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The Dutch East India Company, or ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'' (VOC, "United East India Company"), was a joint-stock company formed in [[1602]] which held a monopoly on Dutch colonial and mercantile activities in the Far East. The VOC maintained major bases of operations in Batavia (today, Jakarta), Fort Zeelandia (on [[Taiwan]]), and on the man-made island of [[Dejima]] in [[Nagasaki]] Harbor. Following the imposition of [[maritime restrictions]] in the 1630s, the Dutch were the only Europeans with whom Japan traded or otherwise interacted, for the duration of the [[Edo period]] (until the 'opening' of the country in the [[Bakumatsu period|1850s]]).

The Dutch East India Company, or ''Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie'' (VOC, "United East India Company"), was a joint-stock company formed in [[1602]] which held a monopoly on Dutch colonial and mercantile activities in the Far East. The VOC maintained major bases of operations in Batavia (today, Jakarta), Fort Zeelandia (on [[Taiwan]]), and on the man-made island of [[Dejima]] in [[Nagasaki]] Harbor. Following the imposition of [[maritime restrictions]] in the 1630s, the Dutch were the only Europeans with whom Japan traded or otherwise interacted, for the duration of the [[Edo period]] (until the 'opening' of the country in the [[Bakumatsu period|1850s]]).

The VOC is often cited as the first company in history to sell stocks and operate based on responsibilities to stockholders, and as, perhaps, the first multi-national corporation.<ref>Matt Matsuda, ''Pacific Worlds'', Cambridge University Press (2012), 73.</ref>

The VOC is often cited as the first company in history to sell stocks and operate based on responsibilities to stockholders, and as, perhaps, the first multi-national corporation.<ref>Matt Matsuda, ''Pacific Worlds'', Cambridge University Press (2012), 73.</ref> At its peak, the Company boasted 257 ships and 12,000 employees.<ref name=tignor>Robert Tignor, [[Benjamin Elman]], et al, ''Worlds Together, Worlds Apart'', vol B, Fourth Edition, W.W. Norton & Co (2014), 495.</ref>

==History==

==History==

The VOC was originally founded in 1602, as the result of the merger of a number of different firms which had previously been in competition with one another; these firms united under a board of directors known as the Seventeen Gentlemen, forming the United East India Company.<ref>Matsuda, 77.</ref>

The VOC was originally founded in 1602, as the result of the merger of a number of different firms which had previously been in competition with one another; these firms united under a board of directors known as the Seventeen Gentlemen, forming the United East India Company.<ref>Matsuda, 77.</ref> Based at Amsterdam, a city with perhaps the most efficient money market and lowest interest rates in the world, the VOC raised ten times the capital of the [[English East India Company]].<ref name=tignor/>

The Dutch originally established their presence in Japan with a [[factory]] in [[Hirado]] in [[1609]]. (The [[English East India Company]] established their Hirado factory in [[1615]], and closed it in [[1623]], leaving the Japan trade at that time.) The Dutch factory was moved to Dejima in [[1641]].

The Dutch originally established their presence in Japan with a [[factory]] in [[Hirado]] in [[1609]]. (The [[English East India Company]] established their Hirado factory in [[1615]], and closed it in [[1623]], leaving the Japan trade at that time.) The Dutch factory was moved to Dejima in [[1641]].