How one of the most profitable companies in history rose to power - Adam Clulow

Discover what happened when one company's attempt to dominate a key global trade ended in violence.
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During the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company cornered the booming spice market and pioneered trade routes between Asia and Europe. It is widely considered the most profitable corporation ever created. But such success came with an overwhelming cost in human life. Adam Clulow sheds light on the Dutch East India Company’s invasion and genocide of Indonesia's Banda Islands.
Lesson by Adam Clulow, directed by Hernando Bahamon.
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Thank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Maxwell Ramsby, Dmitry Yuryev, Denis Chon, Julian Oberhofer, Monte Carroll, Eddy, Jay M, Constantino Victor Delgado, Andrea Galvagni, Andrew Tweddle, Laurel-Ann Rice, Fernando A. Endo, Helen Lee, pam morgan, sarim haq, Juan Pablo Rodriguez Morales, ANNE FINE, Gerardo Castro, Siddharth Toshniwal, Michel-Ange Hortegat, Enes Kirimi, Amaury BISIAUX, Aravind C V, ND, Samyogita Hardikar, Vanessa Graulich, Vandana Gunwani, LvL042, Abdulmohsin Almadi, Andrew Brodski, AJ Lyon, Anandha Krishnan, Geoffrey Bultitude, Mi Mi, Thomas Rothert, Christopher McVay, Carlo Solaroli, Javier Aldavaz, Ivan Yeung, Brian Elieson, Grayson Garbarino, Oge O, Weronika Falkowska, Stefano Esposito, Nevin Spoljaric, Yvonne Feijoo, Sid Chanpuriya, Arjay Arcinue Dineros, Anoom Yasmin and Anoop Varghese.

[@hinxv]

Fun fact : for those who don't know, the VOC managed to recruit some samurai mercenaries in Japan. The battle of Banda was the "first" time when the japanese land on Indonesian soil, before ww2

[@wouterm8145]

It's a fun fact, maybe, but a mercenary in service of a Dutch company is wholly different from a soldier in service of a national army setting foot in Indonesia, so I don't know what you are implying by this...?

[@cormarine9812]

@@wouterm8145 You needn't think too hard on this, in my opinion - this just seems like a fun fact lol

[@samuraiboi2735]

There were times where the japanese also landed on other places like singapore or malaysia or vietnam even during ww2.I think by then singapore was also heavily influenced by japanese tech as well as we had alot of japanese business man back in the days.

[@jinhunterslay1638]

Related but not-so-fun fact: The VOC is also one of Japan’s favorite foreign customers, and their most significant exports to the Dutch are lacquered goods. The VOC will even put in some special custom-made orders of lacquered stuffs to be exported to Europe.

[@kimashitawa8113]

@@jinhunterslay1638 To add to that, the Dutch were the only foreigners next to the Chinese that Japanese people had contact with in the Sakoku period. The Japanese even learned Dutch (Rangaku tl. Dutchology) just so they could read books that the Dutch imported about medicine and technology which brought great advancements in those fields for the country. There are still Dutch loanwords to be found in Japanese.

[@diskyariajetmiko]

As indonesian, we were taught about VoC very extensively in school. I hope by learning it extensively, we don't repeat our mistake. Greetings to the dutch people and let us built our future together :)

[@RAMBO14001]

I doubt you'd feel the same way (forgiving) towards Chinese.

[@Jagogjk1]

What "future" they stole your f..ing future, when no action is taken, history repeats itself.

[@TsLeng]

Then don't swallow the white men trope about China. If you all fall for it again, then shame on you .

[@ThePlaceboEffect10]

And yet... Timor Lorosae

[@diskyariajetmiko]

@@RAMBO14001 every Indonesian have their own opinion... But me personally, I don't think there are any reason to hate Chinese.. I don't know why you would think that :)

[@damedesuka77]

Indonesian here. Just from looking at the thumbnail I knew this must be about the VOC. Also, funny to hear the narrator says "orang kaya". It literally means "rich person" in Indonesian and is a very standard phrase used in daily convos, not exactly a title or a formal name for a certain social class. At least not today.

[@awesomebroke]

Is it some form of feudalism?

[@damedesuka77]

@@awesomebroke You mean feudalism among Bandanese people? Could be. I'm not too knowledgeable about the history of that specific region, but Indonesia used to consist of many small kingdoms/sultanates. Maybe "orang kaya" used to mean something else back then. It's doesn't mean anything special at the present day though.

[@kykale]

Indonesian Dutch, who makes videos about history: so Banda was ruled as an oligarchy. Its leaders got status and power because of the wealth they acquired due to the trade in nutmeg, thus their title ‘orang kaya’. Interestingly, the title is a Malay word, as the Bandanese had adopted the Malay language, culture and islam due to trade with the Malays from the Malay peninsula/Sumatra.

[@justrandomthings709]

In Filipinowe have a word "may kaya" or maykaya, meaning people in middle class, not rich but definitely not poor.

[@abcddef2112]

@@kykale Yeah its a common historical title used in the archipelago, it is also used in Sumatra and Malaysia, where it is basically meant nobility underneath the Sultan. In Maluku, and some Papuan tribes, it function more as a tribal or village elders/leaders. Usually they are a point of contact between their village and outside world. Of course modern usage is different than historical context.

[@ThitutUhthalye]

It’s such a shame on great length people are willing to do to other human just for profit.

[@MukulVyas5]

Wait till you learn and realise what they do to animals.

[@cassieopenthefckingdoor8981]

Happens till today unfortunately

[@pramillathapa326]

True to these day

[@johnmaris1582]

It's not profitable at all. VOC end up bankrupt. Everyone is worst off but the bandaneses draw the shortest length of the stick.

