Основание голландской ост индской компании

Голландская Ост-Индская компания (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC), была не только первой многонациональной корпорацией, но и, вероятно, крупнейшей по величине корпорацией в истории. По некоторым расчетам, на пике ее стоимость в переводе на современные доллары составила бы астрономические $7,4 трлн – что делает её крупнейшей компанией в истории. И именно из-за Голландской Ост-Индской компании Амстердам был финансовым центром капитализма в течение двух столетий.

В 1594 году группа нидерландских купцов основали компанию «Ван Верре» для торговли со странами Востока без посредников. За ней последовало создание других подобных торговых голландских компаний. Эти предприятия были довольно успешными. Некоторые корабли возвращали 400% прибыли, что было крайне выгодно инвесторам и привело к повышенному спросу. С целью исключения конкуренции между ними и совместного противостояния португальской, испанской и английской торговле решением Генеральных штатов Соединённых провинций Нидерландов эти торговые компании были объединены в единую Ост-Индскую компанию в 1602 году. Стартовый капитал компании составлял около 6,5 млн флоринов/гульденов ($2,3 млн) и практически не менялся за всю историю компании.

По сути компании удалось не только изменить мир, но и мировой финансовый рынок.

До 1602 года купцы финансировали отдельные корабли как товарищества с ограниченной ответственностью, которые прекратили свое существование сразу после возвращения кораблей. Торговцы инвестировали в несколько кораблей одновременно для снижения рисков – если один корабль не вернется, инвестор не будет разорен. Ответственность инвесторов была коллективной — совладельцы делят между собой обязательства, какими бы большими они ни были.

Деньги компания привлекла посредством продажи ценных бумаг – в современной практики данный инструмент называется IPO. (IPO (InitialPublic Offering) – первичное публичное привлечение ценных бумаг). Удивительным был тот факт, что каждый житель Нидерландов мог стать совладельцем компании. Однако для этого необходимо было вложить как минимум 2 400 флоринов (около $ 300 тыс) – стоимость одной акции. А это говорило том, что инвесторами могли стать только богатейшие купцы. В результате, акционеры VOC стали акционерами с ограниченной ответственностью в связи с тем, что желающих было очень много. Это означало, что ответственность ограничивалась суммой взноса, кроме того, инвесторы не могли забрать вложенный капитал, можно было только продать имеющиеся акции на рынке по текущей цене. Инновация позволила организовывать безопасное финансирование крупномасштабные капании, повысив уровень безопасности своих инвесторов. Интересным также остаётся тот факт, что совладельцем мог стать любой, но управляющих совладельцов представлял ограниченный круг лиц. И в этом некоторые историки видят прообраз современного разделения акций на голосующие и простые.

В итоге собранный стартовый капитал компании составлял около 6,5 млн флоринов ($2,3 млн) и практически не менялся за всю историю компании. Собранная сумма являлась колоссальной для того времени.

Дивидендная политика Голландской Ост-Индской компании оставила мало капитала для реинвестирования, поэтому компания обратилась к кредитным займам. Впервые VOC обратилась к кредитованию в 1630-х годах, увеличив отношение заемных средств к собственному капиталу вдвое. Однако долговые обязательства компании росли. Удивительным остается тот факт, что компания не реализовала дополнительный выпуск ценных бумаг. Компания продолжала выплачивать высокие дивиденды, иногда финансируемые за счет заемных средств, что уменьшало объем реинвестированного капитала. В конечном итоге компания не справилась с растущими долгами, что в конечном итоге обанкротило компанию и привело к ее национализации и упадку.

В 1600-х и 1700-х годах голландцы имели самую низкую стоимость капитала в мире. Это произошло из-за инновационной идеи – погашение текущего кредита, обеспечивает еще более низкую процентную ставку на следующий. В итоге это подтолкнуло голландцев инвестировать не только в акционерные общества, такие как VОС, но и в иностранный государственный долг.

Другим интересным аспектом VOC была его дивидендная политика. Некоторые из дивидендов выплачивались в натуральной форме — гвоздикой, специями или облигациями. Однако зачастую акционеры отказывались от выплат не в денежной форме, не получая прибыли.

Компания выплатила дивиденды в размере 15% капитала в 1605 году, 75% в 1606 году, 40% в 1607 году, 20% в 1608 году, 25% в 1609 году в денежном выражении, а затем в среднем 71% в натуральной форме в течение следующих семи лет. Цена акций голландской Ост-Индской компании торговалась на уровне 400 флоринов в течение большей части существования компании. Как показано на диаграмме ниже, фактическая дивидендная доходность составляла около 5-7%. Дивиденды же в реальности в среднем составляли около 18% капитала в течение 200-летнего существования компании. После 1782 года дивиденды не выплачивались.

В 1602 году акции начали котироваться на амстердамской фондовой бирже а уровне 100 флоринов, а к 1630-м году уже достигли 400 и держались на этом уровне вплоть до кризиса.

