ABSTRACT
After slowly withering as of the mid-eighteenth century, the VOC ceased to exist in 1796. The West India Company had already been dissolved a few years earlier, in 1792. The VOC was essentially a trading company with trading posts, but with de facto governmental powers. It was now up to the sovereign state to relate to its colony. During the period of the Batavian Republic (1795-1806), the ‘Staatsbewind’ [a small council of ministers] decided on 11 November 1802 to establish a commission:
to answer the question: ‘On what basis and in what manner should the trade in the country’s possessions in the East Indies be conducted in the future, and those possessions be governed, in such a way as to bring the highest possible level of prosperity; the most benefit to the Republic’s trade and commerce and the greatest advantage to the country’s finances. 2