[@joost505]

@@johnmaris1582 Yeah but just because they went bankrupt does not mean they didn’t make a lot of profits from it. The VOC was a large part of the Dutch golden age. A lot of scientists and artists came to the Netherlands during that time and did great inventions, created beautiful masterpieces, which could not have been made without it. It’s very important to remember the dark side of history, but it’s also important to understand why there is a dark side to history.

[@durdleduc8520]

when I learned about the VOC in school, the only thing I was taught was that it profited trade and was one of the first successful large companies of its time. history class failed me.

[@_JTZ_]

In my class, we did cover at least the role of the Dutches in Opium trade.

[@HughJass-jv2lt]

🔥🔥🔥

[@dainsle]

It is. They just hide the details.

[@gauravsinghrathore9485]

The one hiding and manipulating the details may be the historians from your own country same is the case with India too.

[@theunfunny421]

cute turtleduck pfp

[@louvendran7273]

Lol, every year during my primary school. We did a school research project on this company. At the time we had limited information on the subject, in the days before the Internet. Now the truth comes out. I'm glad the youth of today have access to information and knowledge of truth unlike my generation and generations before me.

[@matpk]

@🎄Santa Claus🎄 But Covid KILL Cats No more travel next year kzbin.info/www/bejne/mKG0d3aZiK5jprc

[@maximussaktish]

What country are you from?

[@edigod1]

je had toen max havelaar moeten lezen

[@louvendran7273]

@@maximussaktish I grew up in South Africa in Durban, Natal.

[@corialanuswhos9436]

We litterly have now a project about this, need to write a letter to this guy…..

[@rhinerivia1456]

In Indonesia we sometimes refer the colonizer as "Kompeni", and it's derived from this very same company

[@pedropedrohan102]

so what do you call companies in the country?

[@fadhilarahmasabrina7308]

@@pedropedrohan102 Perusahaan🤓

[@pedropedrohan102]

@@fadhilarahmasabrina7308 ok

[@nn24]

Don't forget about the WIC, the other, sometimes overlooked, Dutch company who's domain was between the Netherlands, Africa and America. They where also known for privateering and transported spices, gold, sucker and slaves.

[@gabrielgarcia7554]

Sucker? Do you mean to say sugar (zucker)?

[@joost505]

@@gabrielgarcia7554 they transported sucker. It’s a very rare substance, only found in the deepest of caves in South Africa.

[@AlbertAlbertB.]

Which you should, and have to see in the zeitgeist of that time. Otherwise, your historic perspective gets clouded with the ideals of today, which do not benefit understanding. If it is abhorrent or not is relevent for to-day, but not for yesterday.

[@kaiserredgamer8943]

Hey, at least the Dutch decided to buy lands from natives peacefully instead of just violently invading... or perhaps I am just naive.

[@i_teleported_bread7404]

"How one of the most profitable companies in history rose to power" Well, it says "murder" in the thumbnail, so I'm gonna assume you're talking about... Nestlé?

[@jibberwocky4054]

bold move, but completely valid

[@greathamid9321]

absolutely correct and unilever. they born after WW2

[@hazzmati]

Why are you even surprised? It's been like this since the dawn of human history.

[@tragicevans4157]

Plot twist: Procter & Gamble

[@elvixpro7693]

"I'll kidnap a thousand islands before I let this company die" - Pieterszoon

[@fettynb6121]

Is that a Monsters Inc reference?

[@asrasaqib9554]

@@fettynb6121 "and I'll silence anyone who gets in my way!"

[@elvixpro7693]

@@fettynb6121 y e s

[@ryotanada]

Because that's a real stretch of islands off of what's then Batavia, right?

[@Ordinary_Guy]

"Orang Kaya" is litterally just the indonesian translation for rich people, Lol

[@beatrix1775]

yes kinda funny that it was said like a title or smth

[@globingoblin8625]

I hereby declare you Rich™

[@joey7107]

@@beatrix1775 lmao

[@abcddef2112]

Yes but it is a title used in Indonesia and more broadly nusantara, some in Sumatra like Aceh, but also in Maluku and Papua. Maybe you should study more.

[@watcher1109]

@@abcddef2112 is it a real title?. Im indonesian and idk know this stuff

[@pandegaabyanz3719]

We Indonesian have been taught about VOC since elementary school, yet we almost never been told that it is the most profitable company ever, I think that's an important point that should be told

[@toob_noob4381]

At it's height it was worth more than apple, google, and amazon combined About 7 trillion USD iirc

[@ian_sch]

Different countries emphasize in different aspects of the history, not to mention when they straight up rewrite it hahahah

[@mariustan9275]

Me too

[@harnosuharno8971]

Tidur mungkin dikelas 😂

[@spacegerrit9499]

The tale of the VOC is more than just Dutch (colonial) history - it's a warning for the future of mankind. The VOC was Cyberpunk in the 17th century, an innovative company more powerful than any government with the legal authority to declare war and annex territory if it saw fit. There's never been anything like it, nore should there be. It had it's own standing army and a massive fleet of thousands of ships. I'm Dutch and found two family members who sailed for the VOC. It's rather odd seeing your family name scribbled on age old parchment by some VOC clerk.

[@connorredding]

This might just be my favourite animation in a Ted-ED video. Loved the art

[@s.lianasuryo-atmojo9455]

As someone born and raised in Indonesia, I distinctly remember reading a book, called if I remember correctly, "Vuren over Banda" or "Fires over Banda" It was a novel for young people where the young Dutch protagonist became friends with a Bandanese spiritual leader, called "Sitoeh" who foresaw the destruction of his society and culture. Although I do not remember the book foreshadowing the actual genocide of the Banda people, I do remember it as a pretty sombre novel with the only silver lining the human interaction between "Sitoeh" and the young Dutch protagonist. I also remember the social and political elite called the "orang kaya" of Banda, which in modern Indonesian simply means "rich people".

