360. Spice Wars: The Battle of the East India Companies (Ep 3)

What caused the mighty Dutch East India Company to plummet from immense Golden Age wealth to total bankruptcy? Who was ‘Peter Pepper’, and how did his stolen plants end the VOC's spice monopoly? And how did a tiny Caribbean island spark the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War simply by saluting the American flag?

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In Episode 3 of our series on the VOC, William and Anita are joined by Dutch anthropologist and historian Michiel Baas to explore the staggering collapse of the Dutch East India Company. They discuss the greatest commercial reversal in history, as the English East India Company transformed into a powerful corporate state, while the mighty VOC went completely bankrupt.

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