Melvyn Bragg, Anne Goldgar and Chris Nierstrasz discuss the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC, known in English as the Dutch East India Company. At its peak, the VOC had a virtual monopoly on nutmeg, mace, cloves and cinnamon, displacing the Portuguese and excluding the British, and were the only European traders allowed access to Japan.

First broadcast on In Our Time, 3 March 2016.