[@user-qr3ee3zp8q]

To put into perpective how incredibly profitable this company really was you should know that at some point the VOC contributed 10% of all money made/stolen by the Netherlands.

[@marijnverheggen6611]

But don't forget when maked more money on trading on the north sea than the VOC or WIC ever did

[@joost505]

Its still the highest valued company to ever exist. Bigger than Amazon, google and apple combined.

[@khosrowanushirwan7591]

India had 1/4 of the GDP in f the world back then

[@user-qr3ee3zp8q]

@@khosrowanushirwan7591 ok, relevance?

[@khosrowanushirwan7591]

@@user-qr3ee3zp8q I am saying a company which needed to practice ruthlessness to get monopoly through inhumane practices only made 10 percent of a nation's wealth but a civilization which didn't practice this type of genocide made a 1/4 of the GDP of the world 🌎🌍.

[@pandegaabyanz3719]

It should be noted that, as you can see, Banda island is just a very small part of Indonesia. The Dutch was colonizing all part of today Indonesia (that's the only reason we Indonesian become a single country). In all of those part, there are various method of slavery to gain as much profit as possible.

[@jibberwocky4054]

i was just reading about history of where i come from and ended up stumbling upon different examples of dutch rule, so this was perfectly timed. thank you for the brief (yet packed) history lesson :)

[@AlbertAlbertB.]

Rather packed. Too packed if you ask me.

[@Tinky1rs]

Just so everyone's aware: the proposition was/is for the statue of Coen to go to a museum. Many people who grew up in Hoorn are fond of the statue. In 2012 the municipality added an information sign that not only describes Coen (born in Hoorn) and what his actions yielded for the Netherlands, but also the atrocities he committed overseas.

[@germimonte]

oh, a sign? their generosity knows no bounds!

[@Tinky1rs]

@@germimonte What do you expect the city of Hoorn to do? Destroy a centuries old piece of art? Until 1880 or so the man was a hero to the Dutch. It wouldn't do history justice to only villanize him.

[@mikloscsuvar6097]

This is still outrageous. Public statues must honor purely heroic deeds or artistic or scientific achievements. If such monsters' are still revered with public monuments having added notifications then dr. Mengele must have a statue also as he expanded our knowledge on the human body's endurance.

[@mikloscsuvar6097]

@@Tinky1rs Villanizing is essential, as he was a villain. Removing his statue to a local museum and adding great extent explanatory plaques is a compromise.

[@gimmins]

@@mikloscsuvar6097 well said

[@garlicoshallots200]

The sad part is if there's no media outlets or judicial system like it was in the past, people would still do these kind of things today. Thirst for power is in our blood

[@tripledigit4835]

They still are, it’s just not genocidal level

[@zyaicob]

They still do, for example, almost every large chocolate company gets their cacao from plantations of enslaved children

[@Johndoe-mv5ii]

There Are Still Companies Like This

[@davyjones7177]

The quality of these videos are always top notch

[@romanbucharist4708]

Correct me if I'm wrong. But Fun Fact: VOC was the first company to sell stocks

[@popolekupasupport2246]

I think you are wrong, stocks existed before but the voc was the first one to sell them in public(before it was available to rich people but the voc was the first to sell stocks to every day people). Oh and they sold stocks in their ships so you would get a part of the profits that particular ship got.

[@jordandino417]

*S t o n k s*

[@nunyabiznes33]

@@popolekupasupport2246 I think Venice was first when it comes to sellings stocks on ships but those ships are owned by the state rather than a company. But yeah, it seems VOC was the first to sell company stocks to the public.

[@sr3821]

@@nunyabiznes33 The first IPO in the world history 😁

[@risannd]

VOC traded their stocks publicly so the government won't have to support the colony financially. In fact, they use VOC to finance their war of independence from Spain.

[@krister6160]

Earlier this semester, I was assigned to talk about the language-in-education policy of Indonesia. Readings were limited. Mostly, I access materials that talk about Indonesia’s politics that massively affected the course of Bahasa Indonesia. Behind this, since the country is an archipelago, divide et impera was the tactic. The colonizers taught them that their regional languages must be utilized, but in reality, this linguistic diversity only divides them to not have anti-colonial sentiments. This video is just one part of the whole picture. It was only in 1945 that Indonesia had her independence, where she would choose Malay that would turn into Bahasa Indonesia as her national and official language, which would make the Indonesians united, more democratic, and free. Over the decades since their independence, their literacy rate has escalated.

[@vyzards]

Dude that's cool insight. Can I take a look at your essay if you have one because I want to know more

[@sayyiddaffam6822]

Yeah, I would like to read more about this

[@christoperreinhard6657]

Fyi, Bahasa Indonesia is derived from Bahasa Melayu Pasar, a Malay dialect that has been used as a trading language in the region long before The Dutch arrival

[@vyzards]

@@christoperreinhard6657 dude thank you for the additional info. I didn't know about this

[@destyapusparani210]

Another interesting thing is that Indonesian language have so many dutch words in it, and most people aren't even aware. It also has arabic, sanskrit, portuguese, and chinese hokkien words.

