When you think of multi-billion transnational corporations, you may think of Amazon, Alphabet, or Microsoft. However, the Dutch East India Company equaled all of these firms combined, worth around $8.2 trillion in today’s terms [1]. On 20 March 1602, the Dutch East India Company was founded by Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, a Dutch statesman aiming to raise funds for the Dutch war against Spain by combining rival trading firms. The Dutch East India Company was one of the first firms owned by collective shareholders and made revenue through trade, exploration, and colonization.
However, its dominance creates one question: Was the Dutch East India Company a driver of global economic progress or a vehicle of exploitation?
On one hand, there is a case to be made for the Dutch East India Company. The firm was arguably a pioneer of modern capitalism. Modern capital markets heavily depend on the stock market for funding. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) was key to creating such a system in the Netherlands, or, according to Jan de Vries, “the first modern economy” [2]. Its shares formed a significant proportion of all market volume within the Netherlands, creating what was the first form of the public share market. Furthermore, the VOC also facilitated globalisation, specifically its beginning. Its trade in Europe, India, China, Japan, and multiple Southeast Asian states led to the spread of advanced navigational systems, shipbuilding, and cartography; all of this shared knowledge aided each trading state’s advancement through early forms of globalisation [3].
On the other hand, however, the negative impacts of the VOC must be highlighted as well. Historians clearly describe the VOC as seeking “monopoly” rather than “free trade.” In the Banda Islands, which produced nutmeg, local producers competing with the VOC in the provision of imports were executed or expelled by its private army. Furthermore, it is key to note that trade routes had already existed in Asia long before the VOC. Therefore, while it can be said that the VOC brought such technologies mentioned above, the claim that the VOC created globalisation is tenuous at best. Finally, the VOC can be seen as an unethical economic behemoth. The VOC owned over 63,000 slaves in the Cape Colony alone [5], forcing them from their original birthplaces to locations such as Batavia (Jakarta), the Cape Colony, and Sri Lanka for agriculture, construction, and other labour.
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Citations
1. ReadWriteInvest. “Which Company Was the Richest Company?” ReadWriteInvest. Available at: https://www.readwriteinvest.com/p/which-company-was-the-richest-company
2. de Vries, J. and van der Woude, A. The First Modern Economy: Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500–1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
3. Chaudhuri, K. N. The Trading World of Asia and the English East India Company 1660–1760. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Gaastra, F. The Dutch East India Company: Expansion and Decline. Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2003.
5. “Slaves and Settlers.” Rebirth of a Nation. Available at: http://www.rebirth.co.za/slaves_and_settlers_a.htm