The United East India Company or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)

The United East India Company or the United East Indian Company, also known as the United East Indies Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie; or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in modern spelling; VOC), referred to by the British as the Dutch East India Company, or the Dutch East Indies Company. It  was established as a chartered company in 1602, when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade. A pioneering early model of the multinational.  In the early 1600s, the VOC became the first company in history to issue bonds and shares of sock to the general public. In other words, the VOC was the world's first formally listed public company, namely, it was the first corporation to be ever actually listed on an official (formal) stock exchange. 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 governance, corporate finance, and financial capitalism. As a transcontinental employer, the company was an early pioneer of outward foreign direct investment at the dawn of modern capitalism. The VOC was historically a military-political-economic complex rather than a pure trading company (or shipping company). In terms of exploratory maritime history of the world, as a major force behind the Golden Age of Dutch exploration and discovery (ca. 1590s–1720s), the VOC-funded exploratory voyages such as those led by Willem Janszoon, Henry Hudson (Halve Maen) and Abel Tasman revealed largely unknown landmasses to the western world. In the Golden Age of Netherlandish cartography, the VOC navigators and cartographers helped shape geographical knowledge of the modern world as we know them today. It was the largest global corporation in the 17^th century. It was the most important than any other West-Eastern India Company at that time. It transformed the relationships between Europe and South-East Asia. The company's the greatest commodity was a spice trade, very lucrative and bloody expensive to run. The extraordinary exploitation of overseas gave a birth to New Amsterdam – the  British called in – The New York City, years later. The meaning of this spice trade was important, what we have to remember is that the Portuguese had a monopoly for the whole spice trade, they started in the late 15^th century, when, they discovered a new route around Africa. It was difficult and rough enterprise, between 1496 and 1497 they conquered Goa, Malacca, Honduras. Portugal began to control the space route and trade from Asia to Europe. The overland trade was controlled by Arabs. They were rising money in the east, their trade concentrated mostly on pepper which a very expansive commodity. It was used in cooking and medicine, it was treated as kind of preservative for food to remind fresh, not bland and fore most eatable. It was very desired among European countries. For the Netherlands it was a very unsettle time; the country was at war with Spain – there was a case of be or not be visible economically on the European map; it was about monopoly of the trade. We must remember the Netherlands was highly depended on the sea exploration, during the war, the sea trade was halted, blocked and almost stopped. The Dutch had to travel, exchange goods and spin their economy on and on. The trade was a mean to earn money, so was the war, it gave the Dutch an opportunity to grow and to develop a monopoly overseas. They had to do it that way, otherwise, they would become insignificant and swallowed by bigger and stronger powers. They found the VOC because they were afraid of their position in trade, they saw how powerful the competition was, they started directly trading to Asia and with Asia breaking several international laws, they broke the contract they sign with Portugal over the spice trade, moreover, they were looking for other participants: Italian and German merchants. They had to profitable and they were. This particular time is marked by a constant war; we may call it ‘the fiscal military state approach’. The VOC won the reading rights over commercial institutions, it represented state-like power, moreover it stood for:

-         domination;

-         balance of power;

-         combining military and political power;

-         massive enterprise;

Rich people invested into it, their private money was eagerly invested in new overseas explorations; we mustn’t forget about naturalists who wanted to see new places and theirs unique plants and animals, it gave an onset of the fields of study called – natural history, biology. Furthermore the Dutch were very keen on keeping records of their sailing routes, sold and gained goods, almost everything. It is very interesting how the Dutch rose money, it developed in the following way; they went to India and bought cloths, from India they went to spice Islands, they sold cloths and bought spices, they went with this spices to China, sold they and got silk, with the silk they went to Japan, they bought silver and got back. And so and on. It was an advanced and a huge process of empowering the trade, the capital developed and the concept brought profit. Unlike the Portuguese, the Dutch took control over spice producing areas.  

They conquered the small islands and held on this production areas. Thus, they had trade production control and became very powerful. Obviously, nothing could have been one only through the process of negotiation – it was a brutal conquer, and believe me, the scars are still open in some parts of the world. The Dutch came over two major obstacles, the Chinese merchants, who defeated the Dutch at sea, and the Mongol Empire, which was strong and powerful that was untouchable at that time. The Dutch saw that in some places there was a possibility to conquer and they use this possibility. The development of the VOC made Amsterdam more and more noticeable, to that extend, that it soon became the main trading port and spot. It came to life because the Dutch blocked the Antwerp port, at that time, as well.  Amsterdam became an extremely important place of reprocessing. It eclipsed Antwerp. People came to Amsterdam to know the language better, to develop their small business, to socialize. To show themselves up. Let me point out the most important points why Amsterdam was so exceptional:

-         it held stock exchange;

-         it held exchange bank;

-         it had access income;

-         it became an immerse map making center;

-         wages were high.

Notwithstanding all the odds and wars, the Netherlands, such a small and flat as a pancake country, manage to thrive, even, the decline of the VOC did not diminished its importance and significance in political and economical relationships with other European countries. People, simply know, the Netherlands is somewhere, out there.

Bibliography:

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2.      Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life. (Oxford University Press, 2015

3.     Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: Macmillan

4.     Shinkai, Tetsuya; Ohkawa, Takao; Okamura, Makoto; Harimaya, Kozo (5 December 2012). Why did the Dutch East India Co. outperform the British East India Co.? A theoretical explanation based on the objective of the firm and limited liability. (No 96, Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University)

5.     Smith, B. Mark (2003). A History of the Global Stock Market: From Ancient Rome to Silicon Valley. (University of Chicago Press)

6.     Clarke, Thomas; Branson, Douglas (2012). The SAGE Handbook of Corporate Governance (Sage Handbooks). (SAGE Publications Ltd., ISBN 9781412929806, p. 431). "The EIC first issued permanent shares in 1657