AMSTERDAM: Four hundred years ago on March 20 the Dutch East India Company was established by ambitious shipping merchants tired of losing out on the booming Asian spice trade dominated by the Portuguese since 1498.

Better known, or reviled, by its Dutch initials VOC, the Company was set up on March 20, 1602 by small, independent trading companies with a government charter to a virtual monopoly on Dutch trade and navigation east of Cape Town.

It wasn’t just business. With the right to sail and trade came the power to occupy territories, seize land and wage war on indigenous people — the darkest moment being the massacre of almost everyone on the Indonesian islands of Banda in 1622.

The Indonesian ambassador to the Netherlands is boycotting VOC celebrations this year and will not be going to a remembrance service attended by Dutch Queen Beatrix.

Although the VOC’s demise began in the late 18th century — brought to its knees by risky financial investments, wars with the ballooning British Empire and a fall in spice demand — the Netherlands only recognized Indonesia’s independence in 1949.

Indonesia declared its independence in 1945 after fighting a four-year guerilla war against the Dutch colonial troops.

Some 1,772 ships sailed about 4,780 voyages between the Netherlands and Eastern harbours. They carried gold and silver to pay local rulers, as well as bricks to build settlements.

A network of trading stations and storage depots was built across the East Indies with headquarters in Batavia, now Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.

All went well until the late 18th century when European hunger for spices was replaced by a thirst for coffee and textiles, making trade with the Caribbean more lucrative.

The fall in demand, increasing competition, war with the British and risky loans combined with incompetent officials and corruption to bring the commercial giant to its knees.—Reuters