Western Civilization I / Unit 16 WC1 1521 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The VOC, 1602: Shares, Monopoly, Force
Captions available
The idea
In sixteen oh two Dutch merchants chartered the Dutch East India Company, the VOC, the anchor's first corporation, with a legal monopoly on the East Indies trade. It pushed out rivals by force and paid the anchor's thirty percent dividends.
In practice
Joint stock: shares in a company, not a voyage.
Where people slip
Half of Europe's merchant ships were Dutch by sixteen twenty, the anchor says.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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