InstitutionClaim Cited
Dutch East India Company (VOC)
The VOC joined six Dutch chambers, pooled investment, transferable shares, and a central board to chartered powers of diplomacy, fortification, war, and jurisdiction. Its ocean-spanning coordination depended on a second center of government at Batavia, Asian partners and workers, extensive records, and several forms of coerced labor. The same architecture that moved capital and information also enforced monopoly through conquest, enslavement, forced service, and colonial rule.
How did a federated investor-owned company coordinate capital and authority across oceans, and how did commercial monopoly become colonial government?