NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in old-spelling Dutch, literally "United East Indian Company") was established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock.^[1] In addition, the VOC possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.^[2] For the trading company, see Dutch East India Company. ... Image File history File links VOC.svgâ€Ž The logo of the VOC, based on Image:VOC-Amsterdam. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... For the gay mens lifestyle magazine, see Genre (magazine). ... This article is about economic exchange. ... Map of Dutch Republic by Joannes Janssonius United Netherlands redirects here. ... Image File history File links Vereinigte_Ostindische_Compagnie_bond. ... Image File history File links Vereinigte_Ostindische_Compagnie_bond. ... For alternative meanings, see bond (a disambiguation page). ... is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1623 (MDCXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... ISO 4217 Code NLG User(s) The Netherlands Inflation 2. ... The History of Dutch Orthography covers the changes in spelling both in the Netherlands itself and in the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in Belgium. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and Southeast Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the Maldives... The States-General (Staten-Generaal) is the parliament of the Netherlands. ... This article is about the economic term. ... For other uses, see Asia (disambiguation). ... multinational corporation (or transnational corporation) (MNC/TNC) is a corporation or enterprise that manages production establishments or delivers services in at least two countries. ... For other uses, see Stock (disambiguation). ...

It remained an important trading concern for almost two centuries, paying an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years, until it became bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1800,^[3] its possessions and the debt being taken over by the government of the Batavian Republic. The VOC's territories became the Dutch East Indies and were expanded over the course of the 19th century to include the whole of the Indonesian archipelago, and in the twentieth century would form Indonesia. This article is about financial dividends. ... // ON MAY 5 1853 MR.FADER HAD SEX WITH A MAN NAME MR WIEN THEN THEY HAD SON NAMEDMRS COTURE AND MR MANOOGIAN WENT INTO MRS HASKELLS OFFICE NAKED AND DANCED AROUND AND MASTERBATED ON HER CHEST AND SHE LICKED IT OFF THEN THEY HAD ORAL SEEX WITH NAPLOEAN OF... From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) designated the Netherlands as a republic modeled after the French Republic, to which it was a vassal state. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

History

Background

During the 16th century the spice trade was dominated by the Portuguese who used Lisbon as a staple port. Before the Dutch Revolt Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution center in northern Europe, but after 1591 the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fuggers and Welsers, and Spanish and Italian firms that used Hamburg as its northern staple, to distribute their Asian goods, thereby cutting out Dutch merchants. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was so inefficient that it was unable to supply growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. The demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and the lagging supply of pepper therefore caused a sharp rise in pepper prices at the time. Spices at the central market of Agadir, Morocco in May 2005 The spice trade has been of major economic importance throughout human history and it particularly helped spur the Age of Exploration. ... A staple port is a port designated by a government or monarch as a place where specific goods may be exported or imported. ... Combatants Dutch rebels Spanish Empire The Dutch Revolt, Eighty Years War or The Revolt of the Netherlands (1568[1]â€“1648), was the revolt of the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries against the Spanish (Habsburg) Empire. ... Coat of arms Map of WÃ¼rttemberg before the French Revolutionary Wars, showing the County of Fugger, with the Danube shown running through the centre of the image and the Iller forming the border between WÃ¼rttemberger lands (coloured) and Bavarian lands (non-coloured) Capital WeiÃŸenhorn (nominally) Imp. ... Welser is the surname of an important German banking and merchant family, originally from Augsburg. ... In economics and business studies, the price elasticity of demand (PED) is an elasticity that measures the nature and percentage of the relationship between changes in quantity demanded of a good and changes in its price. ...

Furthermore, as Portugal had been "united" with the Spanish crown, with which the Dutch Republic was at war, in 1580, the Portuguese Empire became an appropriate target for military incursions. These three factors formed motive for Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves at this time. Finally, 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^[4]. The stage was thus set for Houtman's first voyage to Banten, the chief port of Java, and back (1595–97), which generated a modest profit.^[5] Map of Dutch Republic by Joannes Janssonius United Netherlands redirects here. ... An anachronous map of the Portuguese Empire (1415-1999). ... Portrait of Jan Huygen van Linschoten, from the princeps edition of his Itinerario. ... A portrait of de Houtman Cornelis de Houtman (April 2, 1565 - August 1599), brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade. ... The city of Bantam near the western end of Java was a strategically important site and formerly a major trading city, with a secure harbor on the Malacca Strait through which all ocean-going traffic passed, at the mouth of a river (Cibantam River) that provided a navigable passage for... Java (Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese: Jawa) is an island of Indonesia, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Events January 30 - William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet is performed for the first time. ... For other uses, see: 1597 (number). ...

In 1596, a group of Dutch merchants decided to try again to circumvent the Portuguese monopoly. In 1596, a four-ship expedition led by Cornelis de Houtman was the first Dutch contact with Indonesia.^[6] The expedition reached 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. ^[7] A portrait of de Houtman Cornelis de Houtman (April 2, 1565 - August 1599), brother of Frederick de Houtman, was a Dutch explorer who discovered a new sea route from Europe to Indonesia and managed to begin the Dutch spice trade. ... For the Banten meteorite of 1933, see Meteorite falls. ... This article is about the Java island. ... Madura is an Indonesian island off the northeastern coast of Java, near the port of Surabaya. ...

In 1598, an increasing number of new 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 twenty-two ships under Jacob van Neck of five different companies was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and, although eight ships were lost, the expedition made a 400 percent profit. ^[7] In 1600, the Dutch joined forces with the local Hituese (near Ambon) in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch were given the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.^[8] Dutch control of Ambon was achieved in alliance with Hitu when in February 1605, they prepared to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon but the Portuguese surrendered. In 1613, the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from their Solor fort, but were expelled again in 1636 following a re-occupation of the site.^[8] Ceram and Ambon Islands (Operational Navigation Chart, 1967) Not for navigational use Ambon City in 2001, showing heavy damage from fighting Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. ... Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia. ...

Formation

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 right after 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^[9] 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. This first occurred to the English, who bundled their forces into a monopoly enterprise, the 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 a monopoly over the Asian trade. 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^[10]. For the American pop-punk band, see Cartel (band). ... This article is about the economic term. ... The British East India Company, sometimes referred to as John Company, was the first joint-stock company (the Dutch East India Company was the first to issue public stock). ...

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').^[11] In 1610, the VOC established the post of Governor General to enable firmer control of 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 continued to officially have overall control.^[8] Image File history File links Batavia333. ... Image File history File links Batavia333. ... North Jakarta (Jakarta Utara) is a kota (formerly kotamadya) of Jakarta, Indonesia. ... For the Banten meteorite of 1933, see Meteorite falls. ... Map showing West Java in Indonesia West Java (Jawa Barat) is a province of Indonesia, located on the island of Java. ... This page is about the capital city of Indonesia. ... Despotism is government by a singular authority, either a single person or tightly knit group, which rules with absolute power. ...

VOC headquarters were in Ambon for the tenures of the first three Governor Generals (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 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.^[8]

In 1604, a second British 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, which saw the beginning of Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices^[11]. 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.^[11] Diplomatic agreements in Europe in 1620 ushered in a period of cooperation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade.^[11] 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.^[12] Although this caused outrage in Europe and a diplomatic crisis, the English quietly withdrew from most of their Indonesian activities (except trading in Bantam) and focused on other Asian interests. A 1720 depiction of Ternate. ... Tidore is an island and town in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, just west of the larger island of Halmahera. ... Ceram and Ambon Islands (Operational Navigation Chart, 1967) Not for navigational use Ambon City in 2001, showing heavy damage from fighting Ambon Island is part of the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. ... The Banda Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Banda) are a group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140km south of Seram island and about 2000km east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. ... Map of Kalimantan (white color) and its subdivisions. ... Location of Makassar in Indonesia Coordinates: , Country Indonesia Province South Sulawesi Government - Mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin Area - City 175. ... This page is about the capital city of Indonesia. ... Jepara is a small town in the province of Central Java, Indonesia. ... This article is about the Java island. ... Pariaman is a city in West Sumatra, Indonesia. ... For other uses, see Jambi (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Sumatra (disambiguation). ... The Amboyna massacre occurred because of the intense rivalry between the East India Companies of England and Holland in the spice trade. ...

