How did the Dutch West India company make its money?

N the 1600s, the Dutch West India Company was more powerful and successful than Microsoft, IBM, or General Motors today. The Company's thousands of employees had one primary goal: to make money. Investors in the Dutch West India Company were fortunate. Its annual profits went as high as 200 or 300 percent. (In comparison, a strong stock today might return yearly profits of 20 or 30 percent.) In the pursuit of profits, the Company traded commodities such as spices, sugar, fur, and slaves. It also fought battles against Spain to gain new territory.

The Dutch West India Company was an offshoot of the Dutch East India Company, which funded Henry Hudson's voyage to North America in 1609. If Hudson could find a secret shortcut to Asia, the Company would make even more profits.

Although Hudson failed at this mission, his dazzling reports of fur trading opportunities inspired merchants. About fifteen years later, the Company sent over some thirty families as colonists and workers. They called the new colony "New Amsterdam." Later renamed New York, it would grow into one of the greatest cities in the world.