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The United East India Company (Dutch: Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie [vərˈeːnɪɣdə oːstˈɪndisə kɔmpɑˈɲi], abbreviated as VOC, Dutch: [veː.oːˈseː]) and commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered trading company and the first joint-stock company in the world.[2][3] Established on 20 March 1602[4] by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies, it was granted a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia.[5] Shares in the company could be purchased by any citizen of the United Provinces (Dutch Republic) and then subsequently bought and sold in open-air secondary markets (one of which became the Amsterdam Stock Exchange).[6] The company possessed quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts,[7] negotiate treaties, strike its own coins, and establish colonies.[8] Also, because it traded across multiple colonies and countries from both the East and the West, the VOC is sometimes considered to have been the world's first multinational corporation.[9][10]