Pieter Hendricksz. Schut: View on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (1633 - 1660)

(Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

A print by the Dutch artist Pieter Hendricksz. Schut (1618-1660, after a print by the Dutch artist Claes Jansz. Visscher. Shown here is the stock exchange in the city of Amsterdam. When the Dutch East India Company (V.O.C.) was founded in 1602, this company started to issue bonds and shares of stock to the general public in order to generate. Trade in these shares of stock soon followed and the commodity exchange was constructed in 1608 "for the convenience of merchants". The Dutch East India Company was listed on this official stock exchange, becoming the first publicly traded company in the world. The building was designed by the Dutch architect Hendrick de Keyser the Elder (1565 - 1621) and was constructed near the market square of Amsterdam (the Dam square). It was build over the river Rokin, a part of the river Amstel. At first this river entrance was open (as shown on the engraving) but after an attempt by the Flemish Balthasar Paul to burn the building in 1622 (this episode is sometimes called the 'gunpowder conspiracy of 1622'), this entrance was closed. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was the world's first official stock exchange with the trade of the Dutch East India Company's freely transferable securities (including bonds and shares of stock. The building was demolished in 1836 when the building became unstable. Engraving from 1633 - 1660.