our old friend trade and also corporations.

我們的老朋友貿易和企業。

Oh great, another Marxist rant from my union-loving public school teacher about how capitalism

哦，偉大的，另一個馬克思主義的咆哮 從我的工會愛好公立學校老師 關於如何資本主義？

is destroying the world.

正在毀滅這個世界。

You know, Me from the Past, all the capitalists call me Marxist, all the Marxists call me

你知道嗎，過去的我，所有的資本家都叫我馬克思主義者，所有的馬克思主義者都叫我。

capitalist, I--I can't win!

資本家，我--我贏不了!

Here's the thing, Me from the Past, I am grateful that there is a market for people to, you

這裡'的事情，我從過去，我很感謝有一個市場的人，你

know, sell books and make YouTube videos, and capitalism does a pretty good job of making

知道，賣書和製作YouTube視頻， 資本主義做了一個相當不錯的工作，使得

goods and services available to large groups of people.

向大批人提供商品和服務；

Plus how else am I going to turn sweat of the proletariat into delicious Diet Dr. Pepper?

再加上我還怎麼把無產階級的汗水變成美味的健怡博士辣椒呢？

(Not a sponsor. I wish they were a sponsor.)

(不是贊助商，我希望他們是贊助商)

I'll tell you what, Me from the Past, I've enjoyed a cup or two of the sweat of the proletariat

我告訴你，過去的我，我已經享受了一兩杯無產階級的汗水。

over the years and it just doesn't have that carbonated "pop" of Diet Dr. Pepper.

多年來，它只是沒有那個碳酸化的"pop"的健怡博士辣椒。

What were we talking about? Oh right, capitalism. I like capitalism, what I don't like are monopolies

我們剛才在說什麼？哦，對了，資本主義。我喜歡資本主義，我不喜歡的是壟斷。

and violence, and those are both aspects of one of the first capitalist enterprises and

和暴力，而這些都是最早的資本主義企業之一的兩個方面。

the subject of today's episode, the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (and I will remind

今天的主題'集，Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie（和我會提醒

you that mispronouncing things is my thing).

你，唸錯字是我的事）。)

In English of course that's the Dutch East India Company. I'd like to use the Dutch,

用英語說當然是荷蘭東印度公司。我'想用荷蘭語。

though, but I can't pronounce it, so we're just gonna compromise and call it the VOC.

雖然，但我不能發音，所以我們'只是要去妥協，叫它的VOC。

So you probably remember from our first series that trade in the Indian Ocean had gone along

所以你可能還記得我們的第一個系列，印度洋的貿易一直在進行。

swimmingly for hundreds of years until the Portuguese tried and failed to dominate it

數百年來，葡萄牙人一直試圖統治它，但失敗了。

in the 15th and 16th centuries.

在15世紀和16世紀。

And you may also remember that in between the Portuguese and the massively powerful

你可能還記得，在葡萄牙人和強大的葡萄牙人之間

British Empire there was another European power: the Dutch.

大英帝國還有一個歐洲強國：荷蘭人。

At the time, the Netherlands was a country of 1.5 million people, about as many people

當時，荷蘭是一個擁有150萬人口的國家，大約有多少人？

as currently live in Greater Indianapolis. Now, admittedly, they'd already accomplished

作為目前住在大印第安納波利斯。現在，誠然，他們'已經完成了。

some impressive things, for instance, they'd dug most of their country out from the ocean,

一些令人印象深刻的事情，例如，他們'把自己的國家大部分從海洋中挖出來。

but how they came to thoroughly dominate world trade for fifty years tells us a lot about

但他們是如何徹底主導世界貿易五十年的，這告訴我們很多關於

capitalism, technology, and also, violence.

