Schipperen op de Aziatische vaart. De financiering van de voc kamer Enkhuizen, 1602-1622

Abstract

Negotiating the Asiatic Route: Financing the Dutch East India Company, Enkhuizen Chamber, 1602-1622

During its first twenty years the Dutch East India Company, or voc, struggled with the disadvantages of operations being spread over six local chambers, as imposed by its 1602 charter. Mirroring the Dutch Republic’s urban particularism, this operational fragmentation effectively bankrupted chambers if ships failed to return. Using the ledgers of Enkhuizen, one of the smaller chambers, we detail the difficulties with which it grappled and chart the slow process of overcoming them through the harmonisation of administrative procedures and other trust-building measures. These culminated in the company directors claiming limited liability for debt, which until now they were generally thought to have possessed from the start.