Compagnie van De Moucheron

The Compagnie van De Moucheron (Company of De Moucheron) was a pre-company and precursor of the Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC, commonly called the "Dutch East India Company"), from the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (commonly called the "Dutch Republic").

It was founded by Balthazar de Moucheron, a ship owner from Antwerp in the Southern Netherlands.

In 1601 he sent Joris van Spilbergen with three ships, Ram, Schaap, and Lam, on a successful expedition to establish trade relations with the Kingdom of Kandy, and they eventually were to reach Atjeh.

[2][3] Van Spilbergen met the king of Kandy (Sri Lanka) Vimala Dharma Suriya in 1602, and discussed the possibility of trade in cinnamon.

When van Spilbergen returned to Zeeland in 1604, carrying on board a treasure of rubies, sapphires, topazes and a variety of other gemstones, which he received as a gift from the maharajah of Kandy, the independent companies of Holland and Zeeland had already merged to form the Dutch East India Company.