Growth

In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen was appointed Governor-General of the VOC. He was a man of extraordinary vision, far beyond that of the cautious directors at home. He saw the possibility of the VOC becoming an Asian power, both political and economic. He was not afraid to use brute force to put the VOC on a firm footing. 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. To establish a monopoly for the clove trade, in the 1620s almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands, the source of nutmeg was deported, driven away, starved to death, or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations, operated with slave labour. He hoped to settle large numbers of Dutch colonists in the East Indies, but this part of his policies never materialized, because the Heren XVII were wary at the time of large, open-ended financial commitments^[13]. Jan Pieterszoon Coen Jan Pieterszoon Coen (8 January 1587 â€“ 21 September 1629) was an officer of Dutch East India Company (VOC) in the early seventeenth century, holding two terms as its Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies. ... Jakarta (also DKI Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. ... The Banda Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Banda) are a group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140km south of Seram island and about 2000km east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. ... For other uses, see Nutmeg (disambiguation). ...

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 precious specie, and this was 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^[14]. 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 many decades the only place where Europeans were permitted to trade with Japan.^[15] For the sumo wrester Dejima see Dejima Takeharu, see Dejima (disambiguation). ... Before Mexico City, Tenochtitlan was an artificial island of 250,000 inhabitants (Dr. Atl) Dejima, not allowed direct contact with nearby Nagasaki Our Lady of the Rocks (Gospa od Å krpjela) in Montenegro An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by humans rather than formed by natural means. ... Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge) Nagasaki listen? (é•·å´Žå¸‚; -shi, literally long peninsula) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located at the south-western coast of Kyushu, Japan. ...

In 1640, the VOC obtained the port of Galle, Sri Lanka, from the Portuguese and broke the latter's monopoly of the cinnamon trade. In 1658, Gerard 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. Events December 1 - Portugal regains its independence from Spain and JoÃ£o IV of Portugal becomes king. ... Galle (à¶œà·à¶½à·Šà¶½ in Sinhala; à®•à®¾à®²à®¿ in Tamil) (pronounced as one syllable, rhyming with Gaul in English, in Sinhalese, IPA /gaËlËÉ™/) is a town situated on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, 119 km from Colombo. ... Binomial name J.Presl Cassia (Chinese cinnamon) is also commonly called (and sometimes sold as) cinnamon. ... Events January 13 - Edward Sexby, who had plotted against Oliver Cromwell, dies in Tower of London February 6 - Swedish troops of Charles X Gustav of Sweden cross The Great Belt (StorebÃ¦lt) in Denmark over frozen sea May 1 - Publication of Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial and The Garden of Cyrus by... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: , District Colombo District Government - Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area - City 37. ... , For other uses, see Kandy (disambiguation). ... // Events May 25 - Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth. ...

In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope (the southwestern tip of Africa, currently in 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. // Events April 6 - Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp for the Dutch East India Company at the Cape of Good Hope, and founded Cape Town. ... Arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in Cape Town painted by Charles Davidson Bell Johan Anthoniszoon Jan van Riebeeck (21 April 1619â€“18 January 1677), was a Dutch colonial administrator and founder of Cape Town. ... For other uses, see Cape of Good Hope (disambiguation). ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... History of Cape Colony via a written history of the area known as Cape Colony, and later Cape Province in South Africa began when Bartolomeu Dias, a Portuguese navigator, discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488. ...

VOC trading posts were also established in Persia (now Iran), Bengal (now Bangladesh, but then part of India), Malacca (Melaka, now in Malaysia), Siam (now Thailand), mainland China (Canton), Formosa (now Taiwan) and the Malabar Coast and Coromandel Coast in India. In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan (see History of Taiwan). For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... For other uses, see Bengal (disambiguation). ... This article is about the state in Malaysia. ... CITIC Plaza Guangzhou (simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ; jyutping : GwongÂ²zauÂ¹) is the capital and a sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Malabar Coast, Kerala Bekal Fort Beach, Kerala The Malabar Coast also known as the Malabarian Coast, is a long and narrow south-western shore line of the mainland Indian subcontinent. ... Districts along the Coromandel Coast Map of the coast (French) The Coromandel Coast is the name given to the southeastern coast of the Indian peninsula. ... Events February 1 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. ... Koxinga (Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: GÃºoxÃ¬ngyÃ©; Tongyong Pinyin: GÃºosÃ¬ngyÃ©; Taiwanese; Kok-sÃ¨ng-iÃ¢/Kok-sÃ¬â¿-iÃ¢) is the popular name of Zheng Chenggong (Traditional Chinese: é„æˆåŠŸ; Hanyu Pinyin: ZhÃ¨ng ChÃ©nggÅng; Tongyong Pinyin: JhÃ¨ng ChÃ©nggong; Wade-Giles: Cheng Cheng-kung; Pe... This article discusses the history of Taiwan (including the Pescadores). ...

