RESOLUTIONS OF THE HEREN ZEVENTIEN OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY, 1602-1796

The resolutions of the Heren Zeventien (the Seventeen Gentlemen), the highest governing body of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC), form one of the most important sources for knowledge about the company as an international business. The company, which was a federation of six chambers situated in six important Dutch cities, had no day-to-day administrative body. The Heren Zeventien normally sat twice each year, during the periods in which ships arrived from or departed to Asia. During the sessions, which might last for weeks, the final decisions were made about all matters which concerned the entire organization.

Because the Heren Zeventien were the company's highest governing body, their resolutions are in many cases a starting point for research into the history of colonial and trading relations between the Dutch Republic and the area around the Indian Ocean. Indonesia was only one part of the company's network of possessions and trading posts: the company had branches and also often owned territory in South Africa, Mauritius, Yemen, Oman, Iraq, Iran, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Taiwan, China and Japan.

Bound into the volumes are also numerous copies of auction lists, regulations, inventories, and standard forms appended to the resolutions. Through their instructions to the governor general, the Zeventien had the final say over policy in all branches in Africa and Asia.