The East Indian quarters of the VOC were set up in Batavia on the island of Java, the Portuguese was driven out of Ceylon and Malacca und the first white colony was established in South Africa.

Hobhouse, Henry: "Finally, the VOC ruled over eight foreign governments in Amboyna, Banda, Ternate, Macassar, Malacca, Ceylon, Java and on the Cape of Good Hope. Factories stood in Bengal, on the Coromandel coast, in Surat, Thailand and on the Persian Gulf. In the end, the Dutch East Indies Company was the richest company in the world; it helped to finance the blossoming of Dutch civilisation: Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals, Vondel, Grotius, Spinoza, the largest publishing operation in the world in the 17th century with numerous authors and poets, some forgotten today, all the painters architects and above all the patrons.

Until its demise, the VOC was lord of over 150 trading vessels, 40 warships, 20,000 seamen, 10,000 soldiers and had nearly 50,000 civilians in its service; with all of this it still managed to pay out a dividend of 40%. It was the envy of its rivals.Its trading routes connected Japan, China, India, the Persian Gulf, Africa and Europe with all its countries to Amsterdam.In the Persian Gulf it traded spices for salt, in Zanzibar salt for cloves, in India cloves for gold, in China gold for tea and silk, in Japan silk for copper, and in the islands of south-east Asia copper for spices.

The whole inner-Asian trade was nearly as profitable as the main trade between the Orient and Europe. The company flourished in spite of the losses caused by pirates - the hostages of the Chinese seas, the weather, European rivals, corruption, inefficiency, theft and disease. The VOC was unscrupulous: it created monopolies, destroyed local competitors and forced up prices for the most important spices by 180%.

Up to the middle of the 18th century, the VOC succeeded in reinforcing its economic and political pre-eminence. It prospered and became the largest monopoly company of its time and was also at this point the first European power in India. After 198 years of existence, the most significant company in the history of world trade was dissolved on 31 December 1799. As a result of mismanagement, debts of 110 million Guilders had been run up and these were taken on by the Dutch state.

Not only did the "Vereinigte Ostindische" make history as the mother of all joint-stock companies, but so did its shares.Even before all shares had been placed, its price was 10% to 15% above par and as early as 1622 its price was 300% higher; in 1720 at the hight of speculation its price was 1200%. When the company's difficulties became public in 1781, the price slumped to to 25%. The dividend was on average 18% per year and the highest dividend was paid in 1606 at 75%. Shareholders did not receive their dividends regularly and were not always paid out in cash but partly also in spices, company bonds or state bonds. Soon the shareholders were popularly known as the "pepper sacks of Amsterdam", although they never got to see a proper balance sheet. The later popular Dutch nickname for the once most influential company of the world was V(ergann) O(nder) C(orruptie) which means "Ruined By Corruption".

Source: http://www.oldest-share.com/