The United East India Company (VOC) was one of the world's first joint-stock companies. It was established in 1602 to operate in Asia, and operating until nearly the end of the 1700s, sent more Europeans than any other nation to work in Asia (over a million compared to about 900,000 for the rest of Europe combined). The VOC had its of army, navy, and money. The VOC's headquarters were in Amsterdam, with major posts in Dutch Mauritius, Batavia in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), the Dutch Cape Colony (South Africa), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Malabar (India), Malacca, Keelung (Taiwan), Hanoi (Vietnam), and Dejima (Nagasaki, Japan)