Dutch East India Company Founded
March 20, 1602
The States-General of the Netherlands merged a half dozen squabbling spice-trade ventures into a single joint-stock leviathan with the right to wage war, coin money, and sign treaties. The VOC, history's first multinational corporation, would dominate Asian commerce for two centuries and invent the shareholder, creating a model of corporate capitalism that reshaped the world economy.
In context
Also in 1602 (3 other events on record)
- Matteo Ricci Presents a World Map to the Ming · East Asia · Science
- Galileo Studies the Pendulum · Europe · Science
- Safavid Shah Abbas Recaptures Bahrain · Middle East · War
Before and after in Europe
- Before: 1601: Battle of Kinsale
- After: March 24, 1603: Death of Elizabeth I
Before and after in Politics
Era
Renaissance (1501–1650), one of 715 events from that era on Saeculum.