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^[16]. // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ... This article is about financial dividends. ...

Reorientation

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 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^[17]. For other uses, see Ming. ... Flag (1890-1912) Anthem Gong Jinou (1911) Qing China at its greatest extent. ... This page is about the Japanese ruler and military rank. ...

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 EIC to aggressively enter this market 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 maximization). 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 (that 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^[18]. This does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Josiah Child (1630 - June 22, 1699), English merchant, economist and governor of the East India Company, was born in London, the second son of Richard Child, a London merchant of old family. ...

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^[19]. 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. ^[20]. French and other European settlements in India. ... The Danish East India Company (in Danish Dansk Ostindisk Kompagni) was founded in 1616, following a privilege of the Danish king Christian IV. It was focused on trade with India and had its base in Tranquebar. ... Pulicat is a town which lies in the Thiruvallur District, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. ... Nagapattinam (previously spelt Negapatnam) is a coastal city and a municipality in Nagapattinam District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. ...

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 and dominate the Malabar pepper and spice trade. A strategic decdision was taken to scale down the Dutch military presence and in effect yield the area to EIC influence^[21]. Vasco da Gama delivers the letter of King Manuel I of Portugal to the Saamoothiri of Calicut SaamoothirippÄdu or Saamoothiri, (Zamorin is the anglicised version) a title of the rulers of the erstwhile state of Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut) (Nediyirippu SwarÅ«pam), located in the present day state... , For the district with the same name, see Kozhikode District. ...

The 1741 Battle of Colachel by Nairs of Travancore under Raja Marthanda Varma was therefore a rearguard action. 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 organized Asian power overcoming European military technology and tactics; and it signaled the decline of Dutch power in India^[22]. // Events April 10 - Austrian army attack troops of Frederick the Great at Mollwitz August 10 - Raja of Travancore defeats Dutch East India Company naval expedition at Battle of Colachel December 19 - Vitus Bering dies in his expedition east of Siberia December 25 - Anders Celsius develops his own thermometer scale Celsius... Belligerents Kingdom of Travancore Dutch East India Company Commanders Marthanda Varma, Ramayyan Dalawa Eustachius De Lannoy Strength Nayar Brigade ? Casualties and losses ? ? The Battle of Colachel (or Battle of Kulachal) was a battle that took place on 10 August 1741 (31 July OS) [1]during the Travancore-Dutch War, when... // Introduction Nair is the name of a caste in the Southern Indian state of Kerala. ... Flag for former princely state of Travancore Travancore or Thiruvithaamkoor (Malayalam: à´¤à´¿à´°àµà´µà´¿à´¤à´¾à´™àµà´•àµ‚à´°àµâ€ [], à´¤à´¿à´°àµà´µà´¿à´¤à´¾à´‚à´•àµ‚à´°àµâ€ [], à´¤à´¿à´°àµà´µà´¿à´¤à´¾à´™àµà´•àµ‹à´Ÿàµ []) was a princely state in India with its capital at Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram). ... Marthanda Varma (1706 - 1758) was the son of the Rani of Attingal. ... Captain Eustachius Benedictus De Lannoy (also spelt De Lennoy), was a Dutch naval commander of the Dutch East India Company, who was sent by the company to help establish a trading post at Colachel, Southern India, but was defeated at the Battle of Colachel by the Travancore army under Maharaja...

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, and 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 to easily finance its expansion in the new areas of commerce^[23]. 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 to approximately double the size of the company^[24].

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^[25]. 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^[26].

Low profit margins in themselves don't 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, labor productivity did not go up sufficiently to realize 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"^[27]. The increase in output from Q to Q2 causes a decrease in the average cost of each unit from C to C1. ...

Concretely: "[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^[28]."

