Japan's Economy by Proxy in the Seventeenth Century: China, the N ...

After the initial success of de Houtman’s voyage of 1595, several companies were established to undertake a single voyage to Asia.³¹ Once the fleet returned home, the merchandise would be sold, the company liquidated, and all profits split amongst the investors. One example of this type of venture was the 1598 expedition of Jacob van Neck who, in the employ of the Compagnie van Verre, led eight ships to the “East Indies.” Before the formation of the VOC in 1602, in fact, 65 ships in fifteen different fleets sailed from the United Provinces for Asia, most fleets being chartered for only a single voyage.³² These companies, while generally profitable in and of themselves, quickly created an environment of intense competition that resulted in a drastic reduction of the price of spices. The solution was to form a single company that could somehow consolidate this commercial activity, and thereby foster cooperation among the merchants of the many smaller companies. A major impediment to such a company, however, was that the United Provinces themselves were not a homogenous political entity, but rather a confederation of provinces that had vastly different aspirations both politically and economically, and that were characterized by a great deal of mutual hostility.

The two main centers of maritime commerce in the United Provinces were Amsterdam, the capital of the province of Holland, and Middleburg, the capital of Zeeland in the far south of the country. When a proposal was put forward to combine the efforts and capital of the competing merchants throughout the provinces, Amsterdam was cautiously in favor of the plan while Middleburg, fearful of losing out in such a scheme to the economically more powerful port to the north, rejected the plan. In the end it was the “Landsadvocaat van Holland,” Johan van Oldenbarneveld, and the Staadhouder, Prince Maurits (himself a native of Zeeland), who coerced the two provinces into accepting the proposed company.³³ With the consent of the major provinces secured, the fledgling company was able to raise just over six million gulden in capital by the sale of stock, and on March 20, 1602, the States General passed a resolution creating the United Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie).³⁴