Своего пика акции достигли во время голландской «Tulip Mania» (тюльпаномания) — кратковременного всплеска ажиотажного спроса на луковицы тюльпанов в Нидерландах в 1636—1637 годы. — первого в мире настоящего финансового пузыря. За это время ажиотажный спрос на луковицы редких сортов достиг рекордных размеров – по слухам стоимость одной луковицы доходила до 3 000 флоринов за штуку. Однако согласно единственной зарегистрированной сделка стоимость луковицы с двумя детками составляла 1000 флоринов. Цены на луковицы выросли настолько, что на деньги от продажи трех луковиц можно было купить дом. Именно в это время в Голландии появилась новая финансовая инновация — переход от сделок купли-продажи наличного товара к фьючерсной торговле – что и стало причиной кризиса. Двадцатикратное падение цен в феврале 1637 года поставило покупателей тюльпановых контрактов на грань разорения.

Несмотря на то, что Тюльпаномания согласно мнению современных экспертов является одним из крупнейших кризисов в истории человечества, нет однозначного мнения о её влиянии, на развитие голландской Ост-Индской компании.

Именно в это время капитализация компании достигла рекордных 78 млн флоринов ($ 7,9 трлн). Эта цифра сопоставима с ВВП современных стран, таких как, Япония и Великобритания вместе взятых. В компании работало более 70 тыс человек по всему миру – что делает её одной из крупнейших многонациональных корпораций в мире.

Следующее потрясение мирового финансового рынка произошло в 1720 году, когда Англию поглотила спекулятивная лихорадка. Самый большой пузырь – «Компания Южных морей», акции которой продолжали необоснованно расти, формируя на рынке ажиотаж. Все слои населения были вовлечены в биржевую торговлю. А в 1720 г. был принят королевский акт, запрещавший публичную продажу акций акционерных компаний с ограниченной ответственностью без королевского устава. Принятие закона предвещало дальнейшее банкротство компании. Владельца акций компании пытались вернуть деньги и в итоге по всему глобальному финансовому рынку прокатилась волна банкротств.

Во время пузыря 1720-х годов, когда акции превысили 1000 флоринов, упали до 600, выросли до 800 в 1730-х годах, а затем постепенно снижались. Голландская Ост-Индская компания являлась одним из лучших индикаторов экономики Нидерландов, и даже мировой экономики до 1800 года.

Еще одна финансовая инновация, которую привнесла VOC на мировой финансовый рынок — это преобразование Амстердамской фондовой биржи, которое привело к появлению новых финансовых инструментов, таких как фьючерсные контракты, опционы, и др. По сути на бирже торговались акции только двух крупных компаний — голландских Ост и Вест-Индских компаний. Голландцы не смогли диверсифицировать свой инвестиционный портфель другим компаниям, что в конечном итоге привело к пузырю на рынке.

В период с 1630 по 1670 года среднегодовая прибыль голландской Ост-Индской компании составляла 2,1 млн. Флоринов. А в 1640 г. объем бизнеса, осуществляемого в Ост-Индии, составлял около 6% всей голландской торговли; в последующие десятилетия он вырос до 10%.

По сути основным конкурентом голландской Ост-Индской компания была Британская компания. Обе компании являлись феноменальном явлением своего времени.

Монополия и финансовые инновации позволили VOC расширить свои владения по всей Азии и обосноваться около Японии. Компания была крайне успешной до 1670-х годов и стала самой богатой корпорацией в мире.

После 1670-х годов усилилась конкуренция со стороны английских и других колониальных держав. Однако, это не остановило деятельность компании, но VOC пришлось переключиться на торгуемые товары с более низкой ценой. Интересным остается тот факт, что цена акций VOC достигла пика в 566% от цены IPO. А в 1720 году, акции VOC достигли рекордного пика в размере более 1200% от цены IPO.

Голландская Ост-Индская компания была национализирована 1 марта 1796 года. Большая часть азиатских владений компания была передана англичанам после окончания наполеоновских войн, и английская Ост-Индская компания взяла на себя инфраструктуру VОС. После наполеоновских войн центр мировых финансов переместился из Амстердама в Лондон.

United East India Company^[a]

Native name	Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie Generale Vereenichde Geoctrooieerde Compagnie (original name) Verenigde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie (formal name)
Type	Public
Industry	Proto-conglomerate
Predecessor	Voorcompagnieën/Pre-companies (1594–1602)[b] Compagnie van Verre Brabantsche Compagnie Compagnie van De Moucheron Veerse Compagnie
Founded	20 March 1602,[1] by a government-directed consolidation of the voorcompagnieën/pre-companies
Founder	Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and the States-General
Defunct	31 December 1799
Fate	Dissolved and nationalised as Dutch East Indies
Headquarters	Amsterdam, Dutch Republic (global headquarters) Batavia, Dutch East Indies (second headquarters or overseas administrative center)
Area served	Eurasia (active mainly in Greater India and the Asia-Pacific region) Southern Africa
Key people	Heeren XVII [nl]/Lords Seventeen[c] (Dutch Republic, 1602–1799) Governors-general of the Dutch East Indies[d] (Batavia, 1610–1800)
Products	Spices, silk, porcelain, metals, livestock, tea, grain, rice, soybeans, sugarcane, wine, coffee