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 (which 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^[29]. The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of King James II of England (VII of Scotland) in 1688 by a union of Parliamentarians and the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange), who as a result ascended the English throne as William...

Decline

But from there on the fortunes of the VOC started to decline. Five major problems, not all of equal weight, can be adduced to explain its decline in the next fifty years to 1780^[30].

Despite of all this, the VOC in 1780 remained an enormous operation. Its capital in the Republic, consisting of ships and goods in inventory, totaled 28 million guilders; its capital in Asia, consisting of the liquid trading fund and goods en route to Europe, totaled 46 million guilders. Total capital, net of outstanding debt, stood at 62 million guilders. The prospects of the company at this time therefore need not have been hopeless, had one of the many plans to reform it been taken successfully in hand. However, then 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^[32]. The Ostend Company was a private company established in 1717 to trade with the Indies. ... This does not cite any references or sources. ...

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, rumors of deportation of the gangs from the Batavia area led to widespread rioting. The Dutch military searched houses of Chinese in Batavia searching for weapons. When a house accidentally burnt down, military and impoverished citizens started slaughtering and pillaging the Chinese community.^[33] This Chinese Massacre 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. // Events January 6 - The Committee of Inquiry on the South Sea Bubble publishes its findings February 11 - Sweden and Prussia sign the (2nd Treaty of Stockholm) declaring peace. ... Coolie refers to unskilled laborers from Asia of the 1800s to early 1900s who were sent to the United States, Australia, New Zealand, North Africa and the West Indies. ... Events May 31 - Friedrich II comes to power in Prussia upon the death of his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I. October 20 - Maria Theresia of Austria inherits the Habsburg hereditary dominions (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary and present-day Belgium). ... Chinese Indonesians (Mandarin: YÃ¬ndÃ¹nÃxÄ«yÃ HuÃ¡rÃ©n (Traditional: å°åº¦å°¼è¥¿äºžè¯äºº, Simplified: å°åº¦å°¼è¥¿äºšåŽäººï¼‰ Hakka: Thong ngin, Min: Teng lang, Indonesian: Tionghoa Indonesia, or (derisively) Cina totok) are ethnically Chinese people living in Indonesia, as a result of centuries of overseas Chinese migration. ...

After the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the VOC was a financial wreck, and after vain attempts by the provincial States of Holland and Zeeland to reorganize it, was nationalised on March 1, 1796^[34] by the new Batavian Republic. Its charter was renewed several times, but allowed to expire on December 31, 1800^[35]. 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 old Dutch Republic by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) designated the Netherlands as a republic modeled after the French Republic, to which it was a vassal state. ... Combatants Austria[a] Portugal Prussia[a] Russia[b] Sicily[c] Sardinia Spain[d] Sweden[e] United Kingdom French Empire Holland[f] Italy Etruria[g] Naples[h] Duchy of Warsaw[i] Confederation of the Rhine[j] Bavaria Saxony Westphalia WÃ¼rttemberg Denmark-Norway[k] Commanders Archduke Charles Prince Schwarzenberg Karl Mack... The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Limburg in 1839 1, 2 and 3 United Kingdom of the Netherlands (until 1830) 1 and 2 Kingdom of the Netherlands (after 1830) 2 Duchy of Limburg (In the German Confederacy after 1839 as compensation for Waals-Luxemburg) 3 and 4 Kingdom of Belgium (after... The Congress of Vienna by Jean-Baptiste Isabey, 1819. ... Map of Dutch Republic by Joannes Janssonius United Netherlands redirects here. ... The Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, also known as the Convention of London (one of several) was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the United Provinces in London on August 13, 1814. ...

Organization

The VOC had two types of shareholders: the participanten, who could be seen as non-managing partners, and the 76 bewindhebbers (later reduced to 60) who acted as managing partners. 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^[36] A bond from the Dutch East India Company, dating from 7 November 1623, for the amount of 2,400 florins The Amsterdam Stock Exchange (AEX) is a European stock exchange, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. ...

