The VOC basically owned the entirety of trade in SEA. It's not hard to imagine a valuation of 7 trillion when they had a monopoly of an entire continent's worth of trade (spices!) for two centuries.
The entire world's GDP in 1700 was $371 Billion (1990 International Dollars). That would mean the VOC's value then was ~10x the global GDP, which I find hard to believe.
Or if that doesn't convince you, consider the world population in 1700 was 700 million people. That would mean the Dutch Indies Company's value per person is $10,000!
https://www.rug.nl/ggdc/historicaldevelopment/maddison/relea...
The entire world's GDP in 1700 was $371 Billion (1990 International Dollars). That would mean the VOC's value then was ~10x the global GDP, which I find hard to believe.
Or if that doesn't convince you, consider the world population in 1700 was 700 million people. That would mean the Dutch Indies Company's value per person is $10,000!