636 -- 1637 : Tulip Mania, generally considered to be the first recorded economic bubble ( or speculative bubble ) in history. Early stock market bubbles and crashes also have their roots in financial activities of the Dutch East India Company and Dutch Republic. 1637 : Hansken, a young female Asian elephant from Dutch Ceylon, was brought to Amsterdam in 1637, aboard a VOC ship. Dutch Golden Age artist Rembrandt made some historical drawings of Hansken. 1638 -- 1710 : Dutch Mauritius, the first permanent human settlement to be established in Mauritius. 1640 -- 1796 : Establishment of Dutch Ceylon by the VOC. 1641 -- 1825 : Establishment of Dutch Malacca by the VOC. 1641 -- 1853 : Beginnings of Rangaku ( first phase : 1641 -- 1720 ). After 1641, the VOC businessmen were the only Western allowed to trade with or to enter isolated Japan. 1642 : The VOC explorer Abel Tasman discovered, explored, and charted Tasmania and its neighboring islands. He named Tasmania Anthoonij van Diemenslandt ( Anglicised as Van Diemen 's Land ), after Anthony van Diemen, the Dutch East India Company 's Governor General, who had commissioned his voyage. 1642 : On December 13, Abel Tasman 's VOC crew were the first non-natives known to discover, explore and chart New Zealand 's coastline ( Nova Zeelandia ). 1643 : The VOC 's navigator Maarten Gerritsz Vries became the first recorded European to explore and map Vries Strait. 1643 -- 1644 : Cambodian -- Dutch War. 1646 : Battles of La Naval de Manila. 1648 : Peace of Westphalia. 1652 -- 1654 : First Anglo - Dutch War. 1652 -- 1806 : Kaapstad ( Cape Town ), the first urban area to be established in South Africa. 1653 -- 1666 : The VOC bookkeeper Hendrick Hamel was the first known non-Asian to experience first - hand and write about Joseon - era Korea ( often referred to as the `` Hermit Kingdom '' ). 1659 : Beginnings of the South African wine industry. 1659 -- 1677 : Khoikhoi -- Dutch Wars. 1660 : King Charles II of England sailed from Breda to Delft in a yacht owned by the VOC. HMY Mary and HMY Bezan ( both were built by the VOC ) were given to Charles II, on the restoration of the monarchy, as part of the Dutch Gift. 1661 -- 1795 : Establishment of Dutch Malabar by the VOC. 1662 : The publication of Johannes Blaeu 's Atlas Maior ( first edition ) in Amsterdam. Johannes Blaeu ( also known as Joan Blaeu ), like his father Willem Blaeu, was an official cartographer to the VOC. Along with Abraham Ortelius 's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ( 1570 ), the Atlas Maior ( 1662 -- 65 ) is widely considered a masterpiece of the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography ( also known as the Golden Age of Dutch cartography ). 1664 : Establishment of the French East India Company ( 1664 -- 1794 ). 1665 -- 1667 : Second Anglo - Dutch War. 1666 -- 1679 : The Castle of Good Hope, the oldest surviving building in South Africa, was built by the VOC. 1672 -- 1674 : Third Anglo - Dutch War. 1672 -- 1678 : Franco - Dutch War. 1679 : Stellenbosch, the second oldest urban area ( town ) in South Africa, was founded in 1679 by the Governor of the Dutch Cape Colony Simon van der Stel. 1680 : Establishment of Simonstad ( Simon 's Town ), a town near Cape Town. 1688 -- 1689 : The first large - scale emigration of Huguenots to the Dutch Cape Colony ( modern - day Western Cape, South Africa ). 1688 : Establishment of Franschhoek, a town in the Western Cape Province, in 1688 by Huguenots. 1688 : After observing and analyzing the workings of the VOC - lead Dutch stock market, Amsterdam - based businessman Joseph de la Vega published Confusion de Confusiones, the earliest known book about stock trading and first book on the inner workings of the stock market ( including the stock exchange ) in its modern sense. The publication of Confusion de Confusiones ( 1688 ) helped lay the foundations for modern fields of technical analysis and behavioral finance. 1697 : European discovery of black swans for the first time in history, by the VOC navigator Willem de Vlamingh. 1697 : In his undercover visit to the Dutch Republic as part of the Grand Embassy mission ( 1697 -- 98 ), Tsar Peter I of Russia ( Peter the Great ) worked as a ship 's carpenter in the VOC 's shipyards in Amsterdam and Zaandam / Saardam. 1722 : In the service of the Dutch West India Company ( WIC / GWIC ), Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen and his crew were arrested for violating the monopoly of the VOC and sent back to the Dutch Republic almost as prisoners on ships of the VOC, the rivals of the Dutch West India Company. 1731 : Establishment of the Swedish East India Company ( 1731 -- 1813 ). 1740 : Batavia massacre. 1746 : Establishment of Swellendam, the third oldest urban area ( town ) in South Africa. 1780 -- 1784 : Fourth Anglo - Dutch War. Gallery The restored conference room of the Heeren XVII ( the VOC 's board of directors ) in the East Indies House / Oost - Indisch Huis, Amsterdam. Duyfken replica under sail. A replica of the VOC vessel Batavia ( 1620 -- 29 ). 19th - century illustration Halve Maen ( Half Moon ) in the Hudson River in 1609. Anonymous painting with Table Mountain in the background, 1762. Dutch church at Batavia, Dutch East Indies, 1682. Factory in Hugli - Chuchura, Dutch Bengal, Dutch India, by Hendrik van Schuylenburgh ( 1665 ). Ground - plan of the Dutch trade - post on the island Dejima at Nagasaki. An imagined bird 's - eye view of Dejima 's layout and structures ( copied from a woodblock print by Toshimaya Bunjiemon of 1780 ). A naval cannon ( Dejima, Nagasaki, Japan ). The letters `` VOC '' are the monogram of the `` Vereenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie '' and the letter `` A '' represents the `` Amsterdam '' Chamber of the company. Kraak porcelain in a museum in Malacca. Portrait of Abel Tasman, his wife and daughter. Attributed to Jacob Gerritsz Cuyp, 1637. Wall of Fort Zeelandia / Fort Anping, Tainan ( Taiwan ). The Dutch Square, Dutch Malacca. Northern view from the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town ( Dutch Cape Colony ). The Castle of Good Hope ( Kasteel de Goede Hoop in Dutch ), Cape Town, South Africa. Notes Jump up ^ The direct translation of the Dutch name Verenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie is `` United East - India Company ''. For the VOC 's different English - language trade names, see articles : East India companies ; Greater India ; East India ; East Indies ; Dutch East Indies ; Dutch India ; Voorcompagnie ; List of Dutch East India Company trading posts and settlements. Jump up ^ Historically, the Dutch East India Company was a multi-industry corporation ( including international trade, shipbuilding, and sugarcane industry ) rather than a pure trading company or shipping company. Jump up ^ As the VOC 's board of directors. Jump up ^ As the VOC 's de facto ( overseas ) chief executives. Jump up ^ Edward Stringham ( 2015 ) notes : `` Companies with transferable shares date back to classical Rome, but these were usually not enduring endeavors and no considerable secondary market existed ( Neal, 1997, p. 61 ). '' Jump up ^ A public company, also called a publicly traded company, publicly held company, or public corporation. A public company can be listed company ( publicly listed company ) or unlisted company ( unlisted public company ). Kevin Kaiser & David Young ( 2013 ) explain : `` There are other claimants to the title of first public company, including a twelfth - century water mill in France and a thirteenth - century company intended to control the English wool trade, Staple of London. Its shares, however, and the manner in which those shares were traded, did not truly allow public ownership by anyone who happened to be able to afford a share. The arrival of VOC shares was therefore momentous, because as Fernand Braudel pointed out, it opened up the ownership of companies and the ideas they generated, beyond the ranks of the aristocracy and the very rich, so that everyone could finally participate in the speculative freedom of transactions. By expanding ownership of its company pie for a certain price and a tentative return, the Dutch had done something historic : they had created a capital market. '' Jump up ^ The concept of the bourse ( or the exchange ) was historically ' invented ' ( in medieval Bruges ) before the birth of formal stock exchanges in the 17th century. Before the VOC era, in terms of historical role, a bourse was not exactly a stock exchange in its modern sense. With the establishment of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) and the rise of Dutch capital markets in the early 1600s, the ' old ' bourse ( a place to trade commodities, municipal and government bonds ) found a new purpose -- a formal exchange that specialize in creating and sustaining secondary markets in the securities ( such as bonds and shares of stock ) issued by corporations -- or a modern stock exchange as we know it today. Jump up ^ For the pioneering roles of the Dutch Republic and the VOC in history of modern capitalism, see articles : History of capitalism ; Economic history of the Dutch Republic ; Financial history of the Dutch Republic. Jump up ^ A transnational corporation differs from a traditional multinational corporation in that it does not identify itself with one national home. While traditional multinational corporations are national companies with foreign subsidiaries, transnational corporations spread out their operations in many countries sustaining high levels of local responsiveness. An example of a transnational corporation is the