The Dutch East India Company
The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company, was a trading company founded in 1602. Considered by some to be the first corporation in the world, the VOC was in any case the largest and most impressive trading company in Europe during the Early Modern Period. The Company ruled the trade zone between South Africa and Japan and was granted authority by the Dutch government to build forts, appoint a governing body and to form an army, as well as conducting trade and establishing colonies continue reading…
Painting: Willem van de Velde, The Cannon Shot (ca. 1670) Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Laura Libricz, Authoress 