DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY
(United East Indian Company)
The entire exploration, founding and colonization of New York was a business enterprise right from the start.
The Dutch East India Company, officially the United East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie; VOC; Indonesian: Persatuan Perusahaan Hindia Timur), was a megacorporation founded by a government-directed consolidation of several rival Dutch trading companies (voorcompagnieën) in the early 17th century. It is believed to be the largest company to ever have existed in recorded history. It was established on March 20, 1602, as a chartered company to trade with Mughal India in the early modern period, from which 50% of textiles and 80% of silks were imported, chiefly from its most developed region known as Bengal Subah. In addition, the company traded with Indianised Southeast Asian countries when the Dutch government granted it a 21-year monopoly on the Dutch spice trade.
