Dutch Jaffna and the Rise and Fall of the VOC: The World’s First Multinational Company

During the Dutch period in Asia, all Dutch colonial operations were overseen by the VOC, the “Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie” or the Dutch East India Company.

Granted a 21-year monopoly by the Estates General of the Netherlands to carry out colonial activities in Asia, the VOC, the world’s first multinational corporation and the first company to issue shares, began its activities in Asia in 1602. VOC employed not only Dutch citizens, but also soldiers from Belgium, Friesland, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria.

Jaffna had been a busy trading city and the most important city in the north of the island. Jaffna was the last major stronghold remaining from the Portuguese, when it was conquered by the VOC in 1658.

The VOC had eliminated all of its competitors on the island. The Dutch-Portuguese War led the VOC to establish its headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, with other colonial posts in Asia and forcibly maintained a monopoly on nutmeg and mace. through violent repression of native populations and mass murder.

In Dutch times, Jaffna was a center for pearl fishing, the textile industry, and the elephant trade with India. VOC is traded throughout Asia. Ships arrived from the Netherlands carrying silver from Spanish mines in Peru with copper from Japan and traded with India and China for textiles. The VOC was also instrumental in introducing European ideas and technology to Asia.

The Company supported Christian missionaries and exchanged modern technology with China and Japan. In the surrounding area, the VOC tried to spread the Protestant religion, but the difference between the Protestant and Catholic religion was not entirely clear to the local population.

The VOC was the richest private company the world had ever seen, with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and a 40% dividend payout. Jaffna was a busy trading center and the most important products in Jaffna were cotton, ready-made clothes, pearls and elephants in the Dutch era. Indian maharajas bought the elephants to use in warfare. The animals were caught in a trap and then taken out one by one and tied up and sometimes even baptized! After being tied up for eight days, the animals became tame and then training could begin.

In Jaffna, the VOC had great power. This situation was quite unique in Jaffna for an organization that controlled affairs as the de facto ruler. One of the consequences of this VOC rule was the collection of taxes, which were much higher than that of the Portuguese.

In 1676 the population revolted against the VOC, but the VOC broke the rebellion and tax collection continued.

After the fourth war between the Netherlands, then the United Provinces, and Great Britain in 1780-1784, the VOC ran into financial trouble, and in 1798, the company was dissolved and the legacy of the first multinational company, which was a major business trade for almost two centuries in Asia finally came to an end and was finally granted to the Kingdom of the Netherlands by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

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