After the Dutch Republic declared its independence from Spain it was cut off from the lucrative spice trades which the Portuguese and Spanish controlled following their successful explorations of the East and West Indies and the Americas. This episode looks at where the Dutch went and what they did when they got there. After successful trading missions to the Spice Islands in what is today Indonesia the Dutch established the East India Company which was to grow into the world’s largest multi-national corporation in the 17th century. The VOC, as it was called, soon developed a near monopoly of the Asian spice trade and its huge maritime fleet became the world’s most powerful and profitable shipping company.