The United East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie [vərˈeːnɪɣdə oːstˈɪndisə kɔmpɑˈɲi], abbr. as VOC, Dutch: [veː.oːˈseː]) was a chartered company established on 20 March 1602^[2] by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock company in the world,^[3][4] granting it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia.^[5] Shares in the company could be bought by any resident of the United Provinces and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange).^[6] It is sometimes considered to have been the first multinational corporation.^[7] It was a powerful company, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts,^[8] negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.^[9]

Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade. 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.^[10]

Having been set up in 1602 to profit from the Malukan spice trade, the VOC established a capital in the port city of Jayakarta in 1609 and changed the city name into Batavia (now Jakarta). Over the next two centuries the company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory.^[11] It remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Much of the labour that built its colonies was from people it had enslaved.

Weighed down by smuggling, corruption and growing administrative costs in the late 18th century, the company went bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1799. Its possessions and debt were taken over by the government of the Dutch Batavian Republic. The former territories owned by the VOC went on to become the Dutch East Indies and were expanded over the course of the 19th century to include the entirety of the Indonesian archipelago. In the 20th century, these islands would form the Republic of Indonesia.

Company name, logo, and flag[edit]

In Dutch, the name of the company was the Vereenigde Nederlandsche Geoctroyeerde Oostindische Compagnie (abbreviated as the VOC), literally the ‘United Dutch Chartered East India Company’ (the United East India Company).^[12] The company’s monogram logo consisted of a large capital ‘V’ with an O on the left and a C on the right half and was possibly the first globally recognised corporate logo.^[13] It appeared on various corporate items, such as cannons and coins. The first letter of the hometown of the chamber conducting the operation was placed on top. The monogram, versatility, flexibility, clarity, simplicity, symmetry, timelessness, and symbolism are considered notable characteristics of the VOC’s professionally designed logo. Those elements ensured its success at a time when the concept of the corporate identity was virtually unknown.^[13][14] An Australian vintner has used the VOC logo since the late 20th century, having re-registered the company’s name for the purpose.^[15] The flag of the company was red, white, and blue, with the company logo embroidered on it.^{[citation needed]}

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 from 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’, ‘Jan Company’, or ‘Jan Compagnie’.^[16][17]

History[edit]

Origins[edit]

Before the Dutch Revolt, which started in 1566/68, the Dutch city of Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution center in northern Europe. After 1591, however, the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fugger family and Welser family, as well as Spanish and Italian firms, which operated out of 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; 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 (called the Iberian Union), with which the Dutch Republic was at war. The Portuguese Empire thenceforward became an appropriate target for Dutch military incursions. These factors motivated Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves. Further, a number of Dutch merchants and explorers, such as Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman, went on to obtain first hand knowledge of the «secret» Portuguese trade routes and practices that were already in place, thereby providing further opportunity for the Dutch to enter the trade.^[18]

The stage was thus set for Dutch expeditions to the Indonesian islands, beginning with James Lancaster in 1591, Cornelis de Houtman in 1595 and again in 1598, Jacob Van Neck in 1598, Lancaster again in 1601, among others. During the four-ship exploratory expedition by Frederick de Houtman in 1595 to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java, the crew clashed with both Portuguese and indigenous Javanese. Houtman’s expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew members 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.^[19]

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 1598, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck had been the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku (also known as the Moluccas), cutting out the Javanese middlemen. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and the expedition made a 400 percent profit.^[19]

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.^[20] 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.^[20]

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.^[21][22]

Formative years[edit]

At the time, it was customary for a company to be funded 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^[23] of spices could make prices tumble, thereby ruining prospects of profitability. To manage such risk, the forming of a cartel to control supply would seem logical. In 1600, the English were the first to adopt this approach by bundling their resources into a monopoly enterprise, the English East India Company, thereby threatening their Dutch competitors with ruin.^[24]

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.^[25] For a time in the seventeenth century, it was able to monopolise the trade in nutmeg, mace, and cloves and to sell these spices across European kingdoms and Emperor Akbar the Great’s Mughal Empire at 14–17 times the price it paid in Indonesia;^[26] while Dutch profits soared, the local economy of the Spice Islands was destroyed.^[why?] With a capital of 6,440,200 guilders,^[27] the new company’s charter 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.^[24]

In February 1603, the company seized the Santa Catarina, a 1500-ton Portuguese merchant carrack, off the coast of Singapore.^[28] She was such a rich prize that her sale proceeds increased the capital of the VOC by more than 50%.^[29]

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»).^[30] 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.^[20]

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.^[31][32] A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought. The Straits of Malacca were strategic but became 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.^[20]

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.^[30] 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.^[30]

In 1620, diplomatic agreements in Europe ushered in a period of co-operation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade.^[30] 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.^[33] 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[edit]

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.^[34] These plantations were used to grow 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.^[35]

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.^[36]

The VOC traded throughout Asia, benefiting mainly from Bengal. Ships coming into Batavia from the Netherlands carried supplies for VOC settlements in Asia. Silver and copper from Japan were used to trade with the world’s wealthiest empires, Mughal India and Qing 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.^[37] 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.

