The early modern European seaborne empires played a particular role within global history because they linked the continents via the oceanic routes for the first time.The Spanish and Portuguese empires and a century later the Dutch and English displayed outstanding institutional features which set them apart from earlier times and also from each other.This paper focuses on one specific institution that shaped North European expansion into Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in crucial ways：the chartered joint stock company and more especially the Dutch East India Company（VOC）.The Dutch commercial expansion and colonial presence in Asia are discussed in this paper in terms of the establishment and organization of VOC，the strategies，blueprint and creator of the Dutch commercial empire in the Orient，war and diplomacy，the rendezvous and its trade network in Asia，and ultimately the change of fortunes at the end of the 18th century.