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Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij, 1824-1964
Trading roots, 1824-1864
Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (Netherlands Trading Society/NTS) was founded on the initiative of the Merchant Monarch, King Willem I, in the Hague on 29 March 1824. The object was to resuscitate national trade and industry in the wake of the period of French rule (1795-1813). NTS was an import/export company set up to expand existing trade relations and open up new channels.
Through its close ties with the Dutch government, NTS played a major role in developing trade between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. From 1826 onwards its activities in the East Indies were co-ordinated by the branch in Batavia (present day Jakarta, known locally as "De Factorij"). In 1830, the Dutch Governor Johannes van den Bosch introduced the "Plantation System" under which the native population was compelled to pay taxation in kind (chiefly tea, coffee, sugar and spices). NTS acted as state banker, merchant and shipping agent. It sold and shipped the products the Dutch government obtained through the Plantation System. NTS did this so successfully and attracted so much business that it acquired the nickname "Kompenie Ketjil", or "Little Company", after the older and more famous Dutch East India Company.
After 1830, when the Netherlands and Belgium became separate states, NTS also provided risk and loan capital to industrial enterprises, especially in the textile industry in the Twente region of the Netherlands. In 1850, NTS began to finance companies operating plantations in the Dutch East Indies. NTS even owned a number of plantations itself. As part of this policy, a branch was opened in Singapore in 1858. Its successor is now the oldest bank in Singapore.
King Willem I was the founder of Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij in 1824; painting by Jan Willem Pieneman, 1832.
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