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.

In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established a resupply outpost at the Cape of Storms (the southwestern tip of Africa, now Cape Town, South Africa) to service company ships on their journey to and from East Asia. The cape was later renamed Cape of Good Hope in honour of the outpost’s presence. Although non-company ships were welcome to use the station, they were charged exorbitantly. This post later became a full-fledged colony, the Cape Colony, when more Dutch and other Europeans started to settle there.

Through the seventeenth century VOC trading posts were also established in Persia, Bengal, Malacca, Siam, Formosa (now Taiwan), as well as the Malabar and Coromandel coasts in India. Direct access to mainland China came in 1729 when a factory was established in Canton.^[38] In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan^[39] (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.^[40]

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.^[41]

Many of the VOC employees inter-mixed with the indigenous peoples and expanded the population of Indos in pre-colonial history.^[42][43]

Reorientation[edit]

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 China’s Qing dynasty) brought an end to the silk trade after 1666. Though the VOC substituted Mughal Bengal’s 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 linchpin of the intra-Asiatic trade of the VOC by 1685.^[44]

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.^[45]

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 theretofore 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 Nagapattinam, so as to secure a monopoly on the pepper trade to the detriment of the French and the Danes.^[46] 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.^[47]

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.^[48]

In the 1741 Battle of Colachel, 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.^[49]

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.^[50] 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.^[51]

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.^[52] 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.^[53]

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».^[54]

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.»^[54]

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.^[55]

Decline and fall[edit]

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:^[56]

• 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.^[57] 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 from 1690 to 1760 except 1710–1720. 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.^[58]

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 naval attacks in Europe and Asia reduced the VOC fleet by half; removed valuable cargo from its control; and eroded its remaining power in Asia. The direct losses of the VOC during the war can be calculated at 43 million guilders. Loans to keep the company operating reduced its net assets to zero.^[59]

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.^[60] 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.^[61] The VOC charter was renewed several times, but was allowed to expire on 31 December 1799.^[61] 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.

Organisational structure[edit]

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.^[62] At the height of its existence the VOC had 25,000 employees who worked in Asia and 11,000 who were en route.^[63] 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.^[64]

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.^[65]
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.^[66]

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.^[67]

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 six years in Amsterdam and two 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.^[68] 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.^[69]

Shareholder activism and governance issues[edit]

The seventeenth-century Dutch businessmen, especially the VOC investors, were possibly history’s first recorded investors to seriously consider the corporate governance’s problems.^[70][71] 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.^[72][73][74] 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».^[75][76][77]

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.^[78] 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.^[79]

Main trading posts, settlements, and colonies[edit]

Europe[edit]

Netherlands[edit]

• Amsterdam (global headquarters)
• Delft
• Enkhuizen
• Hoorn
• Middelburg
• Rotterdam

Africa[edit]

Mauritius[edit]

• Dutch Mauritius (1638–1658; 1664–1710)

South Africa[edit]

• Dutch Cape Colony (1652–1806)

Asia[edit]

Indonesia[edit]

• Batavia, Dutch East Indies

Indian subcontinent[edit]

• Dutch Coromandel (1608–1825)
• Dutch Suratte (1616–1825)
• Dutch Bengal (1627–1825)
• Dutch Ceylon (1640–1796)
• Dutch Malabar (1661–1795)

Japan[edit]

• Hirado, Nagasaki (1609–1641)
• Dejima, Nagasaki (1641–1853)

Taiwan[edit]

• 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[edit]

• Dutch Malacca (1641–1795; 1818–1825)

Thailand[edit]

• Ayutthaya (1608–1767)

Vietnam[edit]

• Thǎng Long/Tonkin (1636–1699)
• Hội An (1636–1741)

VOC mentality[edit]

(…) I don’t understand why you’re all being so negative and unpleasant. Let’s just be happy with each other. Let’s just say «the Netherlands can do it» again: that VOC mentality. Look across our borders. Dynamism! Don’t you think?

— Jan Pieter Balkenende, then Dutch Prime Minister, reacted to the criticism of his government policy during the parliamentary debate, September 2006^[e][80][81]

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).^[f] For Balkenende, the VOC represented Dutch business acumen, entrepreneurship, adventurous spirit, and decisiveness. However, 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».^[83] 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.^[83]

Criticism[edit]

The company has been criticised for its quasi-absolute commercial monopoly, colonialism, exploitation (including use of slave labour), slave trade, use of violence, environmental destruction (including deforestation), and for its overly bureaucratic organisational structure.^[84]

Batavia, corresponding to present day Jakarta, was the headquarters of the Dutch East India Company, and had a strict social hierarchy in the colony. According to Marsely L. Kahoe in The Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art, «it is misleading to understand Batavia, as some scholars have, as representing a pragmatic and egalitarian order that was later corrupted by the colonial situation. In fact, the social stratification and segregation of Batavia derived in certain ways directly from its Dutch plan.»^[85]

There was an extraordinarily high mortality rate among employees of the VOC.^[why?] Between 1602 and 1795, about one million seamen and craftsmen departed from Holland, but only 340,000 returned. J.L. van Zanden writes «the VOC ‘consumed’ approximately 4,000 people per year.»^[86]

Colonialism, monopoly and violence[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2018)

Your Honours know by experience that trade in Asia must be driven and maintained under the protection and favour of Your Honours’ own weapons, and that the weapons must be paid for by the profits from the trade; so that we cannot carry on trade without war nor war without trade.

