Jonkman Enterprises
| De Jonkman Groep | |
|---|---|
| Jonkman Holdings Inc. | |
| De Jonkman Groep | |
 | |
| Formerly | Jonkman Merchant House |
| Type | Private conglomerate |
| Traded as | Jonkman |
| Industry | Various |
| Predecessor | Jonkman Handelhuysen |
| Founded | 1691 |
| Founder | Cornelis Jonkman |
| Headquarters | Jonkman Dorp, Nieuw Amsterdam |
| Area served | Worldwide |
Jonkman Enterprises, Inc. (Amerikaens: De Jonkman Groep), also known as Jonkcorp, is a New Netherlandish multinational conglomerate headquartered in Staten Eiland, New Amsterdam. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the Jonkman brand. It is the largest dynastic conglomerate (familie-bedrijf) in all of New Netherland.
Jonkman was founded by Cornelis Jonkman in 17th century as a merchant house. Over the next three centuries, the merchant house expanded into areas including food processing, textiles, insurance, securities, and retail. Under Jan Anne Jonkman in the 1850s, the company expanded its business into shipping, railroads and textiles, drastically driving the corporation's growth. In the 20th century the company expanded operations into electronics, manufacturing, aerospace engineering, shipbuilding, and chemicals. It became the largest employer in New Netherland by the mid-20th century, with the Jonkman family being one of the richest in the world.
History
Founding and early history
The Jonkman corporation or as it was known when it was founded “Jonkman Handelhuysen” or Jonkman merchant houses, was first established by Cornelis Petrus Jonkman in late 1691 when Cornelis was just 16. He founded the company after he found that there was a hole as the WIC did not have any services for selling and buying goods from the many frontier towns west of the coast. Seeing this opportunity young Cornelis loaned money from his parents to buy a horse and cart. With this, he began traveling from frontier town to frontier town and buying their goods, selling them in the coastal cities and then buying goods there to sell them to the frontier towns. It turned out this was a very profitable industry and by 1711 Jonkman Handel huysen had 20 Handelshuizen through the colony of Nieuw Nederlandt and had a network of trade outposts, and even a few ships of its own to buy and sell goods directly to and from far lands.
Through the early 1700s, the company continued to expand its operations and wealth slowly, outlasting those companies that rose quickly but fell just as quickly. When the grandson of Cornelis, Petrus, took over in 1743 the company had its headquarters in Nieuw Amsterdam a large factory where they stored their goods that they would sell to the frontier towns. It was with Petrus that the company began to invest in the ever-growing and developing frontier towns and gained a reputation as a fair merchant company that was not like the power-hungry Patronen and through its investment into the community it solidified itself amongst many of the more inland towns and communities. In 1789 the company by now being one of the largest trading companies of Nieuw Nederlandt made its first steps in diversifying, it bought various shipping companies and their trade outposts thus giving it direct access to products coming in from Latin America and Asia marking its first step into the global market.
19th century
With the dawn of the 19th century and a newly independent Nieuw Nederlandt, the company started to transform itself. Further diversifying its own operations getting into mining, shipbuilding, ship transport, and the early railroad development. Aiding in the development of the infrastructure. By 1826 it owned 60% of all the railroads, steamliners around the Nieuw Amsterdam region having in effect a monopoly on transport. As Nieuw Nederlandt was developing its manufacturing base and numerous textile mills sprung up. Jonkman got in early and using its wealth it was able to move the railroad development and connect key manufacturing hubs in the country to the major commerce centers.
With the new government in power in the 1840s and 1850s, NNL began massive catchup from which Jonkman provided greatly. Expanding its operations further into shipbuilding, chemicals, trade and commerce, and further railroads. The 1800s were thus marked by the extensive and rapid growth of the company and the family her wealth and influence in the nation. Despite at the time authoritarian government the company remained relatively popular with the general population due to it investing in the quality of life for its employees. It thus created an image that was one of caring which increased its overall wealth, it at the same time made contact with the wealthy upper-class Patroons even marrying some of their daughters to them. By this point, the family had more wealth than some of the Patronen themselves thus gaining more political leverage.
20th century
When the republic was founded and properly installed Jonkman Handelhuizen or as it was more commonly known Jonkman Compagnie found itself in an interesting position. Through the latter half of the 1800s, it has invested a great amount of money and made itself incredibly wealthy through its close ties with the pre republican government. While it had close ties with the elite it still retained its position as a company that cared about its workers and was not directly associated with the old regime. This put it in a position where it was able to weather the early years and continue to expand, not just diversifying its operations but also expanding its operations across the American continent. It was a major contributing factor in NNL her rapid economic growth and advancement from backwater to one of the leading industrial powers on the continent and even in the world.
By the 1920s the Jonkman Groep was then known as the largest manufacturer and innovator of NNL, its backbone being industrial goods, ships, trade, electricity, retail, insurance, and mining yet it was to start its newest and riskiest expansion yet. With the rise of the Aero plane Jan Anne Jonkman, the then Director-Generaal of the Groep knew that it was an industry that would be the future. In a series of acquisitions, the Groep bought small aircraft manufactures and designers, and with the help of the military, who wanted a sustainable and robust domestic Aviation industry it began to build up the aviation industry of NNL. In 1927 it also entered the radio broadcasting industry and entertainment industry as it established itself as a movie producer, radio broadcaster, film equipment, and radio makers, it even bought several theatres throughout the nation. It became a silent contributor to the growing entertainment industry in NNL. It was in this period of time that the company became one of the wealthiest if not the wealthiest company in Nieuw Nederlandt with its influence being strong enough to put itself in the Huis der Patronen. Yet despite its fast wealth, the company was still seen by many as a company that actually cared about its community.