Royal Dutch Shell corporation whose headquarters may be in The Hague ( Netherlands ) but its registered office and main executive body is headquartered in London, United Kingdom. Another example of a transnational corporation is Nestlé who employ senior executives from many countries and try to make decisions from a global perspective rather than from one centralized headquarters. While the VOC established its main administrative center, as the second headquarters, in Batavia ( Dutch East Indies, 1610 -- 1800 ), the company 's global headquarters was in Amsterdam ( Dutch Republic ). Also, the company had important operations elsewhere. Jump up ^ Including the British East India Company ( EIC ), the VOC 's nearest competitor. As Catherine Macaulay ( 2015 ) notes, `` (... ) Meanwhile in England, the EIC repeatedly issued new bonds for the term of single voyages until 1657 and each of the six fleets sailing between 1610 and 1612 provided a profit between 50 and 200 % ( Dari - Mattiacci et al., 2013, p. 18 ). (... ) The EIC 's bond format, used successfully for over 50 years, has been criticised for preventing capital accumulation as bonds were liquidated quickly after each voyage and a new company effectively established for the next expedition. (... ) The evolution of company bonds, adapting arrangements to suit new goals, was cut short when the EIC adopted the VOC share model in 1657. '' Jump up ^ It was also the Dutch financial innovations that helped lay the foundations for the financial system of the modern world, especially in corporate finance, and greatly influenced the financial history of English - speaking countries, especially the United Kingdom and United States. Jump up ^ Eric Michael Wilson ( 2008 ) notes : `` the defining characteristics of the modern corporation, all of which emerged during the Dutch cycle, include : limited liability for investors, free transferability of investor interests, legal personality and centralised management. Although some of these characteristics were present to a certain extent in the fourteenth - century Genoese societas comperarum of the first cycle, the first wholly cognisable modern limited liability public company was the VOC. The organisational structures and corporate practices of the VOC were closely paralleled by the English East India Company and served as the direct model for all of the later mercantile trading companies of the second cycle, including those of Italy, France, Portugal, Denmark, and Brandenburg - Prussia. '' Jump up ^ In terms of historical importance, overall influence ( including institutional innovations ), power, size, competitive capability ( profitability ), and wealth of the VOC. As Murray Sayle ( 2001 ) compares, `` The Netherlands United East Indies Company ( Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or VOC ), founded in 1602, was the world 's first multinational, joint - stock, limited liability corporation -- as well as its first government - backed trading cartel. Our own East India Company, founded in 1600, remained a coffee - house clique until 1657, when it, too, began selling shares, not in individual voyages, but in John Company itself, by which time its Dutch rival was by far the biggest commercial enterprise the world had known. '' Jump up ^ Mark Smith ( 2003 ) notes : `` The first joint - stock companies had actually been created in England in the sixteenth century. These early joint - stock firms, however, possessed only temporary charters from the government, in some cases for one voyage only. ( One example was the Muscovy Company, chartered in England in 1533 for trade with Russia ; another, chartered the same year, was a company with the intriguing title Guinea Adventurers. ) The Dutch East India Company was the first joint - stock company to have a permanent charter. '' Jump up ^ Wu Wei Neng ( 2012 ) noted : `` 17th century Amsterdam was the world 's first modern financial centre -- the city hall, Wisselbank, Beurs ( stock exchange ), Korenbeurs ( commodities exchange ), major insurance, brokerage and trading companies were located within a few blocks of each other, along with coffee houses which served as informal trading floors and exchanges that facilitated deal - making. Financial innovations such as maritime insurance, retirement pensions, annuities, futures and options, transnational securities listings, mutual funds and modern investment banking had their genesis in 17th and 18th century Amsterdam. '' Jump up ^ Richard Sylla ( 2015 ) notes : `` In modern history, several nations had what some of us call financial revolutions. These can be thought of as creating in a short period of time all the key components of a modern financial system. The first was the Dutch Republic four centuries ago. '' Jump up ^ In Karl Marx 's own words, `` Its ( 17th - century Dutch Republic 's ) fisheries, marine, manufactures, surpassed those of any other country. The total capital of the Republic was probably more important than that of all the rest of Europe put together. '' ( Das Kapital ) As Witold Rybczynski ( 1987 ) notes, the Dutch Republic or the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in its Golden Age of the 17th - century, `` had few natural resources -- no mines, no forests -- and what little land there was needed constant protection from the sea. But this `` low '' country surprisingly quickly established itself as a major power. In a short time it became the most advanced shipbuilding nation in the world and developed large naval, fishing, and merchant fleets. (... ) The Netherlands introduced many financial innovations that made it a major economic force -- and Amsterdam became the world center for international finance. Its manufacturing towns grew so quickly that by the middle of the century the Netherlands had supplanted France as the leading industrial nation of the world. '' Jump up ^ It was the invention of the Hollander beater ( in the 17th - century ) that made the Dutch Republic a major player in global pulp and paper industry. Jump up ^ As Immanuel Wallerstein ( 1980 ) remarked, the Dutch shipbuilding industry was `` of modern dimensions, inclining strongly toward standardised, repetitive methods. It was highly mechanized and used many labor - saving devices -- wind - powered sawmills, powered feeders for saw, block and tackles, great cranes to move heavy timbers -- all of which increased productivity. '' Jump up ^ In Balkenende 's own words : `` Let us be optimistic ! Let us say, ' It is possible again in The Netherlands ! ' That VOC mentality : looking across borders with dynamism ! '' ( translated from the original text in Dutch ). Jump up ^ The Dutch Republic or officially the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands ( Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden or Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden in Dutch ). Jump up ^ See also Jan Jansz. Weltevree Jump up ^ Also known as the Golden Age of Dutch cartography. Jump up ^ Including some notable representatives of the Netherlandish school of cartography in its golden age ( 1500s -- 1600s ), such as Petrus Plancius, Willem Blaeu, and Hessel Gerritsz. Jump up ^ Zaandam ( Saardam ) was a historical center of the Dutch Republic 's well - known shipbuilding industry. The shipbuilding district of Zaandam, in Holland, was one of the world 's earliest known heavily industrialized areas. Jump up ^ née Maria van Aelst, wife of Anthony van Diemen ( Anthoonij van Diemen in Dutch ), the Governor - General of the Dutch East Indies in Batavia. Jump up ^ The town named after the then governor of Dutch Cape Colony, Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff, and his wife, whose maiden name was `` Reinet ''. Jump up ^ i.e., first settled or otherwise came into existence. Jump up ^ named after Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, the Stadtholder of all the provinces of the Dutch Republic ( except for Friesland ) from 1585 until his death in 1625. References Jump up ^ Shih, Chih - Ming ; Yen, Szu - Yin ( 2009 ). The Transformation of the Sugar Industry and Land Use Policy in Taiwan, in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering ( 8 : 1 ), pp. 41 -- 48 Jump up ^ Tseng, Hua - pi ( 2016 ). Sugar Cane and the Environment under Dutch Rule in Seventeenth Century Taiwan, in Environmental History in the Making, pp. 189 -- 200 Jump up ^ `` The Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) ''. Canon van Nederland. Retrieved 19 March 2011. Jump up ^ Stringham, Edward Peter : Private Governance : Creating Order in Economic and Social Life. ( Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 9780199365166 ), p. 42 Jump up ^ Kaiser, Kevin ; Young, S. David ( 2013 ) : The Blue Line Imperative : What Managing for Value Really Means. ( Jossey - Bass, 2013, ISBN 978 - 1118510889 ), p. 26. Jump up ^ Chambers, Clem ( 14 Jul 2006 ). `` Who needs stock exchanges ? ''. MondoVisione.com. Retrieved 20 December 2014. Jump up ^ Goetzmann, William N. ; Rouwenhorst, K. Geert ( 2005 ) Jump up ^ Jonker, Joost ; Gelderblom, Oscar ; de Jong, Abe ( 2013 ) ^ Jump up to : Brook, Timothy : Vermeer 's Hat : The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Global World. ( Profile Books, 2008 ) ^ Jump up to : Shorto, Russell ( 2013 ). Amsterdam : A History of the World 's Most Liberal City. ^ Jump up to : Taylor, Bryan. `` The First and the Greatest : The Rise and Fall of the Vereenigde Oost - Indische Compagnie ''. GlobalFinancialData.com. Retrieved 11 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Vickers ( 2005 ), p. 10 Jump up ^ In his Das Kapital, Karl Marx describes the Dutch Republic, in its Golden Age, as `` the model capitalist nation of the seventeenth century '', which was at the dawn of modern capitalism. ^ Jump up to : Taylor, Peter J. ( 2002 ). Dutch Hegemony and Contemporary Globalization ( Paper prepared for Political Economy of World - Systems Conference, Riverside, California ). Jump up ^ Gordon, John Steele ( 1999 ). The Great Game : The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power : 1653 -- 2000. ( Scribner, ISBN 978 - 0684832876 ). Jump up ^ `` Slave Ship Mutiny : Program Transcript ''. Secrets of the Dead. PBS. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 12 November 2010. Jump up ^ Ames, Glenn J. ( 2008 ). The Globe Encompassed : The Age of European Discovery, 1500 -- 1700. pp. 102 -- 103. Jump up ^ `` Archived copy ''. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 5 July 2015. VOC at the National Library of the Netherlands ( in Dutch ) Jump up ^ Due to internal structural changes, the effects of the fourth Anglo Dutch War in 1780 and the invasion of the French in 1795 all contributed to created a perfect storm devastating the company 's revenue and lending capability. The ' Committee for Affairs Relating to East India Trade and Possessions ', instituted by the new Batavian Republic revolutionary government, resulting in the VOC being nationalised on 1 January 1800. The VOC charter, the legal foundation of the enterprise was revoked. Although the state of war in Europe permitted no drastic changes in course as far as shipping and trade to Asia were concerned it spelled the end of the company Balk, L., Van Dijk, F., Kortlang, D., Gaastra, F. Niemeijer, H., Koenders, P. ( 2007 ) The Archives of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) and the Local Institutions in Batavia ( Jakarta ), p. 14 Jump up ^ Zuber, Charles. `` VOC : The logo that lasted ''. Designonline.org.au. Retrieved 22 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Tim Treadgold ( 13 March 2006 ). `` Cross-Breeding ''. Forbes. Archived from the original on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2013. Jump up ^ The Dutch East India Company, European Heritage Project Jump up ^ Crump, Thomas ( 1 March 2006 ). `` The Dutch East Indies Company -- The First 100 Years ( Transcript ) ''. Gresham College ( gresham.ac.uk ). Retrieved 21 August 2017. Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 383 ^ Jump up to : Ricklefs, M.C. ( 1991 ). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd Edition. London : MacMillan. p. 27. ISBN 0 - 333 - 57689 - 6. ^ Jump up to : Ricklefs, M.C. ( 1991 ). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd Edition. London : MacMillan. pp. 25 -- 28. ISBN 0 - 333 - 57689 - 6. Jump up ^ ( in Portuguese ) Matos, Artur Teodoro de ( 1974 ), Timor Portugues, 1515 -- 1769, Lisboa : Instituto Histórico Infante Dom Henrique. Jump up ^ ( in Dutch ) Roever, Arend de ( 2002 ), De jacht op sandelhout : De VOC en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw, Zutphen : Walburg Pers. Jump up ^ In the medium term, as new suppliers could enter the market. In the short term the supply was, of course, also inelastic. ^ Jump up to : De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 384 -- 385 Jump up ^ Reid, Anthony ( 1993 ). Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450 - 1680. New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press. p. 290. Jump up ^ Bruce, John ( 1810 ). Annals of the Honorable East - India Company. Black, Parry, and Kingsbury. p. 28. Jump up ^ Boxer, C.R. ( 1948 ). Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550 -- 1770. The Hague : Martinus Nijhoff. p. 50. Jump up ^ Boyajian, James C. ( 2008 ). Portuguese Trade in Asia under the Habsburgs, 1580 -- 1640. JHU Press. p. 151. ISBN 0 - 8018 - 8754 - 2. ^ Jump up to : Ricklefs, M.C. ( 1991 ). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd Edition. London : MacMillan. p. 29. ISBN 0 - 333 - 57689 - 6. Jump up ^ Om Prakash, The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630 -- 1720 ( Princeton University Press, 1985 ) Jump up ^ William De Lange, Pars Japonica : the first Dutch expedition to reach the shores of Japan, ( 2006 ) Jump up ^ Miller, George ( ed. ) ( 1996 ). To The Spice Islands and Beyond : Travels in Eastern Indonesia. New York : Oxford University Press. xvi. ISBN 967 - 65 - 3099 - 9. CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Ricklefs, M.C. ( 1991 ). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, 2nd Edition. London : MacMillan. p. 30. ISBN 0 - 333 - 57689 - 6. Jump up ^ The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600 -- 1800, p. 218 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 386 Jump up ^ Ames, Glenn J. ( 2008 ). The Globe Encompassed : The Age of European Discovery, 1500 -- 1700. p. 115. Jump up ^ `` Calling the shots : political interaction ''. Jump up ^ Andrade, Tonio ( 2005 ). How Taiwan Became Chinese : Dutch, Spanish and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century. Columbia University Press. Jump up ^ http://majalah.tempointeraktif.com/id/arsip/1982/07/31/BK/mbm.19820731.BK47129.id.html Jump up ^ The share price had appreciated significantly, so in that respect the dividend was less impressive Jump up ^ De Witt, D. `` The Easternization of the West : The Role of Melaka, the Malay - Indonesian archipelago and the Dutch ( VOC ). ( International seminar by the Melaka State Government, the Malaysian Institute of Historical and Patriotism Studies ( IKSEP ), the Institute of Occidental Studies ( IKON ) at the National University of Malaysia ( UKM ) and the Netherlands Embassy in Malaysia. Malacca, Malaysia, 27 July 2006 ''. Children of the VOC at. Jump up ^ Blusse, Leonard. Strange Company : Chinese Settlers, Mestizo Women and the Dutch in VOC Batavia. ( Dordrecht - Holland ; Riverton, U.S.A., Foris Publications, 1986. xiii, 302p. ) number : 959.82 B659. Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 434 -- 435 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 430 -- 433 Jump up ^ During the Nine Years ' War, the French and Dutch companies came to blows on the Indian Subcontinent. The French sent naval expeditions from metropolitan France, which the VOC easily countered. On the other hand, the VOC conquered the important fortress of Pondichéry after a siege of only 16 days by an expedition of 3,000 men and 19 ships under Laurens Pit from Negapatnam in September 1693. The Dutch then made the defenses of the fortress impregnable, which they came to regret when the Dutch government returned it to the French by the Treaty of Ryswick in exchange for tariff concessions in Europe by the French. Chauhuri and Israel, p 424 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 433 -- 434 Jump up ^ Chaudhuri and Israel, pp. 428 -- 429 Jump up ^ However, the VOC had been defeated many times before. On the Indian Subcontinent, the EIC had suffered a resounding defeat from the Mughal forces in its 1689 Mughal War ; Chaudhury and Israel, pp. 435 -- 436 Jump up ^ It was also helpful that the price war with the EIC in the early decade had caused the accumulation of enormous inventories of pepper and spices, which enabled the VOC to cut down on shipments later on, thereby freeing up capital to increase shipments of other goods ; De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 436 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 436 -- 437 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 437 -- 440 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 441 -- 442 ^ Jump up to : De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 447 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 448 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 449 -- 455 Jump up ^ A particularly egregious example was that of the `` Amfioen Society ''. This was a business of higher VOC - employees that received a monopoly of the opium trade on Java, at a time when the VOC had to pay monopoly prices to the EIC to buy the opium in Bengal ; Burger, passim Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 454 -- 455 Jump up ^ Kumar, Ann ( 1997 ). Java and Modern Europe : Ambiguous Encounters. p. 32. ^ Jump up to : TANAP, The end of the VOC Jump up ^ Anderson, Clare ; Frykma, Niklas ; van Voss, Lex Heerma ; Rediker, Marcus ( 2013 ). Mutiny and Maritime Radicalism in the Age of Revolution : A Global Survey, p. 113 - 114 Jump up ^ De Vries, Jan ; Van der Woude, Ad ( 1997 ). The First Modern Economy : Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500 -- 1815, p. 462 Jump up ^ Howard, Michael C. ( 2011 ). Transnationalism and Society : An Introduction, p. 121 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 385 Jump up ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 384 -- 385 Jump up ^ Ames, Glenn J. ( 2008 ). 