Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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On New Year's Eve 1600, a band of merchants and pirates secured a royal charter to form the English East India Company. 🚢 Their target? The incredibly lucrative spice trade of the Malay Archipelago. But they faced a massive roadblock: the Dutch VOC! Head-to-head, the English were massive underdogs, possessing only 1/10th the financial capital and less than half the ships of their Dutch rivals. Discover the humble origins of history's most powerful megacorporation! #EastIndiaCompany #BritishEmpire #HistoryShorts #SpiceTrade #VOC #MaritimeHistory #AgeOfDiscovery #Colonialism