Dutch East India Company (VOC) Founded
The Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was founded by the States-General of the Dutch Republic in 1602 as a merger of competing Dutch Asian trading ventures, with a capital of 6.4 million guilders—the world's first large-scale joint-stock company. The VOC was granted sovereign powers: it could make war, conclude treaties, and govern territory. It rapidly displaced Portugal from the Spice Islands, Ceylon, parts of India, and the Cape of Good Hope, and by mid-century controlled the most profitable trade routes in Asia. The VOC's corporate structure and financial innovations—tradeable shares, professional management—were enormously influential on subsequent European capitalism.
- Year: 1602 CE
- Category: Economic