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Retrieved 23 March 2018. Jump up ^ Mahaney, Mark ( 8 Jan 2017 ). `` How Amazon Can Become the World 's First Trillion - Dollar Business ''. Supply Chain 24 / 7 ( supplychain247.com ). Retrieved 11 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Desjardins, Jeff ( VisualCapitalist.com ) ( 12 December 2017 ). `` How today 's tech giants compare to the massive companies of empires past ''. BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved 17 December 2017. Jump up ^ Sayle, Murray ( 5 Apr 2001 ). `` Japan goes Dutch ''. London Review of Books, Vol. 23 No. 7. Retrieved 25 Feb 2017. ^ Jump up to : Murphy, Richard McGill ( 1 Jul 2014 ). `` Is Asia the next financial center of the world ? ''. CNBC.com. Retrieved 11 Mar 2017. Jump up ^ Brooks, John : The Fluctuation : The Little Crash in ' 62, in Business Adventures : Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street. ( New York : Weybright & Talley, 1968 ) Jump up ^ Shorto, Russell : Amsterdam : A History of the World 's Most Liberal City. ( Doubleday, 2013, pp. 368 ). Jump up ^ Manber, Jeffrey ( 9 October 2016 ). `` Exploration Created the World 's First Stock Market ''. JeffreyManber.com. Retrieved 1 August 2017. Jump up ^ Rothbard, Murray : Making Economic Sense, 2nd edition. ( Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2006, ISBN 9781610165907 ), p. 426. Jump up ^ Molavi, Afshin ( 12 March 2017 ). `` The Netherlands was once a liberal force for globalization. Has the country lost its way ? ''. The Washington Post ( washingtonpost.com ). Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ Earl, Steve ( 29 October 2012 ). `` Dutch courage : modern PR lessons from the world 's first corporation ''. Zeno Group ( zenogroup.com ). Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ Neal, Larry : The Rise of Financial Capitalism : International Capital Markets in the Age of Reason ( Studies in Monetary and Financial History ). ( Cambridge University Press, 1993, ISBN 9780521457385 ) Jump up ^ Goetzmann, William N. ; Rouwenhorst, K. Geert : The Origins of Value : The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets. ( Oxford University Press, 2005, ISBN 978 - 0195175714 ) ) Jump up ^ Hagel, John ; Brown, John Seely ( 12 March 2013 ). `` Institutional Innovation : Creating smarter Organizations ''. Deloitte University Press. Retrieved 21 Jan 2017. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) Jump up ^ Former US President Theodore Roosevelt once said `` I believe in corporations. They are indispensable instruments of our modern civilization... ''. In `` The Age of Uncertainty '' ( 1977 ), John Kenneth Galbraith, writes, `` The institution that most changes our lives we least understand or, more correctly, seek most elaborately to misunderstand. That is the modern corporation. Week by week, month by month, year by year, it exercises a greater influence on our livelihood and the way we live than unions, universities, politicians, the government. '' Jump up ^ Shah, Anup ( 5 December 2002 ). `` The Rise of Corporations ''. Global Issues ( www.globalissues.org ). Retrieved 28 January 2018. Jump up ^ LaFrance, Adrienne ( 11 February 2015 ). `` Apple Is Basically a Small Country Now ''. TheAtlantic.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017. Jump up ^ Rodionova, Zlata ( 13 September 2016 ). `` World 's largest corporations make more money than most countries on Earth combined ''. Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2017. Jump up ^ Innes - Miller, Harris ( September 2016 ). `` Moon or Mars -- how logical is NASA 's next step ? ''. Room, The Space Journal ( room.eu.com ). Retrieved 7 July 2017. Jump up ^ Ullah, Zahra ( 17 February 2017 ). `` How Samsung dominates South Korea 's economy ''. CNN.com. Retrieved 8 August 2017. Jump up ^ Phelan, Ben ( 7 Jan 2013 ). `` Dutch East India Company : The World 's First Multinational ''. PBS.org ( PBS Online ). Retrieved 11 April 2014. Jump up ^ Smith, B. Mark ( 2003 ). A History of the Global Stock Market : From Ancient Rome to Silicon Valley. ( University of Chicago Press, ISBN 9780226764047 ), p. 17. Jump up ^ Hawley, James P. ; Williams, Andrew T. ( 2000 ). The Rise of Fiduciary Capitalism : How Institutional Investors Can Make Corporate America More Democratic. ( University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000, ISBN 9780812235630 ), p. 44 Jump up ^ Tarrant, Nicholas ( 29 Apr 2014 ). `` The VOC : The Birth of the Modern Corporation ''. The Economics Student Society of Australia. Retrieved 29 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Ferguson, Niall ( 2002 ). Empire : The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power, p. 15. Jump up ^ Clarke, Thomas ; Branson, Douglas ( 2012 ). The SAGE Handbook of Corporate Governance ( Sage Handbooks ). ( SAGE Publications Ltd., ISBN 9781412929806, p. 431 ). Jump up ^ Gepken - Jager, Ella ; van Solinge, Gerard ; Timmermann, Levinus ( eds. ) : VOC 1602 -- 2002 : 400 Years of Company Law ( Series Law of Business and Finance, Vol. 6 ). ( Deventer : Kluwer Legal Publishers, 2005, ISBN 9013019153 ) Jump up ^ Funnell, Warwick ; Robertson, Jeffrey : Accounting by the First Public Company : The Pursuit of Supremacy. ( Routledge, 2013, ISBN 0415716179 ) Jump up ^ Wu, Wei Neng ( 26 Feb 2014 ). `` Hub Cities -- London : Why did London lose its preeminent port hub status, and how has it continued to retain its dominance in marine logistics, insurance, financing and law ? ( Civil Service College of Singapore ) ''. Civil Service College Singapore ( cscollege.gov.sg ). Retrieved 26 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ Kennedy, Paul ( 1989 ). The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Jump up ^ Bindemann, Kirsten ( 1999 ). The Future of European Financial Centres Jump up ^ Cassis, Youssef ( 2010 ). Capitals of Capital : The Rise and Fall of International Financial Centres 1780 -- 2009. Translated by Jacqueline Collier. ( Cambridge University Press, 2010 ), p. 9 Jump up ^ Mead, Walter Russell ( 18 Apr 2009 ). `` Walter Russell Mead On Why Lula Was Right ( The Debt We Owe the Dutch : Blue - Eyed Bankers Have Given Us More Than the Current Financial Crisis ) ''. Newsweek Magazine. Retrieved 11 June 2014. Jump up ^ Taylor, Bryan ( GlobalFinancialData.com ) ( 8 Dec 2013 ). `` How 3 Countries Lost Their Position As The World 's Dominant Financial Power Over The Last 800 Years ''. BusinessInsider.com. Retrieved 14 May 2014. Jump up ^ `` Amsterdam : Where It All Began ''. IFA.com ( Index Fund Advisors, Inc. ). 12 Aug 2012. Retrieved 21 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Petram, Lodewijk : The World 's First Stock Exchange : How the Amsterdam Market for Dutch East India Company Shares Became a Modern Securities Market, 1602 -- 1700. Translated from the Dutch by Lynne Richards. ( Columbia University Press, 2014 ) Jump up ^ Stringham, Edward Peter ; Curott, Nicholas A. : On the Origins of Stock Markets ( Chapter 14, Part IV : Institutions and Organizations ), pp. 324 - 344, in The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics, edited by Peter J. Boettke and Christopher J. Coyne. ( Oxford University Press, 2015, ISBN 978 - 0199811762 ). Jump up ^ Neal, Larry ( 2005 ). `` Venture Shares of the Dutch East India Company, '' in Origins of Value, in The Origins of Value : The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets, Goetzmann & Rouwenhorst ( eds. ), Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 165 -- 175 Jump up ^ Shiller, Robert ( 2011 ). Economics 252, Financial Markets : Lecture 4 -- Portfolio Diversification and Supporting Financial Institutions ( Open Yale Courses ) ( Transcript ) Jump up ^ Macaulay, Catherine R. ( 2015 ). `` Capitalism 's renaissance ? The potential of repositioning the financial ' meta - economy ' ''. ( Futures, Volume 68, April 2015, p. 5 -- 18 ) Jump up ^ Stringham, Edward ( 2003 ). `` The Extralegal Development of Securities Trading in Seventeenth Century Amsterdam ''. Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance. 43 ( 2 ) : 321 -- 344. doi : 10.1016 / s1062 - 9769 ( 02 ) 00153 - 9. SSRN 1676251. Jump up ^ De la Vega, Joseph, Confusion de Confusiones ( 1688 ), Portions Descriptive of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, introduction by Hermann Kellenbenz, Baker Library, Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration ( 1957 ) Jump up ^ Zahedieh, Nuala ( 2010 ). The Capital and the Colonies : London and the Atlantic Economy 1660 -- 1700 ( Cambridge University Press ), p. 152 Jump up ^ McCammon, James ( 4 April 2014 ). `` The Dutch East India Company and Dutch State Formation in the Seventeenth Century ''. jamesmccammon.com. Retrieved 24 April 2018. Jump up ^ Borschberg, Peter ( 2002 ), ' The Seizure of the Santo António at Pattani : VOC Freebooting, the Estado da Índia, Peninsular Politics, 1602 -- 1609, '. Journal of the Siam Society 90 : pp. 59 -- 72 Jump up ^ Emmer, Peter C. ( 2003 ), ' The First Global War : The Dutch versus Iberia in Asia, Africa and the New World, 1590 -- 1609, '. e-Journal of Portuguese History 1 ( 1 ) : pp. 1 -- 14 Jump up ^ Borschberg, Peter ( 2009 ), ' The Johor - VOC Alliance and the Twelve Years ' Truce : Factionalism, Intrigue and International Diplomacy, c. 1606 -- 1613, '. International Law and Justice Working Papers, New York University School of Law, Working Paper 2009 / 8 Jump up ^ Borschberg, Peter ( 2004 ), ' Luso - Johor - Dutch Relations in the Straits of Malacca and Singapore, c. 1600 -- 1623, '. Itinerario 28 ( 2 ) : pp. 15 -- 44. doi : 10.1017 / S0165115300019471 Jump up ^ Borschberg, Peter ( 1999 ), ' Hugo Grotius, East India Trade and the King of Johor, '. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 30 ( 2 ) : pp. 225 -- 248. doi : 10.1017 / S002246340001300X Jump up ^ Borschberg, Peter ( 2002 ), ' The Seizure of the Sta. Catarina Revisited : The Portuguese Empire in Asia, VOC Politics and the Origins of the Dutch - Johor Alliance ( 1602 -- c. 1616 ), '. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 33 ( 1 ) : pp. 31 -- 62. doi : 10.1017 / S0022463402000024 Jump up ^ Hanft, Adam ( 23 May 2010 ). `` Google Is the New `` CorporNation '' - Half Company, Half Virtual Government ``. HuffingtonPost.com. Retrieved 23 May 2018. Adam Hanft ( 2010 ) : `` A CorporNation 's vast global influence enables it to function simultaneously in two realms : a for - profit company, and as a force that can shape the geopolitical landscape. (... ) CorporNations are n't new. Indeed, they are as old as capitalism, going back to the Dutch East India Company, which was chartered in 1602, became the world 's first global company and transformed Holland into a colonial power as it dominated the East. '' Jump up ^ Weststeijn, Arthur ( 2014 ), ' The VOC as a Company - State : Debating Seventeenth - Century Dutch Colonial Expansion, '. Itinerario 38 ( 1 ) : 13 -- 34. doi : 10.1017 / S0165115314000035 Jump up ^ Sylla, Richard ( 2015 ). `` Financial Development, Corporations, and Inequality ''. ( BHC - EBHA Meeting ) Jump up ^ Tracy, James D. : A Financial Revolution in the Habsburg Netherlands : Renten and Renteniers in the County of Holland, 1515 -- 1565. ( University of California Press, 1985, 300 pp ) Jump up ^ Gelderblom, Oscar ; Jonker, Joost : Completing a Financial Revolution : The Finance of the Dutch East India Trade and the Rise of the Amsterdam Capital Market, 1595 -- 1612. ( The Journal of Economic History, 2004, vol. 64, issue 03, p. 641 -- 72 ) Jump up ^ Swart, K.W ( 24 May 2012 ). `` The Miracle of the Dutch Republic as seen in the seventeenth century. An inaugural lecture delivered at University College London ( 6 November 1967 ) ''. Retrieved 24 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ Muhlberger, Steve. `` Nipissing University -- History 2155 -- Early Modern Europe : The Dutch Miracle ''. Nipissing University. Retrieved 22 August 2016. Jump up ^ Raico, Ralph ( 1994 ). The Theory of Economic Development and the European Miracle, in `` The Collapse of Development Planning '' ( New York University Press, 1994 ), pp. 47 -- 48, edited by Peter J. Boettke Jump up ^ Soll, Jacob ( 2014 ). The Reckoning : Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations. ( Penguin, 2015, ISBN 9780718193621 ). Jump up ^ Gieseking, Jen Jack ; Mangold, William ; et al. : The People, Place, and Space Reader. ( Routledge, 2014, ISBN 9780415664974 ), p. 151 Jump up ^ Davids, Karel ; Lucassen, Jan ( 1995 ). A Miracle Mirrored : The Dutch Republic in European Perspective, p. 370 Jump up ^ Dingsdale, Alan ( 2002 ). Mapping Modernities, p. 8 Jump up ^ Babones, Salvatore ; Chase - Dunn, Christopher ( 2012 ). Routledge Handbook of World - Systems Analysis ( Routledge International Handbooks ), p. 181 - 182 Jump up ^ Daly, Jonathan ( 2014 ). The Rise of Western Power : A Comparative History of Western Civilization, p. 228 - 229 Jump up ^ Freist, Dagmar ( 17 Oct 2012 ). `` The Dutch Century ( Das niederländische Jahrhundert ) ''. IEG-EGO.eu ( European History Online ). Retrieved 27 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Kaletsky, Anatole ( 2010 ). Capitalism 4.0 : The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis, p. 109 - 110. Jump up ^ The business activities around the world by Dutch transnational companies ( such as the Noordsche Compagnie, Dutch East India Company, and Dutch West India Company ) and Dutch businessmen ( like Louis de Geer who is called ' the father of Swedish industry ' ) are referred to as the earliest cases of outward foreign direct investment ( FDI ) in history of modern world economy. Jump up ^ Lindblad, J. Thomas ( 1995 ), ' Louis de Geer ( 1587 -- 1652 ) : Dutch Entrepreneur and the Father of Swedish Industry, ' ; in Clé Lesger & Leo Noordegraaf ( eds. ), Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurship in Early Modern Times : Merchants and Industrialists within the Orbit of the Dutch Staple Markets. ( The Hague : Stichting Hollandse Historische Reeks, 1995 ), pp. 77 -- 85 Jump up ^ Müller, Leos ( 2005 ), ' The Dutch Entrepreneurial Networks and Sweden in the Age of Greatness, ' ; in Hanno Brand ( ed. ), Trade, Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange : Continuity and Change in the North Sea Area and the Baltic, c. 1350 -- 1750. ( Hilversum : Verloren, 2005 ), pp. 58 -- 74 Jump up ^ Wilson, Charles. H. ( 1973 ). Transport as a Factor in the History of European Economic Develop - ment. ( Journal of European Economic History, 2 ( 2 ) : 320 -- 37. Jump up ^ Wallerstein, Immanuel ( 2011 ). The Modern World - System II : Mercantilism and the Consolidation of the European World - Economy, 1600 -- 1750. ( Academic Press, 1980 ), p. 43 - 44 Jump up ^ Lunsford, Virginia W. : Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age Netherlands. ( Palgrave Macmillan, 2005 ), p. 69 Jump up ^ Molyneux, John ( 14 Feb 2004 ). `` Rembrandt and revolution : Revolt that shaped a new kind of art ''. SocialistWorker.co.uk. Retrieved 14 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ Kaletsky, Anatole ( 2010 ). Capitalism 4.0 : The Birth of a New Economy in the Aftermath of Crisis, p. 109. Jump up ^ Steckel, Richard H. ; Floud, Roderick ( 1997 ). Health and Welfare during Industrialization, p. 332 Jump up ^ Boerhout, Laura ; Jung, Mariska ; Marcinkowski, Paul ( 2012 ). `` Zwarte Piet, a Bitter Treat ? Racial Issues in The Netherlands and the U.S. '' HumanityInAction.org. Retrieved 2 Feb 2017. CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list ( link ) ^ Jump up to : Kooiman, Mirjam ( 23 Sep 2015 ). `` The Dutch VOC mentality. Cultural Policy as a Business Model ''. L'internationale ( internationaleonline.org ). Retrieved 23 Jan 2017. Jump up ^ Thompson, Laurence G. ( 1964 ). `` The Earliest Chinese Eyewitness Accounts of the Formosan Aborigines '', Monumenta Serica, No. 23, p. 163. Jump up ^ Chen, Piera ; Gardner, Dinah : Lonely Planet : Taiwan ( 10th edition ). ( Lonely Planet, 2017, ISBN 978 - 1786574398 ). Jump up ^ Brenner, Reuven ( 1994 ). Labyrinths of Prosperity : Economic Follies, Democratic Remedies. ( University of Michigan Press, 1994 ), p. 57 - 60 ^ Jump up to : Moore, Jason W. ( 2010b ). `` ' Amsterdam is Standing on Norway ' Part II : The Global North Atlantic in the Ecological Revolution of the Long Seventeenth Century, '' Journal of Agrarian Change, 10, 2, p. 188 -- 227 Jump up ^ Kuzminski, Adrian : The Ecology of Money : Debt, Growth, and Sustainability. ( Lexington Books, 2013 ), p. 38 Jump up ^ Brenner, Reuven : Labyrinths of Prosperity : Economic Follies, Democratic Remedies. ( University of Michigan Press, 1994 ), p. 60 Jump up ^ Moore, Jason W ( 2010a ). `` ' Amsterdam is Standing on Norway ' Part I : The Alchemy of Capital, Empire, and Nature in the Diaspora of Silver, 1545 -- 1648 ''. Journal of Agrarian Change. 10 ( 1 ) : 35 -- 71. Jump up ^ Van Boven, M.W. `` Towards A New Age of Partnership ( TANAP ) : An Ambitious World Heritage Project ( UNESCO Memory of the World -- reg. form, 2002 ) ''. VOC Archives Appendix 2, p. 14. Jump up ^ Sarna, David E.Y. ( 2010 ). History of Greed : Financial Fraud from Tulip Mania to Bernie Madoff Jump up ^ `` Most valuable companies in history, adjusted for inflation ''. Yahoo ! Finance Canada. 1 Nov 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2014. Jump up ^ Wilson, Paula ( 21 Apr 2014 ). `` What 's The Most Valuable Company In History ? ''. Celebrity Net Worth. Retrieved 12 June 2014. Jump up ^ Weststeijn, Arthur : `` The VOC as Company - State : Debating Seventeenth Century Dutch Colonial Expansion '', in Itinerario. International Journal on the History of European Expansion and Global Interaction, 38, 2014, pp. 13 -- 34 Jump up ^ Ota, Atsushi ( 18 September 2013 ). `` The Dutch East India Company and the Rise of Intra-Asian Commerce ''. Nippon.com ( Nippon Communications Foundation ). Retrieved 22 February 2018. Jump up ^ Hunter, Douglas : Half Moon : Henry Hudson and the Voyage that Redrew the Map of the New World. ( Bloomsbury Press, 2009 ) Jump up ^ Boxer, Charles R. : Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600 -- 1850 : An Essay on the Cultural, Artistic and Scientific Influence Exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries ( Den Haag, Martinus Nijhoff, 1950 ) Jump up ^ `` Rembrandt 's Etchings Technique ''. Rembrandtpainting.net. Retrieved 17 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ `` Rembrandt 's etchings and Japanese Echizen paper ( Exhibitions, June 12th -- September 20th 2015 ) ''. Rembrandthuis.nl. Retrieved 17 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ Koeman, Cornelis ; Schilder, Günter ; van Egmond, Marco ; van der Krogt, Peter ; Zandvliet, Kees : The History of Cartography, Volume 3 : Cartography in the European Renaissance ( Part 2 : Low Countries ), pp. 1246 -- 1462, David Woodward ed. ( Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 2007 ) Jump up ^ Israel, Jonathan Irvine : Dutch Primacy in World Trade, 1585 -- 1740. ( Oxford University Press, 1990, 488 pp ) Jump up ^ Cook, Harold J. : Matters of Exchange : Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age. ( Yale University Press, 2008, 576 pp ) Jump up ^ Scott, G. ; Hewitt, M.L. : Pioneers in Ethnopharmacology : The Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) at the Cape from 1650 to 1800. ( Journal of Ethnopharmacology, Volume 115, Issue 3, 12 February 2008, pp. 339 -- 60 ) Jump up ^ Huigen, Siegfried ; de Jong, Jan L. : The Dutch Trading Companies as Knowledge Networks ( Intersections ), p. 1, ( BRILL, 2010 ) Jump up ^ Swan, Claudia ( 2013 ). Lost in Translation : Exoticism in Early Modern Holland, in `` Art in Iran and Europe in the 17th Century : Exchange and Reception '', edited by Axel Langer ( Museum Rietberg, Zurich, CH, 2013 ), p. 100 - 117. Jump up ^ Schmidt, Benjamin : Inventing Exoticism : Geography, Globalism, and Europe 's Early Modern World. ( University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015, ISBN 0812246462 ) Jump up ^ Friedrich, Susanne ; Brendecke, Arndt ; Ehrenpreis, Stefan ( eds. ) : Transformations of Knowledge in Dutch Expansion ( Pluralisierung & Autorität, 44 ). ( Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2015, 292 pp ) Jump up ^ Sargent, Matthew ( 2015 ), Scientists as Free Riders : Natural Resource Exploration and New Product Discovery in the Dutch East India Company, in Emily Erikson ( ed. ) Chartering Capitalism : Organizing Markets, States, and Publics ( Political Power and Social Theory, Volume 29 ), pp. 219 - 238. ( Emerald Group Publishing, ISBN 978 - 1 - 78560 - 093 - 7 ) Jump up ^ Lach, Donald F. ; Van Kley, Edwin J. ( 1993 ). Asia in the Making of Europe, Volume III : A Century of Advance. Book 1 : Trade, Missions, Literature, p. 486 -- 87 Jump up ^ Gunn, Geoffrey C. ( 2003 ). First Globalization : The Eurasian Exchange, 1500 -- 1800, p. 152 -- 53 Jump up ^ Nahm, Andrew C. ; Hoare, James ( 2004 ). Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Korea, p. 241 Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter ( 1993 ). A Continent Takes Shape : The Dutch Mapping of Australia, in Changing Coastlines, ed. M. Richards, & M. O'Connor, pp. 10 - 16. Canberra : National Library of Australia, 1993 Jump up ^ Zandvliet, Kees ( 1988 ). Golden Opportunities in Geopolitics : Cartography and the Dutch East India Company during the Lifetime of Abel Tasman, in Terra Australis : The Furthest Shore, ed. William Eisler and Bernard Smith, pp. 67 -- 82. Sydney : International Cultural Corporation of Australia Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter ; Kok, Hans : Sailing for the East : History and Catalogue of Manuscript Charts on Vellum of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ), 1602 -- 1799. ( Explokart : Utrecht Studies in the History of Cartography ). ( BRILL, 2010, ISBN 9789061942603 ) ^ Jump up to : `` The Flemish Influence On Henry Hudson ''. The Brussels Journal. Retrieved 19 March 2011. Jump up ^ Wroth, Lawrence ( 1970 ). The Voyages of Giovanni da Verrazzano, 1524 -- 1528. New Haven : Yale University Press. ISBN 0 - 300 - 01207 - 1. Jump up ^ Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West - Indien, uit veelerhande Schriften ende Aen - teekeningen van verscheyden Natien ( Leiden, Bonaventure & Abraham Elseviers, 1625 ) p. 84. Jump up ^ Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West - Indien, uit veelerhande Schriften ende Aen - teekeningen van verscheyden Natien ( Leiden, Bonaventure & Abraham Elseviers, 1625 ) p. 84. Jump up ^ Robert, Willem C.H. : The Dutch Explorations, 1605 - 1756, of the North and Northwest Coast of Australia : Extracts from Journals, Log - books and Other Documents Relating to These Voyages, original Dutch texts. ( Amsterdam : Philo Press, 1973 ) Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter, `` New Cartographical Contributions to the Coastal Exploration of Australia in the Course of the Seventeenth Century, '' ( Imago Mundi 26 ( 1972 ) ) Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter : Australia Unveiled : The Share of the Dutch Navigators in the Discovery of Australia. Translated from the German by Olaf Richter. ( Amsterdam : Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, 1976 ) Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter, `` The Dutch Conception of New Holland in the Seventeenth and Early Eighteenth Centuries, '' ( Technical Papers of the 12th Conference of the International Cartographic Association 2 ( 1984 ) ) Jump up ^ Schilder, Günter, Voyage to the Great South Land : William De Vlamingh 1696 - 1697, trans. C. De Heer ( Sydney : Royal Australian Historical Society, 1985 ) Jump up ^ `` The AOTM Landings List 1606 -- 1814 ''. history and heritage division of the Australasian Hydrographic Society. Australia on the Map. 6 February 2008. Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 2 April 2013. Jump up ^ J.P. Sigmond and L.H. Zuiderbaan ( 1979 ) Dutch Discoveries of Australia. Rigby Ltd, Australia. pp. 19 -- 30 ISBN 0 - 7270 - 0800 - 5 Jump up ^ McIntyre, K.G. ( 1977 ) The Secret Discovery of Australia, Portuguese ventures 200 years before Cook, Souvenir Press, Menindie ISBN 0 - 285 - 62303 - 6 Jump up ^ Robert J. King, `` The Jagiellonian Globe, a Key to the Puzzle of Jave la Grande '', The Globe : Journal of the Australian Map Circle, No. 62, 2009, pp. 1 -- 50. Jump up ^ Robert J. King, `` Regio Patalis : Australia on the map in 1531 ? '', The Portolan, Issue 82, Winter 2011, pp. 8 -- 17. Jump up ^ Menzies, Gavin ( 2002 ). 1421 : The year China discovered the world. London : Bantam Press. ISBN 0 - 06 - 053763 - 9. Jump up ^ Credit for the discovery of Australia was given to Frenchman Binot Paulmier de Gonneville ( 1504 ) in Brosses, Charles de ( 1756 ). Histoire des navigations aux Terres Australe. Paris. Jump up ^ In the early 20th century, Lawrence Hargrave argued from archaeological evidence that Spain had established a colony in Botany Bay in the 16th century. Jump up ^ Dikshitar, V.R. Ramachandra ( 1947 ). Origin and Spread of the Tamils. Adyar Library. p. 30. Jump up ^ This claim was made by Allan Robinson in his self - published In Australia, Treasure is not for the Finder ( 1980 ) ; for discussion, see Henderson, James A. ( 1993 ). Phantoms of the Tryall. Perth : St. George Books. ISBN 0 - 86778 - 053 - 3. Jump up ^ McHugh, Evan ( 2006 ). 1606 : An Epic Adventure. Sydney : University of New South Wales Press. pp. 44 -- 57. ISBN 978 - 0 - 86840 - 866 - 8. Jump up ^ Garden 1977, p. 8. Jump up ^ Fenton, James ( 1884 ). A History of Tasmania : From Its Discovery in 1642 to the Present Time Jump up ^ Pletcher, Kenneth ( 2010 ). The Britannica Guide to Explorers and Explorations That Changed the Modern World, p. 122 - 125 Jump up ^ Kirk, Robert W. ( 2012 ). Paradise Past : The Transformation of the South Pacific, 1520 -- 1920, p. 31 Jump up ^ Newman, Terry ( 2005 ). `` Appendix 2 : Select chronology of renaming ''. Becoming Tasmania -- Companion Web Site. Parliament of Tasmania. Retrieved 26 August 2011. Jump up ^ Picard, Caroline ( 2 August 2016 ). `` In The Late Afternoon of Modernism : An Interview with Graham Harman ''. Badatsports.com. Retrieved 2 March 2018. Jump up ^ Tuchman, Barbara W. : The First Salute : A View of the American Revolution. ( The Random House, 1989, 368pp ) Jump up ^ Siegal, Nina ( 22 May 2013 ). `` A Slice of Russia in Amsterdam ''. NYTimes.com. Retrieved 18 April 2016. Jump up ^ Balk, G.L. ; van Dijk, F. ; Kortlang, D.J. ; Gaastra, F.S. et al. : The Archives of the Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) and the Local Institutions in Batavia ( Jakarta ). ( BRILL, 2007, ISBN 9789004163652 ) Jump up ^ `` Archives of the Dutch East India Company ( Documentary heritage submitted by Netherlands and recommended for inclusion in the Memory of the World Register in 2003 ) ''. UNESCO.org. Retrieved 2 Feb 2017. Jump up ^ Worden, N. van Heyningen, E. and Bickford - Smith, S. : Cape Town : The making of a City Cape Town : David Philip Publishers. ISBN 978 - 0 - 86486 - 435 - 2 Jump up ^ `` De VOCsite : gegevens VOC - schip Haarlem ( 1636 ) ''. Jump up ^ North, Michael ; Kaufmann, Thomas DaCosta ( 2014 ), ' Introduction : Mediating Cultures, ' ; in Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann & Michael North ( eds. ), Mediating Netherlandish Art and Material Culture in Asia. ( Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2014 ), pp. 9 -- 24 Jump up ^ Knobel, E.B. ( 1917 ). On Frederick de Houtman 's Catalogue of Southern Stars, and the Origin of the Southern Constellations. ( Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 77, pp. 414 -- 32 ) Jump up ^ Sawyer Hogg, Helen ( 1951 ). `` Out of Old Books ( Pieter Dircksz Keijser, Delineator of the Southern Constellations ) ''. Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 45 : 215. Bibcode : 1951JRASC... 45... 215S. Jump up ^ Dekker, Elly ( 1987 ). Early Explorations of the Southern Celestial Sky. ( Annals of Science 44, pp. 439 -- 70 ) Jump up ^ Dekker, Elly ( 1987 ). On the Dispersal of Knowledge of the Southern Celestial Sky. ( Der Globusfreund, 35 -- 37, pp. 211 -- 30 ) Jump up ^ Verbunt, Frank ; van Gent, Robert H. ( 2011 ). Early Star Catalogues of the Southern Sky : De Houtman, Kepler ( Second and Third Classes ), and Halley. ( Astronomy & Astrophysics 530 ) Jump up ^ Saldanha, Arun ( 2011 ). The Itineraries of Geography : Jan Huygen van Linschoten 's `` Itinerario '' and Dutch Expeditions to the Indian Ocean, 1594 -- 1602. ( Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 101, No. 1 ( January 2011 ), pp. 149 -- 177 ) Jump up ^ Freedman, Roy S. : Introduction to Financial Technology. ( Academic Press, 2006, ISBN 0123704782 ) Jump up ^ DK Publishing ( Dorling Kindersley ) : The Business Book ( Big Ideas Simply Explained ). ( DK Publishing, 2014, ISBN 1465415858 ) Jump up ^ Mueller, Dennis C. ( ed. ) : The Oxford Handbook of Capitalism. ( Oxford University Press, 2012, ISBN 0195391179 ), p. 333 Jump up ^ Kestenbaum, David ( 29 January 2015 ). `` The Spicy History Of Short Selling Stocks ''. NPR.org. Retrieved 29 April 2018. Jump up ^ Stringham, Edward Peter ( 5 October 2015 ). `` How Private Governance Made the Modern World Possible ''. Cato Unbound ( www.cato-unbound.org ). Retrieved 15 August 2017. Jump up ^ Wilken, Uffe ( 4 November 2013 ). `` Elephant painted by Rembrandt designated the type specimen for its species ''. The University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Science ( www.science.ku.dk ). Retrieved 15 November 2017. Jump up ^ Hooper, Rowan ( 5 November 2013 ). `` This Rembrandt is science 's first Asian elephant ''. NewScientist.