The Dutch East Indies

By: Tom Blanton

Dutch East India Company

• The Dutch East India Company (VOC) had been set up in the early 1600’s with hopes to maximize Dutch trading interests in the Malay archipelago.

• By 1700, a colonial pattern was well established and the VOC had grown to become a state-within-a-state.

• After the company went bankrupt and was liquidated on January 1, 1800, its territorial possessions became property of the Dutch government.

Establishing an Indies Empire

• During the Napoleonic Wars, the British took over several Dutch East Indies posts, including Java, before Dutch control was restored.

• The Anglo-Dutch Treaty in 1824 ceded Dutch control of Malacca, the Malay Peninsula, and colonies in India to Britain in exchange for British settlements in Indonesia.

• The capital of the Dutch East Indies was Batavia, now known as Jakarta, still capital of the republic.