Summary of Stephen R. Bown's Merchant Kings

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 The Dutch East India Company, the VOC, had a conflict with the English East India Company over control of the lucrative spice trade in Indonesia. The two companies sought to oust the Portuguese and dominate the trade.

#2 In 1602, the Dutch East India Company secured a monopoly on the nutmeg trade on the Banda Islands. Some of the orang kaya had signed the contract, fearing to offend the merchants and invite violent reprisals.

#3 The Bandanese were wary of Dutch traders, who did not impress them with their often useless trade goods. The islanders were also frightened by the sight of so many armed Dutchmen.

#4 The Dutch East India Company conquered the Banda Islands in 1636, and they began to enforce a monopoly on the nutmeg trade. However, the Bandanese were still able to smuggle their nutmeg to English factories on the outlying islands of Ai and Run.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822505179

IRB Media

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Insights on Stephen R. Bown's Merchant Kings

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The Dutch East India Company, the VOC, had a conflict with the English East India Company over control of the lucrative spice trade in Indonesia. The two companies sought to oust the Portuguese and dominate the trade.

#2

In 1602, the Dutch East India Company secured a monopoly on the nutmeg trade on the Banda Islands. Some of the orang kaya had signed the contract, fearing to offend the merchants and invite violent reprisals.

#3

The Bandanese were wary of Dutch traders, who did not impress them with their often useless trade goods. The islanders were also frightened by the sight of so many armed Dutchmen.

#4

The Dutch East India Company conquered the Banda Islands in 1636, and they began to enforce a monopoly on the nutmeg trade. However, the Bandanese were still able to smuggle their nutmeg to English factories on the outlying islands of Ai and Run.

#5

The Dutch Republic, newly freed from Spanish domination, was admirably situated to dominate European trade. The first great global corporation, the voc, was founded by the Dutch East India Company in 1602. It was the most powerful and richest company in the world by the late seventeenth century.

#6

The Bandanese uprising and resistance to the voc was sponsored by English agents, and it was further aided by the untrustworthy nature of the Bandanese.

#7

The spices of the East Indies come from a variety of sources. Nutmeg and mace grow on the same tree, and the fruit is yellow and peach-like. The meat of the nut is the nutmeg, and the red membrane, after being dried in the sun, is the mace.

#8

For centuries, people have used spices to cure minor ailments and improve memory. But where did these spices come from. The answer is unknown to most people. The famous Roman natural philosopher Pliny the Elder described the adventurous methods by which spices were believed to be transported from distant lands.

#9

The spice trade was dominated by the city state of Venice for hundreds of years, until the Ottoman Turks took control of the region and raised taxes and tariffs to virtually shut off the spice supply to Europe.

#10

The Portuguese began trading with the East in the fifteenth century, and by the sixteenth century, they had a complex trade network that extended around