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017. Jump up ^ `` Roslin team helps solve elephant riddle ''. The University of Edinburgh ( www.ed.ac.uk ). 5 April 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2017. Further reading Main article : List of works about the Dutch East India Company See also Netherlands portal India portal Indonesia portal Malaysia portal Mauritius portal Taiwan portal South Africa portal Sri Lanka portal Companies portal List of Governors - General of the Dutch East Indies List of Governors of Dutch Ceylon Governor of Formosa Commanders and governors of the Cape Colony ( 1652 -- 1806 ) Governor of Dutch Mauritius Opperhoofd at Dejima Chartered companies Corporatocracy List of trading companies Spice wars Whampoa anchorage Dutch Occupation of the Thiruchendur Temple Other trade companies of the age of the sail The British East India Company, founded in 1600 The Danish East India Company, founded in 1616 The Danish West India Company, founded in 1671 The Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621 The Portuguese East India Company, founded in 1628 The French East India Company, founded in 1664 The Swedish East India Company, founded in 1731 The Emden Company, founded 1751 The Swedish West India Company, founded in 1786 The Austrian East India Company, founded in 1775 Governors General of the Dutch East India Company Governor - General of the Dutch East Indies External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dutch East India Company. Dutch Wikisource has original text related to this article : Octrooi van de VOC Dutch India -- a chronology of Dutch rule in India Oldest share -- the oldest share in the world ( VOC 1606 ) A taste of adventure -- The history of spices is the history of trade, The Economist, 17 December 1998. Dutch Portuguese Colonial History Voyages by VOC ships to Australia Why did the Largest Corporation in the World go Broke ? The history of the Dutch East Indies Company ( Lectures at Gresham College, 1 and 8 March 2006 ) Manuscript chart of the Netherlands, VOC, c. 1690 ( high resolution zoomable scan ) Old print of headquarters of V.O.C. circa 1750 ( high resolution zoomable scan ) Death of an East Indiaman Towards a New Age of Partnership ; a Dutch / Asian / South - African programme of cooperation based on a mutual past ( TANAP ) -- joint archival project of UNESCO, and the Netherlands and Indonesian national archives on the VOC : `` An Ambitious World Heritage ''. VOC voyages -- online database of voyages of VOC ships Atlas of Mutual Heritage -- online atlas of VOC and WIC settlements VOC shipwrecks database ( in Dutch ) Database of VOC crew members VOC Warfare Website on the military aspects of the history of the VOC Chartered companies British African Company of Merchants Barbary Company British American Land Company British East Africa Company Canada Company Company of Merchant Adventurers of London Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands Company of Scotland East India Company Eastern Archipelago Company Eastland Company French Company Greenland Company Guinea Company Hudson 's Bay Company Levant Company London and Bristol Company Massachusetts Bay Company Muscovy Company New Zealand Company North Borneo Company Providence Island Company Royal African Company Royal British Bank Royal Niger Company Royal West Indian Company South Africa Company Sierra Leone Company Somers Isles Company South Australian Company South Sea Company Spanish Company Venice Company Virginia Company French Compagnie de l'Occident Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique Company of One Hundred Associates East India Company Mississippi Company Senegal Company West India Company German Brandenburg African Company East Africa Company Emden Company New Guinea Company West African Company Portuguese List ( pt ) Cacheu and Cape Verde Company East India Company Grão Pará and Maranhão Company ( pt ) Company of Guinea House of India Mozambique Company Nyassa Company Pernambuco and Paraíba Company ( pt ) Austrian and Low Countries Australische Compagnie ( fr ) Brabantsche Compagnie Dutch East India Company Imperial Company of Trieste and Antwerp Imperial Privileged Oriental Company New Netherland Company Noordsche Compagnie Ostend Company West India Company Scandinavian Det Afrikanske Kompagni ( da ) Asiatisk Kompagni ( da ) Danish East India Company Danish West India Company Royal Greenland Swedish Africa Company Swedish East India Company Swedish Levant Company Swedish South Company Swedish West India Company Book Category Economic, financial and business history of the Netherlands General Economy of the Netherlands from 1500 -- 1700 Economic history of the Netherlands ( 1500 -- 1815 ) Economic history of the Dutch Republic Financial history of the Dutch Republic Dutch Financial Revolution ( 1580s -- 1700s ) Dutch economic miracle ( 1580s -- ca. 1700 ) Early modern industrialization in the Dutch Republic ( 1580s -- 1700s ) Dutch guilder Amsterdam Entrepôt Tulip mania Whaling in the Netherlands Diamond industry in the Dutch Republic Sugar industry in the Dutch Republic Shipbuilding industry in the Dutch Republic Pulp and paper industry in the Dutch Republic Hollander beater History of the chocolate industry Dutch process chocolate Polder model Key institutions Pre-1815 Amsterdam Stock Exchange ( Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser ) Bank of Amsterdam ( Amsterdamsche Wisselbank ) Brabantsche Compagnie Compagnie van Verre Dutch East India Company ( VOC ) Dutch West India Company ( WIC / GWIC ) New Netherland Company Noordsche Compagnie Post-1815 De Nederlandsche Bank Philips Fokker KLM Stichting Max Havelaar Notable business and financial innovators Louis De Geer Gerard Adriaan Heineken Isaac Le Maire Johan Palmstruch Anton Philips Gerard Philips Nico Roozen Coenraad Johannes van Houten Anthony Fokker Frans van der Hoff Pioneering innovations Multinational corporation Transnational corporation Public company ( publicly traded company, publicly listed company ) Megacorporation Corporate finance Central bank Initial public offering ( IPO ) Stock market Stock exchange Securitization Common stock Corporate bond Perpetual bond Collective investment schemes ( investment funds ) Dividend ( dividend policy ) Dutch auction Fairtrade certification Government debt Financial regulation Investment banking Mutual fund Bear raid Short selling ( naked short selling ) Shareholder activism ( activist shareholder ) Shareholder revolt ( shareholder rebellion ) Technical analysis Tontine Others Dutch disease Economic bubble ( speculative bubble ) Stock market crash History of capitalism Economic miracle Economic boom Economic growth Global economy International trade International business International financial centre Economic globalization ( corporate globalization ) Finance capitalism Financial system Financial revolution European and American trade in Qing China Topics Canton System Cohong East India Company James Flint Old China Trade Thirteen Factories Chinese Hongs Ewo Hong Howqua Foreign Hongs Augustine Heard and Company Augustine Heard Albert Heard Dent & Co. Lancelot Dent John Dent Dodwell & Co. Gibb, Livingston & Co. Hugh Bold Gibb Jardine, Matheson & Co. William Jardine James Matheson John Abel Smith Magniac & Co. Daniel Beale Thomas Beale Thomas Chaye Beale Hollingworth Magniac Olyphant & Co. David Olyphant Robert Morrison Olyphant Russell & Company Robert Bennet Forbes John Cleve Green Abiel Abbot Low William Henry Low Samuel Russell Russell Sturgis Shewan, Tomes & Co. Robert Shewan David Sassoon & Co. David Sassoon Chinese Officials Lin Zexu Key Locations Amoy Canton Foochow Hong Kong Macau Shanghai Dutch Empire Colonies and trading posts of the Dutch East India Company ( 1602 -- 1798 ) Governorate General Batavia Governorates Ambon Banda Islands Cape Colony Celebes Ceylon Coromandel Formosa Malacca Moluccas Northeast coast of Java Directorates Bengal Persia Suratte Commandments Bantam Malabar West coast of Sumatra Residencies Bantam Banjarmasin Batavia Cheribon Palembang Preanger Pontianak Opperhoofd settlements Myanmar Canton Dejima Mauritius Siam Timor Tonkin Colonies and trading posts of the Dutch West India Company ( 1621 -- 1792 ) Colonies in the Americas Berbice Brazil Cayenne Curaçao and Dependencies Demerara Essequibo New Netherland Pomeroon Sint Eustatius and Dependencies Surinam Tobago Virgin Islands Trading posts in Africa Arguin Gold Coast Loango - Angola Senegambia Slave Coast Governed by the Society of Berbice Governed by the Society of Suriname Settlements of the Noordsche Compagnie ( 1614 -- 1642 ) Settlements Jan Mayen Smeerenburg Colonies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ( 1815 -- 1962 ) Until 1825 Bengal Coromandel Malacca Suratte Until 1853 Dejima Until 1872 Gold Coast Until 1945 Dutch East Indies Until 1954 Curaçao and Dependencies Surinam Until 1962 New Guinea Became constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; Suriname gained full independence in 1975, Curaçao and Dependencies was renamed to the Netherlands Antilles, which was eventually dissolved in 2010. Kingdom of the Netherlands ( 1954 -- present ) Constituent countries Aruba Curaçao Netherlands Sint Maarten Public bodies of the Netherlands Bonaire Saba Sint Eustatius Dutch Formosa Organization Dutch East India Company ( Jakarta, Dutch East Indies ) Events Battle of Liaoluo Bay Pacification Campaign Lamey Island Massacre Guo Huaiyi Rebellion Siege of Fort Zeelandia Places Villages Bakloan Dalivo Favorlang Kelang Longkiau Mattau Pangsoia Pimaba Sakam