[@Ordinary_Guy]

also, Voc and also did another thing that affect all of indonesia, establishing colonies in a lot of island and force native to work for them, like forcing them to farm sugar cane and other international commodity at the the time, the natives are also not allowed to farm their main food source, which make many native people being starved to death. After the bankruptcy of Voc the previous land that are owned by Voc are now dutch property, Voc are giving a base for the dutch to entirely take control and colonise it, the dutch which is now in control are now forcing natives to work, like in the megaproject of "anyer-panarukan post highway" , in which the dutch almost didn't provide any food, with no healthcare and unsanitary water, added by disease, and the fact that the highway is 1000 km long, but the dutch are slightly better to giving the natives some education and public facility, and the forced farming also still been used by the dutch to fill netherland money hole after the diponegoro war, this is the "supposed" rules The basic regulations for the forced cultivation system are contained in the State Gazette of the State of the Republic of Indonesia of 1834 No. 22. This regulation was issued several years after forced cultivation was implemented on the island of Java. The rules for forced cultivation are: 1. Agreements shall be entered into with the residents for them to provide a portion of their land for the cultivation of export crops which can be sold on the European market. 2. Agricultural land provided by the residents for this purpose may not exceed one fifth of the agricultural land owned by the villagers 3. The work required to grow these crops should not exceed the work required to grow rice crops 4. The land provided by the resident is free from land tax 5. The crop yields were handed over to the Dutch East Indies government. If the price is estimated to exceed the land tax that must be paid by the people, the excess is given to the occupation. 6. Harvest failures that are not the fault of the farmers will be the responsibility of the government. 7. Those who do not own land will be employed in plantations or government-owned factories for 65 days each year. 8. The implementation of forced cultivation is left to the indigenous leaders. European officials acted as supervisors in general. but there are many deviations : 1. Implementation of cultuurstelsel should be voluntary, but carried out by means of coercion. The Dutch colonial government used regents and village heads to force the people to give up their land. 2. The area of ​​land provided by the population is more than one-fifth. Often it was a third to the entire village land in order to facilitate cultivation, irrigation, and supervision by the Dutch colonial government. 3. The work on export crops often far exceeds the work on rice plants. Residents were also mobilized to work on plantations that were far from their village for seven months. The residents are neglected and their agricultural land is abandoned. 4. Land tax is still imposed on land used for forced cultivation projects. 5. Excess yields after being calculated with taxes are not returned to the farmers. 6. Harvest failure is the responsibility of the farmer. 7. Workers are used as forced labor as happened in Rembang, Central Java. As many as 34,000 families for 8 months each year are required to work on commercial crops for very small wages. The people also had to give up blocks, bamboo, and wood for the construction of buildings that would be used to grow tobacco. the dutch still have a downside of forcing a lot of people to build anything the dutch want and forced farming too, but some of that facility that are been builded by those dutch are still used until today and some of those facility like the stovia university that even support the great thinker who will eventually having an idea of a nation, an independent nation, which was the result of around 300 year of colonisation, and in the processes killing million of people

[@danielcastillo591]

@Weasel No matter how unbiased you try to sound, you can't just advocate for the massacre of so many native people and try to sound reasonable

[@milkcreamsweetsweetpig1352]

@@danielcastillo591 He's not advocating a massacre. He's just trying to point out the things you intentionally left out by only mentioning the bad things they've done.

[@Ordinary_Guy]

@Weasel well i do agree about your argument, but how do the dutch achieved that? yes i agree that dutch also developed indonesia in different way without the dutch indonesia will probably never formed and dutch also like what you say developed the country dutch is also the one who fueled the independence, by educating the people but did you also consider the thing that they do? they bring disease with them, event the pes disease they trying to silence the people, by sending troops to city, town, killing all the "traitors" of the dutch, no matter what age, or if they have a family they exploited the wealthy of the archipelago, and forcing people to do what they want mass genocide and slavery is the right choice of word even after indonesia declare it's independence the dutch still trying to take control of the indonesian after the japanese surrender one of which is the 10 november, also known as "the hero day" my grandfather was there witnessing all of the horrifying thing you could imagine the dutch and british people has make a treaty in which they will combine force to take back the newly formed country surrender until 06:00 am or we will open fire in which that fueled up patriocism in the heart of the soldier and the hour came fire everywhere, the sky is full of smoke, the plane start bombing everywhere, dutch and british soldier shooting all of the soldier, he watch as his comrades die a horrifying death and then the british commander was killed the battle has been victorious for the indonesian army and yet there a lot of event like the 10 november day, which could have been erased of the history and are you still thinking that because certain thing also caused good, we need to only see the good side?

[@Ordinary_Guy]

@Weasel and that also didn't included event like the burning of bandung, which people burn their own home all over the bandung city, so the dutch couldn't use those home for base, and that including factory, public space, and plantation

[@hazzmati]

You know the old saying: you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.

[@beyourtheatre]

It's an ironic and sad history. What's even sadder is that there are many people who have gone through these histories. I hope this won't happen again.

[@hazzmati]

Nothing ironic or sad about it. Conquest and subjegation was the norm in the past.

[@BigattckFirecat]

It's happening again where gun companies are paying little to nothing as well has letting an entire nation go to a another group.

[@thebiggestmonkey9172]

It's still going on as we speak

[@thorodinson6649]

@@hazzmati you don’t find it sad? Sociopath

[@Eristhenes]

@@hazzmati Was?

[@user-bp9cz7dw5n]

I laughed out loud when he said "Rich men called Orang Kaya" because it's just a literal translation.

[@atrudokht]

yeah, sounds so ineloquent for Indonesian ears

[@harnosuharno8971]

Orang kaya asli bahasa sana berarti

[@noeldenever]

As soon as I saw the title, I knew it's VOC. I'm Indonesian. What VOC did in Banda is only a small fraction of their crimes against humanity. Netherlands' wealth is built upon the blood and bones of my ancestors. Europe's wealth is built upon the corpse of the people they subjugated, the lands they ravaged. And now, they refused to be invaded by people fleeing ex Europe-occupied lands where resources had bled dry and civil war tore societies apart. Ironic. Ted-Ed, none of your previous content had ever felt so personal to me. Thank you for the video.

