The Dutch East India Company (VOC)

It had a monopoly on all Dutch trade in Asian waters east of the Cape of Good Hope. The VOC had its own army, and the Dutch government authorised the company to sign treaties, conduct warfare and administer territories. Following the destruction of the small Javan town of Jakarta, the VOC built the city of Batavia on the same site. In 1619, Batavia became the headquarters of the VOC administration in Asia. The VOC used violence to increase its power and territory even further, and it built a network of hundreds of bases throughout the region. The company’s highly international body of employees shipped the pepper, nutmeg, mace, coffee and tea, as well as textiles, timber, dyewood and porcelain to the Netherlands. People operating at all levels within the organisation generously supplemented their income through the illegal trade of these luxury products, and of people.