Amsterdam Stock Exchange

Timeline

1. 1602–1610Amsterdam · AmsterdamAfter the Dutch East India Company was chartered, it publicly issued shares; merchants traded them over the counter in port taverns and around the docks, forming an early secondary market with expectations of regular dividends.
2. c. 1611–1640Beurs beside the New Church, Amsterdam · AmsterdamThe city council approved construction of an exchange building, where brokers (beurzen) matched trades in VOC, West India Company, and municipal bonds at a fixed venue, gradually establishing opening hours and settlement conventions.
3. c. 1641–1650Amsterdam financial district · AmsterdamIn the 1640s, the exchange worked in concert with adjacent bankers and insurers, coordinating shares in overseas trade, government bonds, bills of exchange, and futures-like contracts, attracting European capital and becoming an early modern global financial center.
4. c. 1680–1795London and Amsterdam · London-Amsterdam financial corridorThe rise of the London Stock Exchange brought competition; the Amsterdam exchange gradually ceded some of its dominance in global capital allocation, but its trading conventions and securities system model influenced later European financial markets.