they were granted a monopoly by the dutch government for the colonies and the east indies and/or spice islands were incredibly lucrative. Essentially they controlled the trade from a good portion of the islands that prompted European colonization and searches for a route to Asia.

One proximate cause of the company's rise was the fatal weakening of the Iberian naval forces after the failed 1588 invasion of GB which allowed the other European powers (such as the Dutch and English) to gain power in the Pacific.