The VOC charter allowed it to act as a quasi-sovereign state, and engaged in brutal conquests.^[88] One example is the Dutch conquest of the Banda Islands, between 1609 and 1621, after the islands resisted the nutmeg monopoly. The Dutch launched punitive expeditions that resulted in the near destruction of Bandanese society.^[89] They invaded the main Bandanese island of Lontor in 1621. 2,800 Bandanese were killed, mostly from famine, and 1,700 were enslaved during the attack.^[90] The total population of the islands is estimated at 15,000 people before the conquest. Although the exact number remains uncertain, it is estimated that around 14,000 people were killed, enslaved or fled elsewhere, with only 1,000 Bandanese surviving in the islands, and were spread throughout the nutmeg groves as forced labourers.^[91] The treatment of slaves was severe—the native Bandanese population dropped to 1,000 by 1681.^[88] 200 slaves were imported annually to sustain the slave population at a total of 4,000.^[92]

Dutch slave trade and slavery under the VOC colonial rule[edit]

By the time the settlement was established at the Cape in 1652, the VOC already had a long experience of practicing slavery in the East Indies. Jan van Riebeeck concluded within two months of the establishment of the Cape settlement that slave labor would be needed for the hardest and dirtiest work. Initially, the VOC considered enslaving men from the indigenous Khoikhoi population, but the idea was rejected on the grounds that such a policy would be both costly and dangerous. Most Khoikhoi had chosen not to labor for the Dutch because of low wages and harsh conditions. In the beginning, the settlers traded with the Khoikhoi but the harsh working conditions and low wages imposed by the Dutch led to a series of wars. The European population remained under 200 during the settlement’s first five years, and war against neighbors numbering more than 20,000 would have been foolhardy. Moreover, the Dutch feared that Khoikhoi people, if enslaved, could always escape into the local community, whereas foreigners would find it much more difficult to elude their «masters.»^[93]

Between 1652 and 1657, a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to obtain men from the Dutch East Indies and from Mauritius. In 1658, however, the VOC landed two shiploads of slaves at the Cape, one containing more than 200 people brought from Dahomey (later Benin), the second with almost 200 people, most of them children, captured from a Portuguese slaver off the coast of Angola. Except for a few individuals, these were to be the only slaves ever brought to the Cape from West Africa.^[93] From 1658 to the end of the company’s rule, many more slaves were brought regularly to the Cape in various ways, chiefly by Company-sponsored slaving voyages and slaves brought to the Cape by its return fleets. From these sources and by natural growth, the slave population increased from zero in 1652 to about 1,000 by 1700. During the 18th century, the slave population increased dramatically to 16,839 by 1795. After the slave trade was initiated, all of the slaves imported into the Cape until the British stopped the trade in 1807 were from East Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, and South and Southeast Asia. Large numbers were brought from Ceylon and the Indonesian archipelago. Prisoners from other countries in the VOC’s empire were also enslaved. The slave population, which exceeded that of the European settlers until the first quarter of the nineteenth century, was overwhelmingly male and was thus dependent on constant imports of new slaves to maintain and to augment its size.^[93]

By the 1660s the Cape settlement was importing slaves from Ceylon, Malaya (Malaysia), and Madagascar to work on the farms.^[94] Conflict between Dutch farmers and Khoikhoi broke out once it became clear to the latter that the Dutch were there to stay and that they intended to encroach on the lands of the pastoralists. In 1659 Doman, a Khoikhoi who had worked as a translator for the Dutch and had even traveled to Java, led an armed attempt to expel the Dutch from the Cape peninsula. The attempt was a failure, although warfare dragged on until an inconclusive peace was established a year later. During the following decade, pressure on the Khoikhoi grew as more of the Dutch became free burghers, expanded their landholdings, and sought pastureland for their growing herds. War broke out again in 1673 and continued until 1677, when Khoikhoi resistance was destroyed by a combination of superior European weapons and Dutch manipulation of divisions among the local people. Thereafter, Khoikhoi society in the western Cape disintegrated. Some people found jobs as shepherds on European farms; others rejected foreign rule and moved away from the Cape. The final blow for most came in 1713 when a Dutch ship brought smallpox to the Cape. Hitherto unknown locally, the disease ravaged the remaining Khoikhoi, killing 90 percent of the population.^[93] Throughout the eighteenth century, the settlement continued to expand through internal growth of the European population and the continued importation of slaves. The approximately 3,000 Europeans and slaves at the Cape in 1700 had increased by the end of the century to nearly 20,000 Europeans, and approximately 25,000 slaves.^[93]