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^[37] For other uses, see Amsterdam (disambiguation). ... Coordinates: Country Netherlands Province South Holland Area (2006) - Municipality 24. ... Nickname: Motto: Sterker door strijd (Stronger through Struggle) Location of Rotterdam Coordinates: , Country Province Government - Mayor Ivo Opstelten - Aldermen Jeannette Baljeu Hamit Karakus Orhan Kaya Lucas Bolsius Jantine Kriens Dominic Schrijer Roelf de Boer Leonard Geluk Area [1] - Total 319 kmÂ² (123. ... Enkuizen Enkhuizen ( West Frisian: InghÃºze) is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ... Coordinates: , Country Province Area (2006) - Municipality 53. ... For other uses, see Hoorn (disambiguation). ...

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 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: Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (405x781, 83 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dutch East India Company Duit User:Naufana/Images ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (405x781, 83 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Dutch East India Company Duit User:Naufana/Images ...

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 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.^[38] The gulden (sometimes guilder in English), represented by the symbol Æ’ or fl. ... Satellite image of part of the Rhine-Meuse delta, showing the Island of Dordrecht and the eponymous city (7) Dordrecht (population 119,649 (2004)), or in English: Dort, is a city in the Dutch province of South Holland, the third largest city of the province. ... In financial markets, a share is a unit of account for various financial instruments including stocks, mutual funds, limited partnerships, and REITs. ... For the Parker Brothers board game, see Risk (game) For other uses, see Risk (disambiguation). ...

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 Zuid-Nederlanders (roughly present Belgium and Luxemburg, then under Habsburg rule), of whom Isaac le Maire was the largest subscriber with ƒ85,000. VOC's total capitalization was ten times that of its British rival. A stereotypical German The Germans (German: die Deutschen), or the German people, are a nation in the meaning an ethnos (in German: Volk), defined more by a sense of sharing a common German culture and having a German mother tongue, than by citizenship or by being subjects to any particular... Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... Market capitalization, or market cap, is a measurement of corporate or economic size equal to the stock price times the number of shares outstanding of a public company. ...

The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital 'V' with an O on the left and a C on the right leg. 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 flag of the company was orange, white, blue (see Dutch flag) with the company logo embroidered on it. Image File history File links VOC-Amsterdam. ... Image File history File links VOC-Amsterdam. ... Williamsburg eighteenth century press letters Capital letters or majuscules (in the Roman alphabet: A, B, C, D, ...) are also simply called capitals, caps or upper case; manual typesetters kept them in the upper drawers of a desk, keeping the more frequently used minuscule letters on the lower shelf. ... Flag ratio: 2:3 The national flag of the Netherlands, with its three equal horizontal bands coloured red (top), white and blue, was not the countrys first flag. ...

The Heeren XVII (Lords Seventeen) met alternately 6 years in Amsterdam and 2 years in Middelburg. 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. A nautical chart is a graphic representation of a maritime area and adjacent coastal regions. ...

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 Spice Islands (Moluccas), which include the Banda Islands, where the VOC forcibly maintained a monopoly over nutmeg and mace. Methods used to maintain the monopoly included the violent suppression of the native population, not stopping short of extortion and mass murder. In addition, VOC representatives sometimes used the tactic of burning spice trees in order to force indigenous populations to grow other crops, thus artificially cutting the supply of spices like nutmeg and cloves.^[39] Belligerents Kingdom of Portugal (under Habsburg domain) Kingdom of Spain Kingdom of Cochin Dutch Republic Kingdom of England Johor Sultanate Kingdom of Kandy Kingdom of Kongo Kingdom of Ndongo-Matamba Rio Grande Tupis Nhandui Tarairiu Tribe Potiguar Tribe Commanders Viceroy Pedro da Silva High-Captain AntÃ³nio Teles de Meneses... View of the Puncak area in West Java Java (Indonesian: Jawa) is the most populous of Indonesias islands, and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. ... Jakarta (also DKI Jakarta), is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. ... The Indies, on the display globe of the Field Museum, Chicago The Indies or East Indies (or East India) is a term used to describe lands of South and South-East Asia, occupying all of the former British India, the present Indian Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and... Spice Islands most commonly refers to the Maluku Islands (formerly the Moluccas), which lie on the equator, between Sulawesi (Celebes) and New Guinea in what is now Indonesia. ... This page is about the geography and history of the island group in Indonesia — for the political entities encompassing the islands, see Maluku (Indonesian province) and North Maluku. ... The Banda Islands (Indonesian: Kepulauan Banda) are a group of ten small volcanic islands in the Banda Sea, about 140km south of Seram island and about 2000km east of Java, and are part of the Indonesian province of Maluku. ... For other uses, see Nutmeg (disambiguation). ... Species About 100 species, including: Myristica argentea Myristica fragrans Myristica malabarica The nutmegs Myristica are a genus of evergreen trees indigenous to tropical southeast Asia and Australasia. ... Extortion is a criminal offense, which occurs when a person either obtains money, property or services from another through coercion or intimidation or threatens one with physical harm unless they are paid money or property. ... Mass murder (massacre) is the act of murdering a large number of people, typically at the same time, or over a relatively short period of time. ...

