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> I knew it was big, but a third of the British workforce? That's insane. The British East India Company is nothing against the Dutch East India company. From WP (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company) > was a chartered company established in 1602 > It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock.[1] It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies > Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent only 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795, and the fleet of the English (later British) East India Company, the VOC’s nearest competitor, was a distant second to its total traffic with 2,690 ships and a mere one-fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 1600s. > The Dutch East India Company remained an important trading concern for almost two centuries, paying an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. |