Archives and records[edit]

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 [nl]/Gentlemen Seventeen) in the Dutch Republic.^[95] The VOC records are included in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.^[96]

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• VOC voyages – online database of voyages of VOC ships
• Atlas of Mutual Heritage – online atlas of VOC and GWC settlements
• (in Dutch) Database of VOC crew members Archived 22 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• VOC Historical Society
• VOC Warfare
• VOC archive from the Indonesian national archives

Голландская ост-индская компания

Государства Северной
Европы не участвовали в разделе мира
между Испанией и Португалией. В XVI в.
они удовлетворялись покупкой
дальневосточных продуктов у еврейских
торговцев в Лиссабоне. Голландцы, хотя
были «еретиками», оставались подданными
Священной Римской империи, и некоторые
служили на португальских каракках.
Голландец Линсхотен, проживший пять
лет в Гоа, возбудил национальное
воображение своей книгой Itinerario:
Voyage ofte schipvaert van Jan Huyghen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte
Portugaels Indien, 1579–1592
, снабженной картами.⁸⁴
После 1580 г. испанцы закрыли лиссабонский
порт для голландцев⁸⁵,
вследствие чего голландцы решили искать
счастья на Востоке. В 1595 г. они послали
корабли для исследования Островов
пряностей. В 1602 г. амстердамские
инвесторы ассигновали более шести с
половиной миллионов флоринов для
основания голландской Ост-Индской
компании, получившей разрешение на
ведение торговли, переговоров и войны
к востоку от линии разграничения.

Португалии не хватало
людских ресурсов. Собственно ее население
в Европе составляло едва один миллион
человек. На Востоке они женились на
аборигенных женщинах, так что большая
часть ее солдат были метисами, никогда
не видевшими Лиссабона. Португальцы не
имели профессиональных войск на Востоке,
полагаясь на levée
en masse (народное
ополчение. — Пер.
) в чрезвычайных обстоятельствах, причем
каждый волонтер присоединялся к тому
офицеру, которого он выбрал. Между
боевыми действиями были длительные
периоды паразитического бездействия,
когда фидалго жили как пенсионеры,
пользуясь плодами труда местной рабочей
силы.

Голландцы уже
сражались в Европе против католических
имперских армий. Они могли посылать
лишь часть своих сил на Дальний Восток.
На море они значительно превосходили
иберийские государства. В 1600 г. на
голландских верфях была заложена
половина всех кораблей, заложенных в
Европе. Они наладили массовое производство
многоцелевых судов, не таких быстрых и
не таких тяжеловооруженных кораблей,
как великолепные каракки, но устойчивых
и просторных — вьючных лошадей на море.
Цена строительства колониальной империи
была высокой — больше половины
исследовательских кораблей терялось
в каждом из крупных путешествий вокруг
Африки, — но Голландия была готова
заплатить ее. Развертывая военно-морские
силы против португальских колоний,
голландцы могли рассчитывать на свое
превосходство в любом месте. В их
вооруженные силы входило ядро
профессиональных солдат, которых
заставляли соблюдать строгую дисциплину.

Голландцы были
целеустремленными торговцами, не
проявлявшими интереса к религиозному
спасению своих клиентов. Голландия
отвергла принцип смешанных браков с
аборигенами⁸⁶;
ее агенты имели дело с местными князьями,
обычно избегая простого народа и изменяя
обычаи страны как можно меньше. Мы
наблюдаем возникновение доктрины
«белого превосходства», которой позднее
придерживались англичане, и принятой
даже азиатскими народами до XX в.

В 1596 г. голландцы
оккупировали Бантам, яванский султанат,
контролировавший Зундский пролив.
Молуккские острова, прославившиеся
всеми видами пряностей, были захвачены
ими в 1605 г. К 1650 г. они обладали
почти полной монополией на торговлю
перцем, мускатным орехом, гвоздикой,
кардамоном и корицей — призом, за который
соперничали все европейцы. Голландская
резиденция находилась сначала в
Макассаре. В 1619 г. она была переведена
в Батавию на Западной Яве, где оставалась
более трех веков. В течение тридцати
лет после 1600 г. они почти монополизировали
торговлю Сиама.

Захват голландцами
Малакки в 1641 г. прервал сообщение
португальцев между Гоа и Макао. Одиннадцать
лет спустя они учредили свою собственную
прочную базу поддержки в Кейптауне.
Среди островов, где господство на море
было решающим фактором, позиции голландцев
стали неуязвимыми. Однако они не могли
бесконечно держать свои аванпосты на
внутренних реках Бирмы и Сиама. Тем
временем их мореплаватели подошли к
землям, о существовании которых
португальцы не подозревали; обогнув
Австралию, они высадились в Новой
Зеландии, хотя и не пытались колонизовать
их. Они пришли на Восток как купцы и
управляющие, но не как пионеры.