VOC outposts

Organization and leadership structures were varied as necessary in the various VOC outposts:

Opperhoofd is a Dutch word (plural Opperhoofden) which literally means 'supreme head[man]'. 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 lead by a Factor, i.e. agent. A governor is an official who heads the government of a colony, state or other sub-national state unit. ... A Factor, from the Latin he who does (parallel to agent, from Latin agens), is a person who professionally acts as the representative of another individual or other legal entity, notably in the following contexts: // In a relatively large company, there could be a hierarchy, including several grades of Factor...

Notable VOC ships

A ship replica is a reconstruction of a no longer existing ship. ... VOC ship Amsterdam. ... VOC ship Amsterdam. ... Replica of the Amsterdam at the Netherlands Maritime Museum The VOC ship Amsterdam ran aground near Hastings, England in January 1749, on its maiden voyage to Batavia. ... Image File history File linksMetadata VOC_Amsterdam. ... Image File history File linksMetadata VOC_Amsterdam. ... Replica of the Amsterdam at the Netherlands Maritime Museum The VOC ship Amsterdam ran aground near Hastings, England in January 1749, on its maiden voyage to Batavia. ... The Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum. ... The National Maritime Museum, Greenwich The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is the leading maritime museum of the United Kingdom, and one of the most important in the world. ... Replica of the Amsterdam at the Netherlands Maritime Museum The VOC ship Amsterdam ran aground near Hastings, England in January 1749, on its maiden voyage to Batavia. ... Batavia was a ship of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). ... Duyfken Duyfken (little dove in English) was a small Dutch ship that sailed from the Indonesian island of Banda in 1606 in search of gold and trade opportunities on Nova Guinea (now Papua New Guinea). ... The Eendracht was an early 17th Century Dutch ship, launched in 1615 in the service of the Dutch East India Company. ... The Halve Maen (Half Moon) was the name of a Dutch East India Company yacht which sailed in what is now New York harbor on September 11, 1609. ... Drechterland (population: 10,378 in 2004) is a municipality in the north-western Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. ... The VOC ship Hollandia wrecked on Annet, Isles of Scilly on 13 June 1743 causing 276 fatalities. ... The Prins Willem was the largest ship at the time of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC). ... The stern of replica Prins Willem The bow of replica Prins Willem The Prins Willem is a replica of the VOC ship Prins Willem. ... Ridderschap van Holland (Knighthood of Holland) was a large retourschip (return ship), the largest class of merchantmen built by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to trade with the East Indies. ... The Rooswijk was a ship belonging to the VOC (Dutch East India Company) that, according to recent, non-conteporary, news reports sank in 1740. ... Sardam. ... // Historical This site is significant in the early European exploration of Australia and parts of the Western Australian coast. ... Vianen, sometimes spelled Vyanen or Viane, was a 17th century VOC sailing ship, used to transport cargo between Europe and the Indies. ... For other uses, see Flying Dutchman (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Flying Dutchman (disambiguation). ... t Wapen van Hoorn, sometimes referred to as Het Wapen van Hoorn or just Wapen van Hoorn (Weapon of Hoorn), was a 17th century VOC sailing ship. ... The Zeewijk (or Zeewyk) was a Dutch East India Company (VOC) ship that wrecked at the Houtman Abrolhos, off the coast of Western Australia, on 9 June 1727. ... The VOC Zuytdorp (meaning South village) was a trading ship of the Dutch East India Company in the 1700s. ...

Contents

History

Background

Formation

Growth

Reorientation

Decline

Organization

VOC outposts

Notable VOC ships

See also

References

Further reading

External links