What Was the World’s First Megacorporation?

The Dutch East India Company (VOC, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie), founded in 1602 and liquidated in 1795, was a Dutch trading company, formed by consolidation of several trading companies to become a megacorporation. It got the authority of the Dutch government in the trade zone between South Africa and Japan to conduct trade, erect fortifications, appoint governors, keep a standing army, and conclude treaties in its name. 

The VOC presence in and around Monsoon Asia resulted in shiploads of documents. Most of the papers in the VOC Archives were produced by locally stationed company officials and the people they interacted with: kings and noblemen, traders and middlemen, and shippers and harbor masters.

The VOC Archives were created in South Africa, Yemen, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Taiwan, Japan, and the Netherlands. Records have survived in Jakarta, Colombo, Chennai, Cape Town, and The Hague.

In order to control the trade and their servants 1,000s of kilometers away, a voyage of many months by ship, the VOC set up a gigantic information network. Every trading post had to copy the main bulk of its administration and the servants of the VOC made detailed reports. 

They include data on political, economic, cultural, religious, social, geographical, and agricultural circumstances over a broad area circulated between 100s of VOC officials and dozens of establishments around the world, and the administrative centers in the Netherlands and at Batavia, now Jakarta. These sources include: daily reports, expedition reports, financial records, correspondence, treaties with local rulers, trade, and products needed in the region reports.

The VOC Archives include reports written by VOC directors about expeditions to explore the region and embassies to the local and national rulers. They describe the personal relations of the court, the shifts of power, the foes and allies, and reflect the life and history of the people in the region of these trading posts.

The VOC Archives include information concerning regions and periods where little or no other written sources have survived. For example, the journal of a Dutch commander who visited Korea, is still considered as a vital source for the early 16th century history of Korea.

There were 100s of Asian and African former local political and trade regions that had their own historical sources. These ranged from carved inscriptions in stone, manuscripts on palm-leaf and bark, court chronicles, trade correspondence, travel reports, and the records of civic administration.

The VOC Archives richly supplement historical sources on Monsoon Asia and Southern Africa, providing the data necessary to draw a broad comparative picture from regions to villages. They offer a wealth of knowledge on these societies in the 17th-18th centuries and place both national and regional histories into multi-regional and global settings.