In 1602, the Dutch goverment awarded the Dutch East-India Company, which was known as the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) in Dutch, a monopoly on trade and colonial activities in the region, at a time when the company had not yet controlled any territory in Java. 17 years later, in 1619, the VOC conquered the West Javan city of Jayakarta. There, the VOC founded the city of Batavia, which is now known to the world as Jakarta. The VOC became deeply involved in the internal politics of Java at this time, and took part in a few wars which involved the leaders of Mataram and Banten, both of which were parts of Java.
The VOC failed to gain complete control of the Indonesian spice trade, but enjoyed considerably more success as compared to the Portuguese. They exploited the factionalisation of the small kingdoms in Java that had replaced Majapahit and established a permanent foothold in Java. A land-based colonial empire, which later became one of the world's richest colonial possessions, grew from the place.