Trading company founded by the Dutch in 1602 to protect
their trade in the Indian Ocean and to assist in their war of
independence from Spain.
The Dutch government
granted it a trade monopoly in the waters between the Cape of Good Hope
and the Straits of Magellan. Under the administration of forceful
governors-general, it was able to defeat the British fleet and largely
displace the Portuguese in the East Indies. It prospered through most
of the 17th century but then began to decline as a trading and sea
power; it was dissolved in 1799. See also East India Co.French East India Co.
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