Editing Netherlands Trading Society

{{Short description|Dutch trading company}}
[[File:De Bazel Amsterdam NHM Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij.jpg|thumb|"Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij" above the entrance to the [[Amsterdam Archives]] at the [[De Bazel]] building, built as NHM's headquarters]]

The '''Netherlands Trading Society''' ({{langx|nl|Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij N.V.}} or '''NHM''') was a Dutch trading and financial company, established in 1824, in [[The Hague]] by [[William I of the Netherlands|King William I]] to promote and develop trade, shipping and agriculture. For the next 140 years the NHM developed a large international branch network and increasingly engaged in banking operations. In 1964, it merged with Twentsche Bank to form [[Algemene Bank Nederland]], itself a predecessor of [[ABN AMRO]].

==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)

==Buildings==

The building at Vijzelstraat 32 in [[Amsterdam]] known today as "[[De Bazel]]"is named after its architect [[Karel de Bazel]]. It was originally built in 1919–1926 for the NHM and it is decorated with many details reminiscent of Indonesia, most notably the brickwork, which earned the building the nickname "[[spekkoek]]" It was later repurposed as the [[Amsterdam Archives]].

<gallery>
File:HOFDIJK (1860) HET GEBOUW DER HANDELMAATSCHAPPIJ.jpg|NHM head office building in Amsterdam, 1860, at [[Heerengracht]] 466
File:Amsterdam - Herengracht 466.JPG|The same building in 2011
File:Gebouw de Bazel.jpg|"[[De Bazel]]", built in 1919-1926
File:Rotterdam blaak34.jpg|Former NHM branch in [[Rotterdam]], now Blaak House office center
File:Den Haag - Kneuterdijk 1.JPG|Former NHM branch in [[The Hague]], now {{ill|Raad van Discipline|nl}}
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Luchtfoto van het gebouw van de NHM in Djakarta Kota TMnr 60054793.jpg|NHM branch in Jakarta, circa 1955
File:Museum Bank Mandiri - panoramio.jpg|The same building in 2017, as [[Mandiri Museum]]
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Filiaal van de factorij van de NHM langs de Molenvliet in Noordwijk Batavia TMnr 10015447.jpg|NHM branch in Weltevreden, Batavia (now [[Sawah Besar]], Central Jakarta)
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Kantoor van de Nederlandse Handelsmaatschappij in Soerabaja Oost-Java. TMnr 60007982.jpg|NHM branch in [[Surabaya]], [[East Java]]
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Kantoor van de NHM aan de Cremerweg TMnr 10015337.jpg|NHM branch in [[Medan]], [[North Sumatra]]
File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Handelskantoor (Nederlandsche Handels Maatschappij) te Semarang TMnr 10014765.jpg|NHM branch in [[Semarang]], [[Central Java]]
File:Beach Street Penang Dec 2006 002.jpg|Former NHM branch in [[Penang]], [[Malaysia]]
File:Tcitp d126 netherlands trading society.jpg|NHM branch in [[Queen's Building]], [[Hong Kong]], 1908
File:Carlowitz & Co..JPG|Former NHM branch in [[Shanghai]] from 1919 to 1951, previously office of German trading house [[Richard von Carlowitz|Carlowitz & Co.]] expropriated in 1917
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Bank Indonesia]], formerly Bank of Java
* [[Nederlandsch-Indische Handelsbank]]
* [[Nederlandsch-Indische Escompto Maatschappij]]
* [[Nederlandsch-Indische Levensverzekerings en Lijfrente Maatschappij]]
* [[HSBC]]
* [[Banque de l'Indochine]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{PM20|FID=co/063513|TEXT=Documents and clippings about|NAME=}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Defunct banks of the Netherlands]]
[[Category:History of banking]]
[[Category:Banks established in 1824]]
[[Category:Banks disestablished in 1964]]
[[Category:ABN AMRO]]
[[Category:1824 establishments in the Netherlands]]