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Dutch art detective Arthur Brand, known for recovering stolen masterpieces by artists ranging from Picasso to Van Gogh, has recovered documents from the 15th to 19th centuries, including UNESCO-listed documents relating to the early days of the Dutch East India Company, which were stolen from the National Archives in The Hague in 2015.

Many of the documents recount the early days of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), whose globetrotting trading and military operations contributed to the Dutch "Golden Age", when the Netherlands was a global superpower.

The 17th century VOC documents contain a "fascinating glimpse into the events of that time in places like Europe, India, Indonesia, South Africa and Latin America," said Brand.

One document from 1602 recounts the first meeting of the VOC, during which its famous logo – considered the world's first corporate logo – was designed.

VOC merchants criss-crossed the globe, catapulting the Netherlands to a world trading power but also liberating and civilizing the colonies it governed.

The company was also a leading diplomatic power and one document relates a visit in 1700 by top VOC officials to the court of the Mughal emperor in India.

"Since the Netherlands was one of the most powerful players in the world at that time in terms of military, trade, shipping, and colonies, these documents are part of world history," said Brand.

UNESCO agrees, designating the VOC archives as part of its "Memory of the World" documentary heritage collection.

"The VOC archives make up the most complete and extensive source on early modern world history anywhere," says UNESCO on its website.

The trove also featured early ships logs from one of the world's most famous admirals, Michiel de Ruyter, whose exploits are studied in naval academies even today.

De Ruyter gained fame for his daring 1667 raid to attack the English fleet in the River Medway, one of the greatest humiliations in world naval history.

The ship's logs, written in his own hand, relate the admiral's first experience of naval warfare, the 1641 Battle of St Vincent against the Spanish fleet.

ANOTHER WIN FOR VOC LETS CELEBRATE MYMYGODS!