[@theywalkinguptoyouand4060]

Same goes for Japan, China, the US, Britain, and many other countries

[@Zuiker1]

I mean the biggest part of the VOC is the part that you dont think of, its the the trade of wood and grain in Europe. Im not saying its not correct what you are saying but the voc didnt just only do crimes against humanity

[@MrGregory777]

@@Zuiker1 so what you are saying is don't be so hard on the genocide company. They did other things besides genocide. Cool

[@Zuiker1]

@@MrGregory777 I literally said that that is not what i am saying

[@hazzmati]

The voc did nothing wrong.

[@woopswoopsie8381]

For more on the subject, there is a really good book that was published recently: The Nutmeg's Curse by Amitav Ghosh.

[@Creative___Mind]

Tales of colonisation like this one always make me sad. Sometimes when I hear of the worst atrocities the British committed to Indians I wish to hate them, yet I am always reminded that it is nothing but a reminder of our own disunity and weakness. If only we united without foreign rulers oppressing us....

[@sr3821]

You are probably correct. The Netherlands is a small country of farmers and traders. The Netherlands was also occupied several times by stronger European nations: Spain, France, Germany. In the other hand, Indonesia is huge. It was almost impossible for VOC to occupy Indonesia without "assistance" from locals. I guess they were competing against each other.

[@TomatoTomato911]

British were the best among the europeans.

[@Creative___Mind]

@@TomatoTomato911 considering the many, many, MANY atrocities they inflicted on us Indians, I am not sure of that. Though I do wonder how they justify their actions in their school textbooks, and just how much truth is taught to the children. Might just check out a few British school textbooks sometime in the future.

[@sr3821]

@@TomatoTomato911 The best in colonisation? 😁

[@SamadArcot]

@@Creative___Mind They did not commit that many attrocities. Except for Jalian Waala Baagh, almost all other battles they fought were incited by violence from the locals. They introduced law system and modern education to an otherwise islamisizing India. After the fall of Marathas in 3rd battle of panipath, the Mughals were essentially back in power.

[@AldrichNaiborhu]

I'm an Indonesian, and 'Orang Kaya' literally translates to 'Rich People' :D

[@abcddef2112]

‘Orang kaya’ itu dulu gelar bagi beberapa suku macam aceh, melayu (di malaysia juga), maluku dan papua.

[@harnosuharno8971]

Lu yg aneh

[@illyasvielemiya9059]

"Rich people called Orang Kaya," that is... literal translation.... Anyway, While I learned about VOC on school history, It was never detailed one like this five minutes video. thank you

[@AA-bb9rb]

Literally the term for them are Rich Person/People. Cause they were the richest among their societies.

[@nunyabiznes33]

At least I learned why in Filipino "may kaya" means "rich". "Kaya" mean stuff like "capability" so I was puzzled why "with capability" would mean "rich". I mean, there's a connection but capability don't automatically make one rich.

[@justrandomthings709]

@@nunyabiznes33 the word for rich is mayaman and may kaya is either the middle class or upper middle class. May kaya is not equal to mayaman.

[@abcddef2112]

Yes that is the translation, but “orang kaya” is actually a title used in Indonesia, particularly used by Acehnese, Malayan, Moluccans and Papuan.

[@watcher1109]

Orang = people/person Kaya = rich So yeah, "Orang kaya" literally means rich people. Its not a unique/ specific titles as far as i know, it just a normal way to call every rich people.

[@nymeriafrost7687]

Thank you for this video. Please make more videos on the crimes of our ancestors so that these atrocities don’t slip away from memory. Topics like the genocide of native Americans by the US and Canada, genocide of aboriginals by Australia, the brutality of colonialism by European powers like the UK are all topics that need to be taught, so that we humans don’t repeat these bloody mistakes again.

[@henkvandervossen6616]

Agreed, as long as we include deeds by ottomans, arabs, moghuls, chinese, african empires

[@derpatel9760]

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate THE AMAZING ANIMATION HERE!?! Seriously though, I love this animation.

[@sr3821]

Similar story throughout history: economic motives start atrocities. World War 2 started with economic problems in Germany, conflicts in the Middle East started from oil and land ownership claims, and the list keeps adding up.

[@sohamacharya171]

WWI was started by a lot more than just economy tho.

[@pankajmahanta7493]

Same atrocities were committed by East India Company in India. Turning back history pages is like going through a war journal. I hope it changes with the coming generations and everyone gets to read great advancement of Human kind as a race. Amen ☮️

[@gale_poot]

we are suffering consequences to this day! Reparations is the only solution

[@merren2306]

thats an entirely different company than what this video is about, though.

[@pankajmahanta7493]

@@merren2306 yes I know. Speaking figurative, it was the same "atrocity" I never mentioned it is the same company. Have a great weekend ahead 👍

[@merren2306]

@@pankajmahanta7493 ah sorry. I thought you may have mistaken the two ^^

[@pankajmahanta7493]

@@merren2306 no issues buddy, cheers from India 🍺🍺🙂

[@paradoxward2533]

this is the history of civilization at all times, in all ways, in all places. The ruthless pursuit of money, power, and control of resources.

[@koga1331]

Awesome video. Thanks.

[@abcddef2112]

One of inspiration of Dune for sure.

[@abdillahfamilychannel8418]

Yes I am Indonesian. I remember my lecturer can speak Dutch fluently by graduating from colonial school...

