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Empire: World History

358. Spice Wars: The Rise of the Dutch East India Company (Ep 1)

Empire: World History

Goalhanger

History

4.55.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

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: empire@goalhanger.com 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

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community,

0:06.8

discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcasts, add free listening and a weekly newsletter,

0:12.3

sign up to Empire Club at www.mpower.morpoduk.com.

0:18.3

Edwina Matt Batton died in the jungles of borneo the year was 1960 and she was all alone well alone i say

0:28.2

except she was surrounded by letters and they weren't letters as you might think from her husband louis

0:34.2

mountbatten the last viceroy of ind No, these were letters from the man that she

0:39.4

truly loved. The scourge of the British Empire, the first prime minister of a free India. His name

0:47.3

was Jawar Lal Nairu. Now, this fascinating love triangle is so pertinent when it comes to pre-partition India politics.

0:57.6

And we're going to be delving right in in a mini-series, a four-parter for you.

1:02.0

And it's only available to members of our club.

1:05.5

So if that isn't you, what you need to do is right away.

1:08.3

Get to EmpirePodUK.com.

1:10.3

That's EmpirePodUK.com.

1:12.6

And for the price of a coffee, come join our club.

1:15.7

And as if you needed any more incentive, let me tell you, our very special guest is the marvellous Alex von Tunselman, who is the author of Indian Summer.

1:25.0

So what are you waiting for?

1:26.5

Come on.

1:39.3

Music author of Indian Summer. So what are you waiting for? Come on. Today we are talking about a company so powerful it could wage war, execute criminals, establish its own

1:47.7

colonies and govern entire continents, and so wealthy that in today's money at its peak it was worth

1:55.9

more than twice the combined value of Apple and the Vidia in market capitalisation. The story will take us through

2:02.5

some extraordinary 17th century financial espionage, the colonisation of Indonesia and Anglo-Dutch

2:09.2

wars in which the English will end up ruling the seas, but not before the Dutch have kicked

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