資本主義，技術，還有，暴力。

I suppose we could start with the revolt of the United Provinces in the union of Utrecht

我想我們可以從烏得勒支聯合省的起義開始。

in 1579, which created the Netherlands, or perhaps the decision by the Catholic Duke

1579年建立荷蘭，或者是天主教公爵的決定。

of Parma in 1585 to let Protestants leave captured Antwerp and set up shop in Amsterdam,

1585年帕爾馬的新教徒離開被佔領的安特衛普，在阿姆斯特丹開店。

or we could start in 1595 with the creation of the first Amsterdam-based investment syndicate,

或者我們可以從1595年第一個阿姆斯特丹投資集團的成立開始。

The Company for Far Lands, which is what I call my Minecraft server.

The Company for Far Lands, which is what I call my Minecraft server.

So the founder of The Company for Far Lands published this report called the Itinerario

所以遠方公司的創始人發表了這個報告，叫《行程》。

that excited dreams of vast wealth and spices from South-east Asia. There's a key passage

興奮地夢想著來自東南亞的巨大財富和香料。有一個關鍵的段落

in the report that explains the riches available in the islands east of Malacca:

在報告中，解釋了馬六甲以東島嶼的財富。

"In this place of Sunda there is much pepper, and it is better than that of India or Malabar,

"巽他這個地方胡椒多，比印度或馬拉巴的胡椒好。

whereof there is so great quantity that they could lade yearly from thence 500,000 pounds.

其中的數量之多，每年可從那裡得到50萬磅。

It hath likewise much frankincense, camphor, and diamonds, to which men might very well

它也有很多乳香、樟腦和鑽石，人們可能會很喜歡。

traffic without much impeachment, for that the Portugals come not thither, because great

葡國人不去那裡，因為那裡有很多人在那裡。

numbers of Java come themselves unto Malacca to sell their wares."

爪哇人自己到馬六甲去賣東西，&quot。

You'll note there that the initial idea was to break into this already existing trade

你'會注意到，那裡最初的想法是要打入這個已經存在的行業。

system and displace the Portugals. So in the same way that trade in the western Indian

體系，並取代葡萄牙人。是以，在西印度的貿易中，同樣的

Ocean was flourishing before the arrival of the Europeans, the South China Sea region

大洋彼岸

and eastern Indian Ocean was a trade hot-bed, perhaps even more valuable because of the

和東印度洋是一個貿易溫床，也許更有價值的是，因為它是一個貿易的溫床。

riches of China. And it seems that the Dutch originally planned to try to break into that

中國的財富。而荷蘭人似乎原本就打算嘗試著打入那個

existing trade network on equal terms, like, according to Jacob Van Neck, the captain of

在平等的條件下，現有的貿易網絡，就像雅各布-範內克所說的那樣。

the first successful expedition to Indonesia, the plan was, quote, "not to rob anyone of

第一次成功地遠征印度尼西亞，計劃是，"不搶任何人的。

their property, but to trade uprightly with all foreign nations."

他們的財產，但要與所有外國國家進行正直的貿易。

But pretty soon that idea of free trade gave way to the hard reality that competition meant,

但很快，這種自由貿易的理念就讓位於競爭意味著的殘酷現實。

you know, lower prices, and by 1601 there were enough successful trade companies that

你知道，更低的價格，到了1601年，有足夠多的成功的貿易公司。

the cost of buying spices in Indonesia was going up, and also there was suddenly tons

在印尼購買香料的成本正在上升，也突然有大量的

of pepper in Amsterdam, which meant the price that could be charged for that pepper was

在阿姆斯特丹，胡椒粉的價格，這意味著可以為該胡椒粉收取的價格是1,000美元。

going down; clearly, something had to be done. Ideally that something would have been lower

下去；顯然，必須做點什麼。理想的情況是，有些事情會被降低

prices for everyone, and an efficient marketplace, but the something that happened instead was the VOC.

每個人的價格，以及高效的市場，但發生的事情反而是VOC。

Let's go to the Thought Bubble.