Sinkan Soulang Tampsuy Tamsuy Tevorang Tirosen Fortifications Fort Zeelandia Fort Provintia Fort Anthonio People Governors Marten Sonk Gerard Frederikszoon de With Pieter Nuyts Hans Putmans Johan van der Burg Paulus Traudenius Maximilian le Maire François Caron Pieter Anthoniszoon Overtwater Nicolas Verburg Cornelis Caesar Frederick Coyett Missionaries George Candidius Daniel Gravius Antonius Hambroek Gilbertus Happart Robert Junius Others Koxinga Zheng Zhilong Governors - General of the Dutch East Indies Dutch East India Company ( 1610 -- 1800 ) Both ( 1610 -- 14 ) Reynst ( 1614 -- 15 ) Reael ( 1615 -- 19 ) Coen ( 1619 -- 23 ) De Carpentier ( 1623 -- 27 ) Coen ( 1627 -- 29 ) Specx ( 1629 -- 32 ) Brouwer ( 1632 -- 36 ) Van Diemen ( 1636 -- 45 ) Van der Lijn ( 1645 -- 50 ) Reyniersz ( 1650 -- 53 ) Maetsuycker ( 1653 -- 78 ) Van Goens ( 1678 -- 81 ) Speelman ( 1681 -- 84 ) Camphuys ( 1684 -- 91 ) Van Outhoorn ( 1691 -- 1704 ) Van Hoorn ( 1704 -- 09 ) Van Riebeeck ( 1709 -- 13 ) Van Swoll ( 1713 -- 18 ) Zwaardecroon ( 1718 -- 25 ) De Haan ( 1725 -- 29 ) Durven ( 1729 -- 32 ) Van Cloon ( 1732 -- 35 ) Patras ( 1735 -- 37 ) Valckenier ( 1737 -- 41 ) Thedens ( 1741 -- 43 ) Van Imhoff ( 1743 -- 50 ) Mossel ( 1750 -- 61 ) Van der Parra ( 1761 -- 75 ) Van Riemsdijk ( 1775 -- 77 ) De Klerck ( 1777 -- 80 ) Alting ( 1780 -- 96 ) Dutch East Indies ( 1800 -- 1948 ) Van Overstraten ( 1796 -- 1801 ) Siberg ( 1801 -- 05 ) Wiese ( 1805 -- 08 ) Daendels ( 1808 -- 11 ) Janssens ( 1811 ) British occupation ( 1811 -- 16 ) Van der Capellen ( 1816 -- 26 ) Du Bus ( 1826 -- 30 ) Van den Bosch ( 1830 -- 33 ) Baud ( 1833 -- 36 ) De Eerens ( 1836 -- 40 ) Van Hogendorp ( 1840 -- 41 ) Merkus ( 1841 -- 44 ) Reynst ( 1844 -- 45 ) Rochussen ( 1845 -- 51 ) Van Twist ( 1851 -- 56 ) Pahud ( 1856 -- 61 ) Van de Beele ( 1861 -- 66 ) Mijer ( 1866 -- 72 ) Loudon ( 1872 -- 75 ) Van Lansberge ( 1875 -- 81 ) s'Jacob ( 1881 -- 84 ) Van Rees ( 1884 -- 88 ) Pijnacker Hordijk ( 1888 -- 93 ) Van der Wijck ( 1893 -- 99 ) Rooseboom ( 1899 -- 1904 ) Van Heutsz ( 1904 -- 09 ) Idenburg ( 1909 -- 16 ) Van Limburg Stirum ( 1916 -- 21 ) Fock ( 1921 -- 26 ) De Graeff ( 1926 -- 31 ) De Jonge ( 1931 -- 36 ) Van Starkenborgh Stachouwer ( 1936 -- 42 ) Van Mook ( 1942 -- 48 ) High Commissioners Beel ( 1948 -- 49 ) Lovink ( 1949 ) Commanders and Governors of the Dutch Cape Colony Commanders 1652 -- 1691 Jan van Riebeeck Zacharias Wagenaer Cornelis van Quaelberg Jacob Borghorst Pieter Hackius Albert van Breuge Johan Bax van Herenthals Hendrik Crudop Simon van der Stel Governors 1691 -- 1795 Simon van der Stel Willem Adriaan van der Stel Johannes Cornelis d'Ableing Louis van Assenburg Willem Helot Maurits Pasques de Chavonnes Jan de la Fontaine Pieter Gijsbert Noodt Jan de la Fontaine Adriaan van Kervel Daniël van den Henghel Hendrik Swellengrebel Ryk Tulbagh Joachim van Plettenberg Pieter van Reede van Oudtshoorn Joachim van Plettenberg Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff Johannes Izaac Rhenius ( Isaac Reinus ) Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh & Simon Hendrik Frijkenius Abraham Josias Sluysken Those in italics were Acting Governors Governors of Dutch Mauritius Wybrant Warwijck Cornelis Simonszoon Gooyer Adriaan van der Stel Jacob van der Meersch Reinier Por Joost van der Woutbeekr Maximiliaan de Jongh Abraham Evertszoon Jacobus van Nieuwlant Georg Frederick Wreede Jan van Jaar Dirk Janszoon Smient Georg Frederick Wreede Swen Felleson Philip Col Hubert Hugo Isaac Johannes Lamotius Roelof Deodati Abraham Momber van de Velde Category : Dutch Governors of Mauritius Commons European presence in Ceylon ( Sri Lanka ) Overview Bibliography Timeline Crisis of the Sixteenth Century History of British Ceylon Burgher people Portuguese territory in Ceylon topics History Sinhalese -- Portuguese War Luso -- Kandyan Treaty Dutch -- Portuguese War Portuguese conquest of the Jaffna kingdom Administration Portuguese captains Portuguese captain - majors Portuguese governors Economy Maral Tombo Cinnamon Society Culture Architecture Portuguese buildings Music Baila Related peoples Kaffirs Mestiços Portuguese Languages Kaffirs ' Sri Lankan Portuguese creole Sinhala words of Portuguese origin Religion Roman Catholicism Other Lascarins Joseph Vaz Dutch territory in Ceylon topics History Dutch -- Portuguese War Kandyan Treaty of 1638 Treaty of Batticaloa Administration Dutch governors Economy Stuiver Ceylonese rixdollar Coffee Society Culture Architecture Dutch buildings Place names Dutch Music Kokis Lamprais Related peoples Dutch Malays Languages Sri Lankan Creole Malay Sinhala words of Dutch origin Religion Protestantism Christian Reformed Church in Sri Lanka Lanka Reformed Church ← British Ceylon topics → History British Expedition to Ceylon Kandyan Wars Great Rebellion of 1817 -- 18 Matale Rebellion Kandyan Convention Sri Lankan independence movement Ceylon in World War II South East Asia Command Politics & government Law Colebrooke -- Cameron Commission Donoughmore Commission Donoughmore Constitution Soulbury Commission Soulbury Constitution Legislature Legislative Council of Ceylon State Council of Ceylon Judiciary Supreme Court Chief Justice Executive Executive Council of Ceylon List Gov CS AG AuG Tres GOCC British governor - generals Ceylon Civil Service Military Ceylon Defence Force Commanders Commander - in - Chief, Ceylon South East Asia Command Economy British pound Indian rupee Cinnamon Coconut Coffee Rubber Tea production Society Culture Architecture British buildings Place names British Scottish Music Social class Related peoples British Indian Moors Indian Tamils Malays Languages Sri Lankan English Sri Lankan Creole Malay Sinhala words of English origin Religion Protestantism Church of Ceylon Bishop of Colombo Methodist Church in Sri Lanka American Ceylon Mission Batticotta Seminary Wesleyan Methodist Mission, North Ceylon Lanka Lutheran Church The Pentecostal Mission Sri Lanka Baptist Sangamaya The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter - day Saints in Sri Lanka Bible translations into Sinhala Other An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon Schools Coats of arms of Governors - General of Ceylon Maldivian Annual Tribute Native headmen of Ceylon Ceylonese recipients of British titles Category WikiProject Australian places named by Dutch navigators and explorers in the 17th century Australian continent / Australian mainland Eendrachtsland Nova Hollandia / Nieuw Holland Queensland Coen River Staaten River ( Staten Riuier ) Gulf of Carpentaria Sweers Island Northern Territory Vanderlin Island ( Cap Vanderlin ) Groote Eylandt Arnhem Land ( Arnhems Landt ) Crocodile Islands ( Cocodrils Eÿlandt ) Van Diemen Gulf ( Baÿa van - Diemen ) Wessel Islands Western Australia Cape Leeuwin Dirk Hartog Island Nuyts Land District Houtman Abrolhos Pelsaert Group Pelsaert Island Rottnest Island ( Eyland Rottenest ) Swan River ( Swarte Swaene - Revier ) South Australia Nuyts Archipelago St Francis Island ( Eyland St. Francois ) St Peter Island ( Eyland St. Pierre ) Tasmania Van Diemen 's Land / Anthoonij van Diemenslandt ( mainland Tasmania ) De Witt Island Maatsuyker Island ( Maetsuickers eylan ) Pedra Branca Storm Bay Maria Island ( Marias Eylandt ) Schouten Island ( Schoute Eylandt ) Notes : with the name still in use in either original or Anglicised version Named by the Dutch, but a Portuguese name Many names have been Anglicised ; for these the original Dutch name appears in brackets BNF : cb119589725 ( data ) GND : 672333 - 0 ISNI : 0000 0001 2158 973X LCCN : n80107497 SUDOC : 027579964 VIAF : 131493728 Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dutch_East_India_Company&oldid=843617895 '' Categories : Dutch East India Company Chartered companies Defunct companies of the Netherlands Shipping companies of the Dutch Republic Companies formerly listed on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange Companies based in Amsterdam Multinational companies headquartered in the Netherlands Colonial Indian companies Trading companies Trade monopolies Former monopolies International trade Slave trade Maritime history of the Dutch Republic History of the Dutch Empire Military history of the Dutch Empire History of globalization History of international trade History of sugar Age of Sail Companies established in 1602 1602 establishments in the Dutch Republic 1800 disestablishments in the Batavian Republic Hidden categories : Articles with Portuguese - language external links Articles with Dutch - language external links CS1 maint : Extra text : authors list CS1 maint : Multiple names : authors list EngvarB from March 2015 Use dmy dates from March 2015 Pages using deprecated image syntax Articles containing Dutch - language text All pages needing factual verification Wikipedia articles needing factual verification from March 2011 Articles needing additional references from March 2017 All articles needing additional references Articles needing cleanup from February 2018 All pages needing cleanup Articles with sections that need to be turned into prose from February 2018 Articles with attributed pull quotes Articles with trivia sections from February 2018 All articles with trivia sections Pages using div col without cols and colwidth parameters Interlanguage link template link number Wikipedia articles with BNF identifiers Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with ISNI identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Languages Acèh Afrikaans Asturianu বাংলা Bân - 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Question: when did the dutch east india company end
Answer: 1799