The site

The site Oostenburg Island as a centre of industrial activity

The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602, but in the boom years that followed the Amsterdam Chamber of the Company outgrew its quarters in the centre of town. There was no room for expansion on the Rapenburg peninsula, where the Company's ships had been built up till then. Oostenburg was a peninsula created by the expansion of Amsterdam in the 17th century. The town council assigned it to the Dutch East India Company, which used it for fitting out ships and for the storage of products imported from the Orient such as china and spices. These goods were stored in the East India Naval Store, a vast warehouse of which construction began in 1660. The shipyard, ropewalks and other buildings date from the same period.

In the days of the Dutch East India Company Oostenburg was the scene of constant and intense activity. Among those employed there was the Russian Czar Peter the Great, who for four months trained as a ship's carpenter and worked on the construction of the Petrus and Paulus, a Dutch East India Company frigate. On his return to Russia, Peter the Great was presented with a smaller ship and a certificate of competence as a ship's carpenter. 

A Czar Peter corner has been set up in the museum to commemorate his stay in Amsterdam. The text of the certificate which he was awarded is carved on a stone plaque built into an exterior side wall of the museum.

In 1795 the Dutch East India Company was wound up. In 1822 the East India Naval Store collapsed without warning. The greater part of the site fell into disuse until 1827 when the foundations were laid for what was later to become the Werkspoor Company.