讓我們'去思想保麗龍。

In 1601, the United Provinces, aka the Netherlands, were governed nationally by a representative

1601年，聯合省（又稱荷蘭）由一個代議制國家管理。

body that met at the Hague, called the States General, although each of the individual provinces

在海牙舉行會議的機構，被稱為 "總督府"，儘管每個省都有自己的 "總督府"。

was largely self-governing, and the leader of the States General was able to convince

大體上是自治的，而且各國總領能夠相信

all the provinces to accept a single entity to monopolize the East Indies trade. This new

所有省份都接受一個單一的實體來壟斷東印度群島的貿易。這個新

company, the VOC, was run by a seventeen-member board called the Heeren XVII, and these directors

公司，即VOC，由一個名為 "海倫十七世 "的十七人委員會管理，這些董事

supposedly had control over a company that was chartered with the power to hire its own

據稱控制著一家特許公司，該公司有權僱用自己的人。

people, and also to wage war.

人，也要發動戰爭。

I say supposedly because, you know, it took a year for communications from the Netherlands

我說據說是因為，你知道，荷蘭的通信花了一年時間。

to reach the East Indies, and another year for company officers to respond, so the VOC

抵達東印度群島，公司官員又要一年時間來應對，所以VOC

basically operated as its own sovereign nation, with the power to use as much violence as

基本上是作為自己的主權國家運作的，有權力使用盡可能多的暴力。

it needed to build and maintain its trading power, like according to author Stephen Bown,

它需要建立和維持自己的貿易實力，就像作者Stephen Bown所說的那樣。

"The VOC would essentially operate as a state within a state."

"VOC將基本上作為一個國家中的一個國家來運作。

And the VOC, together with its sister company the West India Company, did use violence,

而VOC與其姐妹公司西印度公司一起，確實使用了暴力。

attacking Portuguese and Spanish settlements in Chile, Brazil, East and West Africa, the

攻擊葡萄牙和西班牙在智利、巴西、東非和西非的定居點，並對其進行了攻擊。

Persian Gulf, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, China and the Philippines between 1602 and

波斯灣、印度、斯里蘭卡、印度尼西亞、中國、菲律賓等地

1663, in what you could think of as an early world war.

1663年，在你可以認為是一場早期的世界大戰。

The VOC was also different from a lot of corporations because it was initially funded with 6.5 million

VOC也與很多企業不同，因為它最初的資金來源是650萬。

guilders, about 100 million dollars in today's money. And that capital was expected to fund

盾，以今天的貨幣計算，約為1億美元'。而這些資金預計將用於資助

business ventures for a long time going forward -- not just for like one initial trade mission.

在未來很長一段時間內的商業企業 -- -- 不僅僅是像最初的貿易任務那樣。

And this long-term business thinking was unique, especially compared to the funding strategies

而這種長期的經營思路是獨特的，尤其是與融資策略相比更是如此

of the VOC's biggest competitor, the British East India Company, and it reflected the advanced

的最大競爭對手--英國東印度公司，它反映了先進的

financial acumen of the Dutch model generally.

荷蘭模式的金融敏銳度一般。

Thanks, Thought Bubble.

謝謝你，思想保麗龍。

So, we've got this company that's basically also a country. But it's not a particularly

所以，我們'了這家公司，基本上也是一個國家。但它不是一個特別

good country, because it doesn't have, like, any of the responsibilities of government,

好的國家，因為它不'，喜歡，任何政府的責任。

nor does it have to answer to the people it's governing. All it has to do is make money.

也不需要對它所管轄的人民負責。它所要做的就是賺錢。

And it was really good at making money, like by 1648 the United Provinces were in better

而且它真的很會賺錢，比如到了1648年，聯合省的情況更好了。

financial shape than every other nation in Europe.

