Editing Netherlands Trading Society (section)

==History==

The NHM was a private company which issued publicly traded shares. According to the king, the NHM would act to leverage economic activity and encourage the development of national wealth. However, in practice it came down to expanding existing trade, by gathering data and searching for new markets as well as financing industry and shipping. Its close association with the [[Dutch government]] meant it played an important role in the development of trade between the Netherlands and the [[Dutch East Indies]].<ref>[https://archive.today/20070527074959/http://www.amsterdam.nl/stad_in_beeld/inhoud/typisch_amsterdams?ActItmIdt=3899 (Dutch) explanation of building] in Amsterdam Archives</ref> Its former headquarters in [[De Bazel]] in Amsterdam houses the [[Amsterdam Archives]] today.<ref>[http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/english/home.en.html Amsterdam Archives] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614210412/http://stadsarchief.amsterdam.nl/english/home.en.html |date=2009-06-14 }}</ref>

The NHM is sometimes called the successor of the [[Dutch East India Company]] or VOC, as it was also a private company that issued shares and financed trade with the Dutch East Indies. The establishment of the NHM can be seen as an attempt to bring new impetus to trade with the Dutch East Indies after the depression of the years of [[Batavian Republic|French domination]] (1795–1814), and the final collapse of the VOC two decades earlier. With playful reference to the greatness of the VOC, the NHM was colloquially known as {{lang|nl|Kompenie Ketjil}} or the "little company".{{cn|date=October 2022}}

The NHM financing of trade and shipping led to the development of a network of branches which increasingly engaged in financing and banking operations.  The network extended throughout South East Asia and on the trade routes between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies and the NHM continued to extend its network into the 20th century.  It lost a number of its branches when the [[Indonesian government]] nationalised them in 1960 to form a new locally owned bank, but by then had branches in many other parts of the world. 

===Time line===
*1824: King William I created the Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (NHM) by Royal Decree to revive trade between the Netherlands and the [[Netherlands East Indies]].
*1826: NHM opened an office in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (now [[Jakarta]]), known as {{lang|nl|De Factorij}}
*1858: NHM opened a branch in [[Singapore]]
*1870s: NHM expands its overseas activities into banking
*1888: NHM opened a branch in [[Penang]]
*1902: NHM starts banking operations in the Netherlands
*1906: NHM opened a branch in [[Hong Kong]]<ref>[https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/Digitised/Article/easterndaily19060308-1.2.3?ST=1&AT=search&k=Netherlands%20Trading%20Society&QT=netherlands,trading,society&oref=article Eastern Daily Mail (8 Mar 1906)]</ref> 
*1920: NHM opened branches in [[Bombay]] ([[Mumbai]]) and [[Calcutta]] ([[Kolkata]]) primarily to work with clients in the [[diamond]] business
*1926: NHM opened a branch in [[Jeddah]], [[Saudi Arabia]]. Known later as the Saudi Hollandi Bank (currently [[Alawwal Bank]]), it was the first, and until 1948 the only, [[commercial bank]] in the Kingdom. The branch existed to serve the needs of Indonesian Muslims coming to perform [[Hajj]], the [[pilgrimage]] to [[Mecca]]
*1934: Financial restructuring; NHM reduces its capital by 75 percent
*1936: NHM initiates a retail presence in the Netherlands beyond its previous branches in Amsterdam, The Hague, and Rotterdam, by acquiring the Guelders Credit Union ({{langx|nl|Geldersche Credietvereeniging}})
*1941: NHM opened an agency in [[New York City]]
*1948: NHM opened a branch in [[Karachi]] to become the first foreign bank to receive a banking license from the new government of [[Pakistan]]
*1949: NHM acquired [[De Surinaamsche Bank]]
*1951: NHM opened branches in [[Mombasa]] ([[Kenya]]), and [[Dar-es-Salaam]] ([[Tanzania|Tanganyika]])
*1954: NHM opened a branch in [[Beirut]] ([[Lebanon]]), and one in [[Kampala]] ([[Uganda]])
*1959: The Indonesian government nationalized NHM's plantations
*1960: The Indonesian government nationalized NHM's banking operations into ''Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia'', later [[Bank Mandiri]]
*1963: NHM set up its [[Malaysia]]n head office in [[Kuala Lumpur]]
*1964: NHM merged with De Twentsche Bank to form [[Algemene Bank Nederland]] (ABN)