The Dutch East India Company(DEIC) or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) popularly referred to as 'the Company', was founded when seventy-three directors of smaller trading companies united at the encouragement of Prince Maurice of Orange in the Netherlands and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. This number was later reduced to sixty. The directors were to be known as 'bewindhebbers' (rulers). They were split up into six chamber.s each sending delegates to the central body known as Heeren XVII (Lords 17). The Chartered Company was established in 1602 and was granted a 21 year monopoly by the States-General of the Netherlands to carry out colonial activities in Asia. With its headquarters in Batavia, the company developed their foothold in Indonesia, Malaya and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). In 1652, the company established a refreshment station, and thereafter a colony, at the Cape. The Cape colony remained a Dutch Dutch East India Company possession until the first British occupation of the Cape in 1795. The company dissolved on 31 December 1799.