[@jokehu7115]

Wat een coole rakker die leerkracht van u

[@spacegerrit9499]

When we Dutch go to Indonesia to visit family or go on holiday, we notice that the elderly people speak fluent Dutch, but in the most old fashioned way.

[@matthewlo55]

Whoever created the Cantonese subtitles, thank you.

[@alifoka932]

Thanks and thanks for the subtitle

[@MasterCivilEngineering]

Ted Ed videos are knowledge booster for us🚀🚀

[@serena7371]

i live in the Netherlands myself and it’s absolutely insane to me that since the 6th grade, when this was first taught to me, i haven’t been taught the “actual” version. they teach it to us in the perspective of (of course) our dutch “travelers” and “explorers” who made our country rich. pains me to see that even this video, that explains these painful years in just 5 min(!) does a better job. really shows u which side of history people are on

[@hazzmati]

There is no ''side'' just unique perspectives.

[@c-light7624]

Yup. The U.S. did the same thing with their version of history.

[@corialanuswhos9436]

I’m also dutch and you somewhat richt, but in highschool you learn I think far more. But yea…

[@yanromeo8277]

Dont too harsh to yourself. Chill , maybe VOC are did terrible thing or maybe the worst but netherland were not alone. Every european did the same thing to the world. Hi , Im from indonesia.

[@rusher210]

@@hazzmati of course there are sides, the colonial legacy erased the "actual" version for the dutch to learn. This is taking a side

[@priztucker]

So happy there are no ads on this channel

[@SJGiants]

I love the intro a lot!

[@historynerd556]

As a native Dutch speaker, that pronunciation at the start was pretty decent, even though the accent was as thick as Irish beer.

[@azlan194]

He didn't pronounce the "Banda" properly though. Thats not how Indonesian would pronounce it. But he did pronounce the "orang kaya" decently though (His R in oRang might be a bit too strong).

[@theywalkinguptoyouand4060]

So what? He may not be a native speaker. People like you are the reason every person or youtuber says "sorry for butchering the pronounciation but..." It doesn't matter. Even amongst yourselves you don't pronounce things the same way.

[@theywalkinguptoyouand4060]

@@azlan194 why don't indonesians know where to put the Es in a word? Sometimes they drop it, sometimes they add an e to where it shouldn't be.

[@Banana_Split_Cream_Buns]

This is what "free trade" looks like.

[@matiastoro1667]

Hah, no. This is what monopoly looks like. Nothing free there.

[@ThePltsweet]

@@matiastoro1667 hence why he used the quotation marks..

[@matiastoro1667]

@@ThePltsweet I don't think his point was to say that this wasn't free trade, but to make a critique of it by pointing the supposed irony of calling it that way because it's enslaving or something like that.

[@davidl7134]

Need more of these

[@buwungpuyuh8950]

The truth and fact, depicted accurately. Thank you.

[@WhichDoctor1]

I knew about the VoC in abstract terms. Hope the “monopolised” the spice trade through military force and made the Netherlands rich. But I’ve never heard the details of exactly how they did it before. That’s a pretty horrific genocide even by European colonial standards.

[@barendbonda3010]

Belgians & France: Allow us to introduce ourselves

[@thedeathmaker1]

Seems pretty up to par with the average colonial european standards at the time.

[@snow640]

Yeah.. Don't even start with what they did in Africa

[@sohamacharya171]

@@barendbonda3010 King Leopold II specifically. Congo was his own personal property.

[@ian_sch]

​@@barendbonda3010 I was about to introduce him the Great King Leopold II from Belgium hahahaha, but looks like you did the honors.

[@aninditaadzaniprakasa1827]

I've heard a story about Banda island - well, not a good one. Due to notorious past the island and its indigenous people had, Banda island has become haunted. Now it's one of Indonesia's popular tourist site, but remember the scars that have costed losses that much.

[@naimashii]

I went to Maluku and Banda Island as a school program back in middle school. One fact that I remembered was, Jan Pieterszoon Coen was so ruthless he ordered the massacre of Banda natives, approximately 20.000 were dead. The rest who were still alive, fled for safety, most went Batavia (Jakarta) the capital city. That's why, to this day, there's a district/area in Jakarta called "Kampung Bandan" (Banda Village), where Banda natives continued their lives.

[@ewartsmith7490]

I like how I just saw Extra Credits's series on the conquest of India, too

[@OmnipotentPotato]

The truth is, though many Western European countries are very advanced and humanitarian nations today, most of them have a very dark yet mostly unpopular history of massacres and humanitarian crimes.

[@corialanuswhos9436]

Because of these crimes the west is so rich, we enslaved the other countries and now we are like this meh.

[@nado5918]

They’re where they’re at today - wealthy, advanced - precisely because of their colonial past. They got rich on the backs of the hundreds of millions of people they enslaved and stole resources from.

[@OmnipotentPotato]

@@nado5918 they took the path to success, except the stairs were made out of other humans

[@atrudokht]

the fact that genocides were mostly committed by westerners and Japanese

[@duncandl910]

​@@OmnipotentPotatoyes but i cannot think of a society whose history isn't marred by conquest, exploitation and enslavement

[@cesar.leyvag]

Video title: "How one of history's most profitable companies rose to power?" The tumbnail dispmaying the andwer in big red letters: MURDER

[@harry5326]

I was taught about the VOC, but the part where Jan van Riebeek settled what is now Cape Town in order for ships sailing between Netherlands and the Indies to resupply the ship

[@ykrum5158]

Finally, a video of VOC and one of islands in Indonesia. VOC: became the world most profitable company in the world (even more profitable than Apple). Indonesian archipelago: screaming.

[@juliaversmissen9443]

I'm dutch and this chapter of our history is in my experience still taught in school as something we should be proud of (while it's obviously horrible but people only realize it after high school if at all)

[@therealissacnewton]

i have a question why does voc have india in their name when they refer it to indonesia?? And why was indian goods so popular to europeans during 18th and 19th century??

[@koen-208]

@@therealissacnewton indie/India was a common name used to describe south/south-east Asia. Indië (Dutch) refers to contemporary Indonesia whilst India refers to India.

[@koen-208]

Dan hebben wij een andere ervaring. Ik leerde 20 jaar geleden al het verhaal zoals het in deze video verteld werd. Sterker nog, ik ben nu zelf historicus en draag dit verhaal zelf ook al jaren op deze manier voor.

[@user-cr3pn7rk2v]

@@therealissacnewton Because "East India " meant Southeast Asia. Even the name Indonesia means "Indian Islands" in Greek

[@MrGregory777]

@@Potjenjks2988 het wordt letterlijk, De Gouden Eeuw genoemd in jullie boeken

[@sahanjayawardana121]

This is how they have become 'developed countries' 👏👏

[@spacegerrit9499]

The European states have become the richest after they dropped their colonies. Fact. Africa is the richest continent on earth. Fact. It's not about what you have - it's about what you do with it.

[@user-de7rz9tm9d]

Do you know what the difference is? All empires, nations, countries at some point fought others or enslaved them. Sour faces for those who never made something out of their countries.

[@ebitoro4590]

Thumbnail answering the question in the title bluntly and succinctly, I can get behind

[@lunyrobot]

I like the authentic Dutch letter at 0:45

[@albumkosong]

Ah yeah VOC, 90% of my history knowledge in middle school is about them

[@johnmarkmccoy]

You all couldn’t have released this video like a MONTH ago when my World History class was learning about the VOC?!? Would have been super helpful. Great job as always, definitely going to use it next year!

[@anuvabrudra6638]

TED is the best educational channel.

[@rishavjain5087]

I bow to your marvelous pronounciation, sir

[@arsyapermana1]

The word "Kompenii" is still used by old people here to refer Dutch East Indies despite it was bankrupted in the 17th

[@spacegerrit9499]

19th century. 1874 to be exact.

[@fortune_roses]

*Wow* didn't know this about Dutch history... I knew about the *colonization* but didn't know there was blatant genocide involved

[@dsavkay]

Colonization do involve that most of the time. Regarding Europeans, the word "colonization" is used and "genocide" is not used because the former word is a lighter, softer word ^^

[@devondavis4295]

This is so true 💯💯

[@mikecummings6593]

I really find history fascinating

[@cagatayaksu6549]

Golden Age Netherlands is a fascinating topic: Tragic for the aggresive colonization and hostile takeover of the east indies, but remarkable for the resulting proto-capitalist institutions they founded/funded back home.

[@Ordinary_Guy]

and that including the suffering of many, Yay! :D

[@TankEngine75]

I read that as Golden Ape Netherlands and I was so confused, I didn't know Golden Apes exist, I wish they do sadly

[@louvendran7273]

They are responsible for Apartheid South Africa and the legacy for racism there.

[@hazzmati]

It's certainly impressive how such a small nation was able to project so much power and influence.

[@boiwaif]

Weird, almost like those things have some kind of connection.

[@VishalG04]

The britishes, dutches , Portuguese people have committed a lot of atrocities and genocides.

[@jordandino417]

Basically any empire ever :/

[@VishalG04]

@@jordandino417 yess

[@-JA-]

Thank you.👍

[@agustinbaigorria7032]

Very interesting, history is always more entertaining than any fantasy!

[@andrealb4363]

The VOC, the first multinational joint stock corporation. The most notorious weapon for the Dutch Republic to consolidate its hegemony in Asia and Europe.

[@LILY_213]

Please always put an Arabic translation, I always follow you and thank you for your effort 🍀.

[@realmofriddles]

Great video

[@IreneWY]

I really recommend reading the 1000 autumns of Jakob de zeut in that context 👍👍

[@mapdasilva1012]

00:29 The VoC did not pioneer any trade routes. The Portuguese were the pioneers since 1498 (200 years before the Dutch).

[@matthewblijd4201]

I like how he says VOC that is in dutch with a German accent. Btw i'm from a country that used to be a colony of the Netherlands allmost 50 years ago. And its in South America.

[@prairierailproductions6737]

Interesting historical Segway. To say the Dutch East India company was competing with other empires would be an understatement. It’s main rival being France and the dying Portuguese empires. However a surprise character in this global story failed to join the lucrative race for the indies. So, they had to take up the French and Dutch’s scraps or scrap. India

[@netaji2934]

Hope you make something similar about EIC(east India company)

[@dxrebel]

I remember when the former prime minister, Balkenende, said "we should get back to a VOC mentality" and everyone was like "wtf are you saying, dude?" He meant explore and entrepeneurship but it came out so bad lol

[@werren894]

that is the thing about netherland language i don't like it's expression.

[@spacegerrit9499]

​@@werren894 How can you not like: "Kokosnoten zijn geen specerijen, makker."

[@werren894]

@@spacegerrit9499 lol

[@tntsummers926]

Reminds me of Caesar, he committed a decade long genocide that equally killed and enslaved about 2/3rds of Gaul's population, he simultaneously showed a shocking amount of mercy even by modern standards to his fellow Romans after he crossed the Rubicon. The Greatest men in history are usually capable of an equal amount of extraordinary kindness and boundless cruelty, Human nature and tribalism are fascinating.

[@sharnamarcus6189]

John Green's video on this is superb.

[@bryontalamantes9386]

"Such success came with an overwhelming cost to human life" is literally the motto of capitalism

[@masashikishimoto6959]

And communism, mao and stalin literaly killed 90 million civilians to establish communism

[@nickc3657]

@@masashikishimoto6959 this claim has always seemed so strange to me. It’s simply a tally of those who died during communist governments. The tally of those who’ve died under capitalist governments is much, much greater.

[@masashikishimoto6959]

@@nickc3657 so u mean there is a capitalist country which killed more than 25% of its own population?

[@mathewfinch]

@@masashikishimoto6959 most of the tallies for "deaths caused by communism" usually also include German war dead in WW2 to pad out the numbers as well. Also the majority of people killed in the USSR and China were the result of a ban on the study of genetics and evolution in favor of Lysenkoism. The USSR under Stalin favored Lysenkoism over the study of evolution and genetics largely because most Russian scientists from that time were former aristocrats while Lysenko was a peasant. They also weren't keen on Genetics for agriculture because the Nazis were overly preoccupied with genetics. China mostly adopted Lysenkoism for their agriculture because the USSR did so. Also, the later abandonment of Lysenkoism under Nikita Khrushchev was a meaningful part of the Sino-Soviet split, along with the rest of de-Stalinization. This is the reason why a large number of Soviet and Chinese famines occurred during that time. tl;dr - It had more to do with denial of the Theory of evolution than anything else; more manslaughter than murder.

[@masashikishimoto6959]

@@mathewfinch so you try to say those hundred milion killed by communist regimes were killed by the respective regimes and not communist itself because they were failed forms of communism? If so, how did not a single communist state succed in implemented an closed economy? Why did everysingle communist regime from albania to vietnam kill more of its own population than fascist regimes which atacked them? Communism is a failed theory which caused hundred million of deaths, thats a fact, and protecting communist is nothing better than protecting nazism.

[@mohammadzahidhassan8566]

The British East India company kind of did the same. And specially around Bangladesh they killed many tailors who used to make Muslin Clothes which was very famous at that time and forced many of them to work as farmers for them. Those who were alive lived the lives of slavery

[@jordandino417]

Oof :(

[@lerensajadah6469]

1. Orang kaya literally means = reach person/ rich people 2. Manya thanks Ted ed for giving us such a great topic that I guess not many Indonesian people know this. Yes, VOC is introduced in history lesson of Indonesian people but not as detailed as this video 3. Not only Banda island, but I think that VOC also was doing massacre at Maluku, Sulawesi, and Java island. VOC was the first step and trigger for long colonization of Dutch in Indonesia. Even at 1945 after Indonesia declared their independence (following the lost control of Japan in Asia) the Dutch still tried to occupy and control Indonesia as it protectorate by military aggression which was helped by the ally (yes, the ally front of WW2). Not until around 1949 that finally the Dutch left Indonesia, and funny thing is, the Dutch not reconized Indonesian independece day at 1945 but rather at 1949, until 2005.

[@kykale]

Eh, while many common Dutch aren’t afraid to admit that Indonesia was independent by 1945, by law it’s still 1949. It’s because, if by law, the Dutch government would recognize 1945, it would mean that the military operations between 1945 and 1949 are to be regarded as war crimes.

[@lerensajadah6469]

@@kykale yes, only after 60 years after 1945 that the Dutch government (and their law) admitted their fault and recognized Indonesia independence at 1945.

[@dynamosaurusimperious2718]

Well this is awesome

[@reemagulshaalikhan1235]

This story is so good as much as well.🤧❣️😍😍😍👍🤧🤧😍

[@IllyasvielChan]

I like your Dutch pronoucements, good job!

[@mishalstudies]

We Sri Lankans know far too well what the Dutch East india company are capable of

[@rubenvanspankeren905]

0:15 as a dutch person I can really hear he tried his best here, but it’s not quite there yet

[@geraldusdipto5273]

CMIIW isn't VoC also practically implement the 1st stock exchange?

[@silver_dem0n525]

Nice to see a video about Dutch History! For those watching: This is very simplified and if interested you should definitely look into this topic more thoroughly :)

[@treasureobasuyi894]

The Dutch East India Company should have payed some enemies of the Banda people to attack Banda then waiver them a treaty basically saying "we will protect you if you give us all your nutmeg" then BOOM! Riches.

[@alparslankorkmaz2964]

Nice video.

[@YouAndImpact]

Nice video 👌

[@angga2oioi]

yet the Netherland still has the audacity to ask Indonesia to pay their debt because our Independence made them lose the colonies.

[@bart6753]

You think all that infrastructure was for free?

[@c-light7624]

A lot of these countries have done that to their former colonies and it’s basically geopolitical blackmail. I can see why small countries with less leverage would side with China.

[@Tinky1rs]

The republic took over Indonesia from the Dutch, including its debt.

[@deepakagrawal1205]

@@bart6753 Infrastructure worth millions, loss to the local population worth billions. Trillions in case of EIC and India... Added to that is the humiliation and torture the local population faced for centuries.

[@atrudokht]

@@deepakagrawal1205 well spoken, such genocides are truly despicable. Shame on them.

[@kidedogawa16]

As an Indonesian, a small part of me keeps dying when the narrator said ‘orang kaya’ which literally translates into ‘rich men/rich people’ 💀

[@harnosuharno8971]

Oba cari tahu asal kata orang kaya , siapa tau diadopsi dari bahasa maluku

[@reddevildead]

Please make a video on the British East India Company @TED-Ed

[@rjfrancisco7646]

When I read the title, I thought this was gonna be a success story to look up to. Boy, was I so wrong.