Page 73 - A History of the World in 25 Cities

Not only was Amsterdam home to the world’s first published newspaper during the Golden Age, but it saw the birth of the world’s first multinational company as well. Up until then, only rich governments could afford to run companies outside their home country. When the Amsterdam Stock Exchange started, a number of smaller trading companies joined together to form the Dutch East India Company, which was granted sole rights to the Dutch spice trade for 21 years. Being the only company allowed to import high-profit spices meant that it soon became as powerful as a small country, with its own fleet of ships and its own navy.
The Dutch certainly loved their flowers, especially tulips. During Amsterdam’s Golden Age, people went crazy for tulips, with bulbs being sold for extraordinary prices. People bought the bulbs as an investment, hoping to sell them on for a large profit. The more exotic the colours, the higher the price. At one point, a single bulb of an unusually colourful tulip was valued at ten times a carpenter’s annual salary! Prices were too silly to stay that high for long. When tulip mania wilted, they dropped suddenly and many people were left badly out of pocket.
After 100 years of success, Holland became weakened by continuing its expensive and damaging wars with other countries, such as France and England. Gradually, all along the world’s trading routes, the ships from Amsterdam’s port were overtaken by newer, faster vessels from rival countries.
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