b97_1254 - 50 Gulden NETHERLANDS INDIES 1943 P.116a

NETHERLANDS INDIES

In 1602, the Vereenigde Ooste Indishe Compagnie (United East India Company) abbreviated as VOC was founded, which obtained the monopoly of trade in the Indian Ocean. It establishes counters, raises troops and maintains a fleet. Badly managed, the VOC is also worn down by competition and wars with the British. It loses Ceylon and is reinforced in the area of present-day Indonesia. The VOC went bankrupt in 1798 and its assets were taken over by the Batavian Republic and then by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Occupied between 1943 and 1945 by Japanese troops, the Dutch failed to restore their sovereignty over the archipelago and had to concede independence in 1949.