1790 VOC N.E. Indies Duit

Description

1790 VOC N.E. Indies Duit
Dutch East India Company, officially the United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie
Copper, 2.70 g
The United Dutch East India Company-Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) was established in 1602
with the aim of sending ships to Asia to buy pepper and spices. The VOC developed into a multinational entity
with branches in a dozen Asian countries. By the mid-18th century the company employed 36,000 people. It
built its own ships, some 1,500, which in total made over 5,000 journeys to Asia, where a network of trading
posts were founded from the Persian Gulf to the China Sea. The company was granted sovereign powers: it
minted currency, occupied territories and maintained an armada of warships and a small army, 10,000 strong, to
defend its territories, facilities, and ships. It was the first company ever to sell stock shares, and was arguably the
most powerful enterprise of its kind in all of history. However, emerging British domination of the sea eventually
took its toll. By 1794, the VOC was bankrupt and its assets dissolved.
To fulfill a shortage of currency in its expanding territories, from 1726 to 1794, copper duits were struck at
provincial mints in The Netherlands. Coins showing the VOC monogram and the coats of arms of Holland, West
Friesland, Zeeland, and Utrecht were minted for circulation in The Dutch East Indies, India, Ceylon, and
Malacca.