It was the headquarters of the Amsterdam chamber of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC).

[1] In 1603, the Amsterdam chamber of the East India Company began using part of the Bushuis armory on the Kloveniersburgwal canal as a warehouse.

In addition, the majority of meetings of the Heeren XVII (the Lords Seventeen), the regents of the East India Company, were also held at the Oost-Indisch Huis.

[3] After the East India Company was dissolved in 1798, the building served until 1808 as the seat of the colonial government of the Batavian Republic.

[2] The East India Company chambres in Rotterdam, Delft, Enkhuizen and Hoorn also had an Oost-Indisch Huis as their headquarters.