The Amsterdam stock exchange is considered the oldest "modern" securities market in the world. The Amsterdam Stock Exchange was established in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company ("Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie", or "VOC") for dealings in its printed stocks and bonds. It was subsequently renamed the Amsterdam "Bourse" and was the first to formally begin trading in securities. The Sephardic Jewish writer Joseph de la Vega's "Confusion of Confusions" (1688) is the first full length work about the stock exchange, its participants and shareholders.