比歐洲其他國家的財政狀況都要好。

You can tell this partly just by looking at interest rates. Now admittedly, interest rates

你看利率就能看出一部分。現在誠然，利率

are only one measure of financial health and power, but they're an important indicator,

只是衡量財務健康和權力的一個標準，但它們'是一個重要的指標。

even today. So, Dutch businesses could borrow at a rate of 4 percent annual interest, and

即使是今天。所以，荷蘭企業可以以4%的年利率借貸，而

that's pretty cheap compared to the 10 percent it cost corporations to borrow money in England

這是很便宜的比10％，它的成本 企業借錢在英國的成本

or the 24.99 percent it cost me to borrow money on my credit card. And because Dutch

或24.99%的費用，我用信用卡借錢。因為荷蘭人

debt was so much cheaper, they could invest two and a half times as much in pretty much

債務是如此的便宜，他們可以在幾乎所有的投資中投資2.5倍的金額。

anything than the English could, including, like, an army and a navy, and this gave the

比英國人能做的任何事,包括,比如,一支陸軍和一支海軍,而這給了英國人一個很好的機會

Dutch a huge head start over their rivals.

荷蘭人比他們的對手有很大的優勢。

So one reason the interest rates were low is because the companies were healthy and

所以，利率低的一個原因是，公司很健康，而且。

they tended to pay people back. But another is that normal Dutch people were already used

他們往往會還人錢財。但另一個原因是，正常的荷蘭人已經習慣了。

to investing their money in bonds that had been issued for land reclamation projects,

將其資金投資於為填海工程發行的債券。

the famous dykes and windmills that turned land below sea level into fields where you

著名的堤壩和風車，把海平面以下的土地變成了田地，在這裡你可以看到你的生活。

could grow tulips, or maybe something else, but all they ever grow is tulips.

可以種鬱金香，也可以種其他東西，但他們只種鬱金香。

Like according to business historian William Bernstein, the tradition of investing in bonds,

像根據商業歷史學家威廉-伯恩斯坦的說法，投資債券的傳統。

quote "carried over into trade: after 1600 Dutch citizens would consider it just as natural

quote "延續到貿易中：1600年後，荷蘭公民會認為這也是很自然的。

to own a fractional share in a trading vessel to the Baltic or the Spice Islands."

擁有一艘前往波羅的海或香料群島的貿易船的部分股份。

And a fractional share is another really interesting idea embraced by the Dutch, that allowed merchants

零碎股份是荷蘭人接受的另一個非常有趣的想法，它允許商人們...

to bear greater risks by purchasing smaller percentage shares in business ventures. Like,

通過購買較小比例的商業企業股份來承擔更大的風險。像。

it's much better to own a tenth of ten ships than it is to own all of one ship, because

擁有十艘船的十分之一比擁有一艘船的全部要好得多，因為

the loss of a single trading ship won't, like, ruin you. And Dutch business people also enthusiastically

一艘商船的損失不會，毀了你。而荷蘭商人也熱衷於

invested in futures markets, guessing what the price of pepper would be six months or

投資於期貨市場，猜測半年或半年後辣椒的價格會是多少。

a year from now, and they created new financial instruments that could be bought and sold,

一年後，他們創造了可以買賣的新金融工具。

and merchants purchased maritime insurance, which further lowered their risk. And lower

和商戶購買了海上保險，進一步降低了風險。而降低

risk means you could invest more of your capital until eventually you have a completely efficient

風險意味著你可以投入更多的資本，直到最終你有一個完全有效的。

market and everything is perfect

市場，萬事大吉

--until the 2008 crash.

--直到2008年的崩盤。

Wait, what were we talking about?

等等，我們剛才在說什麼？

The Dutch financial system and its corporations were simply better than their competitors,

荷蘭的金融體系及其公司根本就比競爭對手強。

and that's why they seized the lion's share of the trading business

這就是為什麼他們奪取了大部分的貿易業務。

-- but that isn't the whole story.

-- 但這並不是故事的全部。

Like, one reason the VOC was so successful was government sponsorship and centralization.

就像，VOC如此成功的原因之一就是政府的贊助和集權。

The VOC had been chartered by the States General, and it could count on the Dutch government

VOC已經得到了州長的特許，它可以依靠荷蘭政府。

to back it up with money and military support.