Флот Голландии не
всегда одерживал победы. Короткое время
голландцы сотрудничали с англичанами⁸⁷,
но союзники были отбиты от Манилы, а
крупномасштабное нападение голландцев
на Макао потерпело большое фиаско в
середине лета 1622 г. и убедило китайских
губернаторов закрыть все порты для
голубоглазых, рыжеволосых «заморских
дьяволов». Побежденная голландская
флотилия двинулась к Пескадорским
островам, обменивая по просьбе китайцев
эту базу на порт на соседней Формозе,
на который Пекин еще не претендовал.
Позже голландцы посылали торговые
посольства в Пекин, но переговоры были
безуспешными.⁸⁸

Голландская
Ост-Индская компания надеялась превратить
Анпин на Формозе в военно-морскую базу
и торговый склад на полпути между
голландской резиденцией в Батавии и
рынками Северной Азии. Они защищали
местное население от китайских поселенцев,
открывали европейские школы и даже
присылали кальвинистских пасторов для
обращения аборигенов в христиан.⁸⁹
Сорок лет голландцы владели Формозой;
наконец в 1662 г. китайский пират
Коксинга (так его называли голландцы,
настоящее его имя Чжэн Чэнгун) осадил
Анпин и захватил его.

Большего успеха
голландцы добились в Японии, куда они
ежегодно посылали торговый корабль
после 1609 г. В период религиозных
преследований 1614–1637 гг. голландцы
доказали сёгуну свое враждебное отношение
к католикам, даже обстреливая крепость
в Симабаре, захваченную японскими
католиками.⁹⁰
Наградой им была монополия на торговлю
с Японией после эдикта о запрещении
въезда в страну иностранцев: право
посылать раз в год корабль в Нагасаки.
Их агенты были ограничены островом
Дэсима, где им были отведены несколько
акров земли в порту. Они редко могли по
мосту пройти в город, и один раз за
несколько лет они наносили официальный
визит сёгуну в Эдо. С кораблей в порту
были сняты рули и орудия, и все иностранные
книги содержались в закрытых бочках,
чтобы предотвратить проникновение
иностранных идей.

Соседние файлы в предмете История стран Ближнего Востока

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  04.05.20221.09 Mб1Крамер Сэмюэл. История начинается в Шумере — royallib.ru.fb2

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  04.05.20229.35 Mб3Крофтс А., Бьюкенен П. — История Дальнего Востока. Восточная и Юго-Восточная Азия — 2013.fb2

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Голландская Ост-Индская компания
Тип	Публичная компания
Год основания	20 марта 1602
Упразднена	17 марта 1798
Причина упразднения	банкротство
Отрасль	торговля

Голландская Ост-Индская компания (нидерл. Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC, буквально: Объединённая Ост-Индская компания) — нидерландская торговая компания. Основана в 1602 году, просуществовала до 1798 года. Осуществляла торговлю (в том числе чаем, медью, серебром, текстилем, хлопком, шёлком, керамикой, пряностями и опиумом) с Японией, Китаем, Цейлоном, Индонезией; монополизировала торговлю с этими странами Тихого и Индийского океанов.

История компании

Ост-Индийской компанией была основана целая сеть торговых факторий (в том числе на мысе Доброй Надежды, Персии, Бенгалии, Малакке (ныне в составе Малайзии), Китае, Сиаме (ныне Таиланд), Формозе (ныне Тайвань). Едва ли не самой замечательной фигурой в истории компании был Ян Питерсзон Кун, перенёсший её штаб-квартиру в основанный им город Батавия (ныне Джакарта) на острове Ява, ставший столицей голландских колониальных владений в Азии. Бывшие нидерландские владения в этом регионе до сих пор иногда называют Голландской Индией (Индонезия, Цейлон, Малакка, Капская область в Южной Африке).

Компания располагала шестью офисами (палатами) в портовых городах метрополии (в том числе в Амстердаме и Роттердаме) и управлялась советом из 17 купцов.

Голландская Ост-Индская компания явилась по сути первой акционерной фирмой в мире, так как впервые предложила своим учредителям нести долевую ответственность (и соответственно принимать долевое участие в распределении прибыли) за судьбу парусников, отправляющихся на поиски новых земель, сокровищ и пряностей, ценившихся тогда в Европе на вес золота. Это было связано с тем, что по статистике домой возвращалось только одно судно из трёх, в то время как остальные становились жертвами форс-мажорных обстоятельств (пираты, бури и т. д.). При этом удачный рейс приносил огромную прибыль. Таким образом, процент возможной прибыли пайщика напрямую зависел только от суммы его вклада, мерой которого и становились первые в мире акции. Каждая акция вначале стоила 3 гульдена, за которые в то время можно было купить три воза пшеницы. Всего было выпущено и продано 2153 акции, на общую сумму 6,5 миллионов гульденов. Уже в 1604 году акции стоили 110 % первоначальной цены. В 1610 году они стоили 130 % первоначальной цены, когда в Европу впервые был привезён чай с острова Цейлон. В дальнейшем стоимость акций росла на 10 % в год. За первые 120 лет истории компании курс её акций вырос до 1260 %, но в дальнейшем произошел спад.

