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Hello and welcome to Empire with me, Anita Arnhem.

And me, William Durumple.

And today's episode, the second in our amazing story of the VOC, the forgotten East India Company,

that we always omit from stories when we talk about the English East India Company,

is, I think, one of the most extraordinary and little-known stories in the history of Empire,

at least little known in the English-speaking world. It's about the deathly rivalry between the English and the Dutch

and the two East Indy companies, these two corporations that were empires, these incredibly

rich precursors to the great and incredibly powerful corporations of our day. And the story revolves

around a spice so valuable that they were willing to torture and kill for it. And the story

culminates in a 17th century deal that changed the fortune of Manhattan forever.

When we say valuable, I mean, I just want to give you an idea of how valuable.

Okay.

And honestly, this doesn't speak well of the kind of reading that I've been doing.

But wait for wait, it's interesting, in the 1600s nutmeg was more valuable than cocaine is today.

Let that sit with you for a second.

I did the sums.

That's all I did.

Did you experiment?

No.

...