Abraham de Visscher (1605-67). Amsterdam merchant and director of the Dutch West India Company

Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie, or Dutch West India Company, was a chartered company (known as the "WIC") of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx (1567–1647). On June 3, 1621, it was granted a trade monopoly in the West Indies (meaning the Caribbean) by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. The intended purpose of the charter was to eliminate competition, particularly Spanish or Portuguese, between the various trading posts established by the merchants. The company became instrumental in the Dutch colonization of the Americas. Some historians date the origins of the firm to the 1500s with arrivals of colonial settlers in what is now called New York long before the English at Jamestown, Virginia. The WIC was organized similarly to the Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated as VOC). Like the VOC, the WIC company had five offices, called chambers (kamers), in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Middelburg and Groningen, of which the chambers in Amsterdam and Middelburg contributed most to the company. The board consisted of 19 members, known as the Heeren XIX (the Lords Nineteen). The company was initially relatively successful; in the 1620s and 1630s, many trade posts and colonies were established. The largest success for the WIC in its history was the seizure of the Spanish silver fleet, which carried silver from Spanish colonies to Spain, by Piet Heyn in 1628; privateering was at first the most profitable activity. In 1629 the WIC gave permission to a number of investors in New Netherlands, which included New Amsterdam, covered parts of present-day New York, Connecticut, Delaware, and New Jersey. The settlers had little success with populating the colony of New Netherland, and to defend themselves against local Indians. The main focus of the WIC now went to Brazil and in 1630 the West India Company conquered a part of Brazil. Due to the Peace of Westphalia the hijacking of Spanish ships was no longer allowed. Merchants from Amsterdam and Zeeland decided to work with marine and merchants from Hamburg, Glückstadt (then Danish), England and other countries. In 1663 and 1664 the WIC sold more enslaved Africans than the Portuguese and English together. The first West India Company suffered a long agony and ended in 1674. The Collection includes Dutch maritime prints of the time period.

A stock exchange or bourse is a place where brokers and traders can buy and sell stocks, bonds, and other securities, It's history begins with Dutch East India Company, and icludes Amsterdam, Paris, London, New York, Hong Kong.

In the 15th-16th centuries, as a result of a protestant migration, Amsterdam became the most important trading city in Holland. In the 17th century Amsterdam grew to the #1 port in Europe and the leading financial center of the world. Amsterdam trading ships sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa - the later Dutch colonies. Dutch East India Company, founded in 1602, was the first multinational corporation to issue stocks to finance its business. Amsterdam was governed by a body of regents, an oligarchy group with control over all city's life, and the foreign affairs of Holland. Regents spent on the water-ways and infrastructure, hospitals, churches, favored private investment and helped to raise standards of living, allowing the Amsterdam Golden Age - the earliest industrial economy. Amsterdam's wealth was generated by commerce sustained by the encouragement of entrepreneurs of any origin. Amsterdam was a city where immigrants formed the majority. Most immigrants were either Lutheran Protestant Germans, French Huguenots, or Portuguese/Spanish Jews. There was also an influx of Flemish refugees following the fall of Antwerp. Wealthy immigrants were welcomed and got all privileges except those of citizenship, but no encouragement was given to poor Dutch from the countryside or other towns of Holland. During the Napoleonic wars, Amsterdam's fortunes reached their lowest point. At the end of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution gave the economy a big boost and led to a huge influx of worker migrants from the Dutch countryside.