A voorcompagnie (pre-company) is the name given to trading companies from the
Republic of the Seven United Netherlands that traded in
Asia between 1594 and 1602, before they merged to form the
Dutch East India Company (VOC). The pre-companies were financed by merchants from the
Northern Netherlands and rich immigrants from the
Southern Netherlands. Because of the deadly competition, the government forced the smaller trading companies to unite and form the (United) East India Company. In its turn, it received the exclusive rights for the trade with
Asia for the following 21 years.[1]
History
In the seven years before the founding of the VOC, 12 pre-companies were formed:
Verenigde Zeeuwse Compagnie (United Company of Zeeland)
According to Jaap ter Haar, "they were sailing the coins out of each other's pockets and the shoes off each other's feet".[2] In total fifteen expeditions were sent between 1594 and 1601, excluding 3 troubled expeditions via
North Cape (Norway).
Citations
References
^Gaastra, F., De VOC en het Aziatische handelssysteem (1992)
^Jaap ter Haar, Geschiedenis van de Lage Landen / 2 Heersers der Nederlanden / druk 1: heersers der Nederlanden (2008:226). Uitgeverij Kok.
ISBN9789043509596.
Sources:
Unger, W.S. (1948) De oudste reizen van de Zeeuwen naar Oost-Indië. De Linschoten-Vereeniging LI. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.