n the 1600s, the Dutch West India Company was more powerful and
successful than Microsoft, IBM, or General Motors today. The Company's
thousands of employees had one primary goal: to make money. Investors in
the Dutch West India Company were fortunate. Its annual profits went as
high as 200 or 300 percent. (In comparison, a strong stock today might
return yearly profits of 20 or 30 percent.) In the pursuit of profits,
the Company traded commodities such as spices, sugar, fur, and slaves.
It also fought battles against Spain to gain new territory.
The Dutch West India Company was an offshoot of the Dutch East India
Company, which funded Henry Hudson's voyage to North America in 1609. If
Hudson could find a secret shortcut to Asia, the Company would make
even more profits.
Although
Hudson failed at this mission, his dazzling reports of fur trading
opportunities inspired merchants. About fifteen years later, the Company
sent over some thirty families as colonists and workers. They called
the new colony "New Amsterdam." Later renamed New York, it would grow
into one of the greatest cities in the world.
