The VOC was founded in 1602 when several competing trading companies merged with each other. It comprised six kamers (chambers or offices) in the Dutch Republic (also referred to as patria, "fatherland"): Amsterdam, Zeeland (seated at Middelburg), Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn and Enkhuizen. The Company's board of directors was called Heren XVII (Gentlemen XVII), consisting of representatives of the sixkamers. Its headquarters in Asia were located at Batavia (present - day Jakarta) on the island of Java, where the Governor - General and Council (also called Hoge Regering ) made up the highest authority. The Company was active in India throughout its existence (which lasted until 1795), importing Japanese copper and exchanging it for Indian textiles that could be sold in the Indonesian archipelago. It established numerous trading posts along the coasts as well as a few inland stations. With the temporary exception of Vengurla (immediately north of Goa), the settlements in India were administered as part of five kantoren (regional establishments): Surat, Malabar, Ceylon, Coromandel and Bengal. These were all subordinate to the government at Batavia (which, in turn, had to give account to the Heeren XVII). After the dissolution of the VOC, various successive governmental institutions in the Netherlands administered the few remaining settlements in India until they were transferred to the British in 1825. The legal successors of the VOC were: Comité tot de Zaken van de Oost - Indische Handel en Bezittingen (Committee regarding East Indian Trade and Possessions), 1796 - 1800; Raad der Aziatische Bezittingen en Etablissementen (Council of Asian Possessions and Establishments), 1800 - 1806; Ministerie van Koophandel en Koloniën / Marine en Koloniën (Ministry of Commercial and Colonial Affairs / Naval and Colonial Affairs), 1806 - 1810; Hollandse Divisie bij het Ministerie van Marine en Koloniën te Parijs (Dutch Division at the Ministry of Naval and Colonial Affairs in Paris), 1810 - 1814 (during this period the Netherlands were annexed by France); Ministerie van Koloniën (Ministry of Colonial Affairs), from 1814 onward.