Isaac Commelin, Begin ende voortgangh, van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Origins and progress of the Dutch East India Company), Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius, 1646, Rare Books collection

In the 17th and 18th centuries, seamanship made the Netherlands one of the richest colonial European powers. Founded in 1602, the Dutch East India Company was granted a monopoly by the Dutch government for colonial activities in Asia. Amassing huge wealth from the spice trade, it became a quasi-governmental agency, permitted to establish colonies, wage war, produce currency and negotiate treaties. The lands it invaded included the vast archipelago of modern-day Indonesia.