The Economics of the Dutch East India Company

Trillion-dollar mega corporations are a very big deal these days. Only about 2 or 3 exist in the modern world and they're primarily tech companies that have achieved this status by capitalizing on cutting edge modern technology (and probably a bit of optimistic speculation). But there is one corporation that has snaked its way through history and may have very well been the largest corporation in history. This was a company that laid the foundations for modern multinationals and created systems, procedures, and expectations that we take for granted today.