Abstract This article discusses the role of the Dutch East India Company (the VOC) in the evolving structures of the early world-system, from 1602 to 1799. Its aims are threefold. First, it intends to clarify the importance of the role of agency—as opposed to structure—in the modern world-system. Second, it illustrates the intricate interrelationship between economic and political logics in the evolving world-system by focusing on the company's strategies in Europe and Asia. And, third, it emphasizes the importance of historical and geographical contexts in the world-system. The VOC is sometimes considered to have been the first transnational company in the world. In terms of size and longevity, few other agencies played a comparable role in the world-system since its emergence some 500 years ago. The company played an innovative role in corporate organization, helped forge important links between European and Asian regional economies and intensified economic integration in Asia. In the course of the 18th century, the company was surpassed by British competition. The article discusses possible explanations for the company's rise and decline by concentrating on its political and economic strategies in relation to the changing environments in the world-system.