До 1644 года дивиденды выплачивались натурой — привезёнными товарами (в основном пряностями), в дальнейшем только деньгами.

К 1669 году компания была самой богатой частной фирмой, которую мир когда-либо видел, включая свыше 150 коммерческих судов, 40 военных кораблей, 50,000 служащих, частную армию из 10,000 солдат. Компания принимала участие в политических спорах того времени наряду с государствами. Так, в 1641 году она самостоятельно, без помощи Голландского государства, выбила из нынешней Индонезии своих конкурентов — португальцев. Для этого на средства компании были созданы вооружённые отряды из местного населения.

С именем Голландской Ост-Индской компании связано немало географических открытий и исторических фактов. Так, британский капитан Генри Гудзон, состоящий на службе у компании, в 1609 году во время поиска морского пути в Китай через Америку открыл названные в его честь реку и залив, у берегов которых позднее возник город Нью-Йорк (как известно, первоначально имевший название Нью-Амстердам). Сотрудник компании корабельный врач Ян Ван Рибек основал в 1652 году на южной оконечности Африки продовольственную базу для снабжения судов компании, плывущих из Европы в Индийский океан. Эта база сначала стала населенным пунктом — Капштадом, а впоследствии главным портовым городом ЮАР — Кейптауном.

Компания находилась в постоянном конфликте с Британской империей; испытывала финансовые затруднения после поражения Голландии в войне с этой страной в 1780—1784 годов, и распалась в результате этих затруднений.

Интересные факты

• В 1697 году бургомистр Амстердама и по совместительству директор Голландской Ост-Индской компании Николаас Витсен организовал рабочую стажировку для представителей российского государства, входивших в состав «Великого посольства», среди которых, как известно, был и молодой царь — Петр I, ставший после своей «рабочей практики» на верфях Амстердама личным другом директора Голландской Ост-Индской компании.
• Незадолго до закрытия компании представлявший её интересы хирург Исаак Титсинг заручился поддержкой её начинаний со стороны японского сёгуна и китайского императора Айсиньгёро Хунли (девиз правления — «Цяньлун»), которого он посетил в пекинском дворце Юаньминъюань.
• Деятельность голландских негоциантов в Индонезии отражена во многих произведениях Джозефа Конрада.
• По мнению членов клуба Енох, прозвучавшем в 2002 году в Женеве на съезде ассоциации владельцев частных компаний, просуществовавших не менее 200 лет, Голландская Ост-Индская компания могла бы дожить до наших дней, если бы её участники интересовались не одной торговлей, но и производством.
• В сентябре 2010 года в архиве города Хоорн студентом Утрехтского университета обнаружена самая старая в мире акция, которая выпущена Голландской Ост-Индской компанией 9 сентября 1606 года.

См. также

• История Нидерландов
• Колонии Нидерландов
• Голландская Вест-Индская компания
• Северная Гренландская компания

Ссылки

	Голландская Ост-Индская компания на Викискладе?

• Voc Verzamelgids  (нид.). Архивировано из первоисточника 12 февраля 2012. Проверено 28 мая 2010.
• История компании
• Старейшая акция — самая старая в мире акция (Voc 1606)
• Максим Токарев. «Судьба дивиденда. Первому в мире акционерному обществу исполняется 400 лет».
• Голландская Ост-Индия после оккупации Голландии
• Почему Пётр Первый ездил учиться к голландцам?

Колониальные компании
Британские	Московская  · Турецкая  · Северного моря Ост-Индская  · Вирджинская и Плимутская  · Африканская  · Гудзонова залива
Голландские	Ост-Индская  · Вест-Индская  · Гренландская
Датские	Ост-Индская  · Вест-Индская  · Азиатская
Шведские	Южная  · Ост-Индская  · Вест-Индская  · Африканская
Прочие	Португальская Ост-Индская  · Остендская  · Французская Ост-Индская  · Новой Франции
Поздние (XIX век)	Американская  · Северо-Западная  · Нигерская  · Южно-Африканская Северного Борнео  · Новогвинейская  · Джалуитская

Голландская империя
Бывшие колонии
Африка	Арген • Капская колония • Delagoa Bay • Голландская Гвинея • Горе • Маврикий • Голландская Ангола
Америка	Голландская Бразилия • Голландская Гвиана • Гайана ( Berbice • Essequibo • Demerara ) • Французская Гвиана • Новые Нидерланды • Тобаго • Виргинские острова
Азия и Океания	Цейлон • Голландская Индия • Дэдзима • Голландская Ост-Индия • Харк • Малакка • Нидерландская Новая Гвинея • Тайвань
Арктика	Смеренбург
См. также	Голландская Ост-Индская компания • Голландская Вест-Индская компания • Северная Гренландская компания
Современные заморские территории
Королевство Нидерландов	Аруба • Кюрасао • Синт-Маартен
Особые общины	Бонайре • Саба • Синт-Эстатиус