用金錢和軍事支持來支持它。

There's another benefit to being sponsored by your government, which is that it's very

有'的另一個好處是由你的政府贊助，這是非常'的。

hard for competition to emerge, because it isn't sponsored by your government. For instance,

很難出現競爭，因為它不是由你的政府贊助。比如說。

in Indonesia the VOC had a single governor general managing operations, while the British

在印度尼西亞，VOC有一個總督管理業務，而英國人則有一個總督。

East India Company was more of like a collection of trading posts, each competing with each

東印度公司更像是一個貿易站的集合，每個貿易站都在相互競爭。

other for a share of the spices. Competition may bring down prices for consumers, but it

爭奪香料的份額。競爭可能會使消費者的價格下降，但也會使消費者的價格下降。

also brings down profits for businesses.

也為企業帶來了利潤的下降。

In 1605, the VOC realized that if it really wanted to maximize its profits, it would need

1605年，VOC意識到，如果它真的想實現利潤最大化，就需要

a monopoly of the world's spice trade, and to do that, they would need permanent bases

壟斷世界香料貿易，而要做到這一點，他們將需要永久基地。

in Indonesia. Initially, they got spices by trading for them with the people who grew

在印度尼西亞。起初，他們通過與種植香料的人交易來獲得香料。

them, especially with the inhabitants of the Banda Islands, which was the only place where

特別是班達群島的居民，那裡是唯一一個能讓他們有更多機會接觸到他們的地方。

nutmeg was grown. But again, like, trading in a fair and equitable manner is no way to

肉豆蔻的種植。但又喜歡，公平公正的交易方式是沒有辦法

maximize profits.

利潤最大化。

So at first the Bandinese welcomed the Dutch, because they were much more laid-back in terms

所以一開始班迪恩人很歡迎荷蘭人，因為他們更悠閒，在...

of religion than the Portuguese, but very quickly the Dutch tricked them into signing

但很快，荷蘭人就騙他們簽署了一份協議。

exclusive trade agreements, which the Bandinese were almost certain to violate, and then when

排他性貿易協定，萬邦人幾乎肯定會違反，然後當

they did violate them, ehh, it didn't go well.

他們確實違反了他們，ehh，它沒有&#39；不順利。

In 1609 the Bandinese were like, "No, you don't understand, like, we need trade for

在1609年，Bandinese人就像，"不，你不明白，就像，我們需要貿易的。

food," and the Dutch were like, "But you promised!", and the islanders killed 47 Dutch soldiers

島民們殺死了47名荷蘭阿兵哥，他們的食物，"荷蘭人就像，"但你答應了！"。

and officers in the ensuing fight.

和軍官在隨後的戰鬥中。

The Dutch killed far more Bandinese, who were eventually subdued and agreed to a nutmeg

荷蘭人殺了更多的萬邦人，他們最終被制服，並同意了肉豆蔻。

monopoly with the Dutch, although they continued to secretly trade with the English.

與荷蘭人壟斷，儘管他們繼續與英國人祕密貿易。

And after all this, by 1612, Jan Pieterszoon Coen became the dominant force in Dutch Indonesia.

而在這一切之後，到了1612年，揚-皮特宗-庫恩成為荷屬印度尼西亞的主導力量。

He was an accountant by training, but also a ruthless military leader, who is largely

他是個會計出身，但也是個冷酷無情的軍事領袖，他在很大程度上。

responsible for the Dutch monopoly of the spice trade, and also for its really terrible

負責荷蘭香料貿易的壟斷，也負責其真正可怕的。

relations with the British, and also for, like, you know, certain crimes against humanity.

與英國人的關係，也為，像，你知道， 某些危害人類罪。

Coen brought about the shift in VOC policy, away from straightforward trade and toward

Coen帶來了VOC政策的轉變，從直接的貿易轉向了

monopoly of both shipping and production of spices. He also made it clear that this trade

壟斷了香料的運輸和生產。他還明確表示，這種貿易

needed to be based on military force.

需要以軍事力量為基礎。

He wrote, "Your Honors should know by experience that trade in Asia must be driven and maintained

他寫道："quot;閣下根據經驗應該知道，亞洲的貿易必須由人來推動和維持。

under the protection and favor of your Honors' own weapons, and that the weapons must be

在閣下的保護和恩惠下&#39；自己的武器，而且這些武器必須是。

paid for by the profits from the trade, so that we cannot carry on trade without war,

由貿易利潤支付，所以我們不能在沒有戰爭的情況下進行貿易。

nor war without trade."

