Episode
358. Spice Wars: The Rise of the Dutch East India Company (Ep 1)
- Podcast
- Empire: World History
- Published
- May 10, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 3063
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/empire-world-history-5636450/episodes/358-spice-wars-the-rise-of-the-dutch-east-india-company-ep-1/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/empire-world-history-5636450/358-spice-wars-the-rise-of-the-dutch-east-india-company-ep-1.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
What’s the real story behind the creation of the Dutch East India Company, and how was espionage involved? What made the VOC the first ‘mega-corporation’ in history? And what was the horrific human cost of establishing a colonial stronghold in the East Indies? Get the entire Dutch Empire miniseries early and ad-free by joining the Empire Club at empirepoduk.com William is joined by Dutch historian Herald van der Linde to explore the staggering rise of the Dutch East India Company - a company so rich it eclipsed the modern valuations of Apple and NVIDIA combined. They discuss how high-stakes espionage, revolutionary cargo ships, and military ruthlessness allowed the Dutch to dominate the 17th-century global economy. Sign up and get 10% off at BetterHelp.com/EMPIRE. For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: [email protected] Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Assistant Producer: Imogen Marriott Social Producer: Charlie Johnson Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices