Dutch Trade Conception VOC Disbanded In History Today, December 31, 1799

Portrait of the ships belonging to the Dutch trading partnership, the VOC in Batavia. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA History today, 224 years ago, December 31, 1799, the Dutch government dissolved trading partnerships, the VOC. Losses continue to take care of and corrupt employees are the estuary of the Company which is difficult to compete. This problem made the Company only increase the debt burden.

Previously, the Company was a trading company that had achieved extraordinary success in history. His presentation of monopolizing the spice trade was considered successful. All of this is because the VOC has privileges, is supported by the state and has a war force.

The trade competition for spices is quite large in the Netherlands. Many entrepreneurs compete to be the most profitable. This condition makes the shipping conditions looking for spices much more dangerous because they go their separate ways.

The initiation of bringing together all Dutch businessmen in a trading partnership was perpetuated in 1602. The VOC trading conspiracy, its name. The trading concession was moved by Heeren Zeventien (Dewan 17) based in Amsterdam.

The presence of the VOC then extended the hands of Dutch businessmen to secure the monopoly of the spice trade, especially in the archipelago. The Company is given a set of privileges, supported by the Dutch government and has a war force.

The power, which later became the estuary of the Company, moved freely to colonize many places. Moreover, when the Company appointed a Jan Pieterszoon Coen as Governor General. Coen was able to lay the foundation of the colonialism of the Company in the archipelago.

He has a political program that makes Council 17 attracted. The political program includes ensuring total ownership of several regions, from Maluku to Jayakarta which he has changed to Batavia (now: Jakarta).

Coen's plan was continued well by his successor. This existence became even more massive when the Company began to change the war tactics to Devide et Impera (political divides). The result was brilliant. The Company is able to monopolize many spice trades and transform into a successful trading company that once existed.

In the first hundred years of VOC's history, this trading company achieved extraordinary success. He managed to score a fairly lucrative profit. This success was due to De Heren XVII directly handling VOC management. Its operations in Asia, especially in Indonesia, are under the control of skilled hands, "explained M. Adnan Amal in the book Spice Islands (2016).

The success of the Company lasted quite a long time. However, there is no eternal one. Corruption carried out from the low level of employees to the governor general made the VOC continue to lose money. Instead of profit, the Company's debt is piling up.

The Company also seems to have no competitiveness with other trading companies. Even the Company's war fleet began to fall into the ancient category. This condition made the Dutch government take a stand.

They chose to dissolve the Company on December 31, 1799. All kinds of Company power, including debt, were taken over by the government. The Company's power in the archipelago was fully replaced by the colonial government of the Dutch East Indies.

Entering the 19th century in the Indonesian archipelago there has been a political change. The East Indies Trade Company or better known as the VOC disbanded on December 31, 1799, after its permit was canceled in 1795 Various reasons for being the background of the collapse. Among others, such as the declining quality of employees, poor management, very large expenses, especially financing political interventions, the monopoly system that is no longer appropriate, and most importantly rampant corruption.

"Competing is the cause of competition from British trading companies that extend to the realm of politics by fighting for hegemony and territory. At that time as a result of political upheaval in Europe in the form of expansion of the French Revolution by Napoleon Bonaparte, the competition between the two became even more fierce. The Netherlands fell into French power, which is Britain's main enemy," said Marwati Djoened Poesponegoro and friends in the book Indonesian National History Volume V (2008).