也不是沒有貿易的戰爭.&quot。

There is no trade without war, nor war without trade -- that's something to think about.

沒有戰爭就沒有貿易，沒有貿易就沒有戰爭------這是值得思考的問題。

Anyway, Coen did make a lot of war, mostly on the English, despite the fact that the

不管怎麼說，科恩確實做了很多戰爭，主要是對英國人的戰爭，儘管事實是

Netherlands and England were engaged in trade negotiations between 1613 and 1619.

荷蘭和英國在1613年至1619年間進行了貿易談判。

And in fact fighting between the VOC and the English continued even after an agreement

事實上，即使在達成協議後，VOC和英國人之間的戰鬥仍在繼續。

was signed. By using force, which included capturing and torturing English traders, Coen

簽署的。通過使用武力，包括抓捕和拷打英國商人，科恩------。

was able to run off the English and secure the VOC monopoly over the spice trade.

能夠跑贏英國人，確保VOC對香料貿易的壟斷。

With the English out of the picture, Coen could get down to the business of using violence

有了英國人的參與，科恩就可以開始著手使用暴力了

to dominate not only the trade, but also the production of spices. His initial plan, to

不僅要主導貿易，而且要主導香料的生產。他最初的計劃是

quote Stephen Bown, was to depopulate the island to replace their inhabitants with imported

引用Stephen Bown的話說，就是要把島上的人都趕走，用外來的人代替他們的居民。

slave and indentured labor under VOC control, and he proceeded to carry out what amounted

在VOC控制下的奴隸和契約勞工，他開始進行相當於以下的事情

to ethnic cleansing of the Banda Islands.

對班達群島進行種族清洗。

In about 20 years, the Dutch managed to acquire an almost complete monopoly on cloves, nutmeg,

在大約20年的時間裡，荷蘭人成功地獲得了丁香、肉豆蔻的幾乎完全壟斷。

and mace. In 1658, they added cinnamon by taking control of Sri Lanka. And, after 1638,

和豆蔻。1658年，他們控制了斯里蘭卡，增加了肉桂。而在1638年之後，。

they became the only Europeans allowed to trade in Japan. Now, we tend to think that

他們成為唯一被允許在日本進行貿易的歐洲人。現在，我們傾向於認為

the heart of the spice trade was between Indonesia and Europe, but it really wasn't. Like, the

香料貿易的核心是印尼和歐洲之間， 但它真的不是。就像...

VOC capital at Batavia became the most important port in all of Southeast Asia, where spices

巴達維亞的VOC資本成為整個東南亞最重要的港口，那裡的香料

from Indonesia and gold and copper and silver from Japan and tea and porcelain and silk

印尼的金銅銀，日本的茶葉、瓷器和絲綢

from China all passed through to India, where they were traded for cotton, which was used

從中國傳到印度，在那裡換取棉花，而棉花是用於

to buy more Asian goods.

來購買更多的亞洲商品。

And that was the real money-maker for the VOC. By the middle of the 17th century, only

而這才是VOC真正的搖錢樹。到了17世紀中葉，只有

the highest-value luxury goods from the region even made it to Europe, because that's where

該地區價值最高的奢侈品甚至被運到了歐洲，因為那是該地區的

the margins were the highest.

的利潤率最高。

So the middle of the 17th century was the golden age for the Dutch; it was the one the

所以，17世紀中葉是荷蘭人的黃金時代；這是一個。

brought us Rembrandt and Ver Meer as well as all the wealth and finery that was depicted

為我們帶來了倫勃朗和維爾梅爾，以及所有被描繪的財富和奢華。

in their paintings. When you go to Amsterdam, which you should, and you walk along the canals

在他們的繪畫中。當你去阿姆斯特丹的時候，你應該去的，你沿著運河散步