The Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) / The Dutch East India Company
THE VERENIGDE OOST-INDISCHE COMPAGNIE (VOC).
THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY
The VOC was founded in 1602, as a merger of various Fig. 2:
private companies that had been sponsoring trade
expeditions to Asia since 1595. The capital of the VOC The conference room of the Heeren XVII in the
was provided for by issuing shares and the directors were East India House in Amsterdam, 1771.
chosen from the affluent shareholders. The political Simon Fokke, pen and brush.
situation in the Dutch Republic called for a careful Collection Stadsarchief, Amsterdam, 010001000758.
distribution of power, resulting in an organization of six
Kamers or Chambers in important mercantile towns, Depicted is the installation of Prince Willem V as upper director of the VOC
each having their own bewindhebbers or directors and which took place on the first of June 1768. The conference room was decorated
each represented by delegates in the central board: with paintings and maps of the various places in Asia where the VOC had trade
the Heeren XVII, the Gentlemen Seventeen. connections. A central place was reserved for a view of the castle of Batavia.
The distribution was as follows: Amsterdam 8 members, This was either the anonymous painting of figure 8 or the version by Andries
Zeeland (Middelburg, Vlissingen) 4, Rotterdam 1, Delft 1, Beeckman, see figure 41. It is not known when these paintings were made
Hoorn 1, Enkhuizen 1. but a date of about 1675 has to be considered.
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To my dear Pieternelletje – Grandfather and granddaughter in VOC time, 1710-1720
Fig. 3: Fig. 4:
Portrait of Cornelis Backer. Portrait of Joan Munter, 1673.
Caspar Netscher, canvas, 50 x 42 cm. Bartholomeus Eggers, marble, height 90 cm.
Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, SK-A-729. Collection Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, BK-KOG-1457.
Member of the influential Backer family in Amsterdam,
his father Willem acting as burgomaster more than once, In order to prevent an easy majority of votes for the
Cornelis became a director of the Amsterdam Chamber Chamber of Amsterdam, a 17th member was in turn
of the VOC in 1662 and remained in office until provided by one of the other Chambers. Meetings of
his death in 1681. This was unlike his father, the Heeren XVII were held alternatively in the Oost-
who after having been elected director in 1642, Indisch Huis, the East India House, in Amsterdam or
resigned after a couple of months because: in Middelburg.
‘bemerkende dat onder syn confraters de wagen niet al te Coordination of the trade in Asia was delegated to the
recht gonck, heeft [hy] het selve afgelegt ende liever gehad governor-general and the High Council, residing in the
het profijt te missen castle in Batavia, present-day Jakarta, in Indonesia. Trade
als met oogluycking te schijnen te gedoogen eenige valsheyt.’ goods from the different regions in Asia were collected in
Batavian warehouses and from there shipped to the Dutch
‘seeing that amongst his confraters the cart was not always Republic. Reports, the so-called Generale Missiven,
riding straight, he resigned and preferred General Letters, were drawn up in Batavia and sent to the
to miss the profits Heeren XVII. Officially each major decision needed their
instead of feigning ignorance and tolerating any fraud.’ approval, but because of the great distance and the long
delay between question and answer, normally more than
one year, the Batavian government could act rather
independently.
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