Category Archives: History

Sixty Five Years Ago Today

The legacy of the Dutch East India Company, which was the first multinational corporation in the world, fades into obscurity when the Netherlands officially recognizes Indonesian independence and brings to an end the existence of the Dutch East Indies.

On March 30, 1602, the Dutch East India Company, which was also the first company to issue stock, was established when the States General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out trade activities in Asia. The largest of the European companies engaged in Asian trade, it had a fleet of 4,785 ships, which put the British East India Company a distant second at a mere 2,690 ships.

It’s monopoly status with quasi-governmental powers enabled Dutch East India Company to enjoy huge profits for almost two centuries until it want bankrupt as a result of corruption and was formally dissolved in 1800 and its operations taken over by the government, which created the Dutch East Indies out of the territories that were controlled by the Dutch East India Company. This colony continued to be one of the most prosperous of the European colonies and enabled the Netherlands to gain and retain global prominence in the spice trade for almost 150 years, until World War II when Japan’s occupation dismantled much of the colonial state and economy.

Following the Japanese surrender, the Indonesian nationalists declared independence and fought to secure it during the subsequent Indonesian National Revolution. A few years later, the Netherlands formally recognized Indonesian sovereignty at the 1949 Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference and the legacy of the Dutch East India Company, which led global trade for almost two centuries, like all good things, came to an end.

Thirty Five Years Ago Today

Europe made its bid to get in on the space race and prepare for inter-planetary supply management with the first successful launch of the Ariane rocket. Developed by the European Space Agency, it was a four stage vehicle designed to put two telecommunications satellites at a time into orbit.

While it wasn’t a big step forward, like the Voskhod 1 which was launched 50 years ago on October 12, it put a new player in the inter-planetary game (as communication relay stations are going to be necessary, and that is going to be accomplished by way of satellites), and a player that would contribute to the International Space Station.

It may have been Christmas eve, but dedicated scientists kept working. It’s unfortunate that corporations, including General Dynamics, who promised us a convoy to Mars in 1975 back in 1963, didn’t show the same dedication.

Twenty Five Years Ago Today the World Lost a Great Writer

And now we will never know if Godot ever arrived.

But from a Procurement perspective, we can tell you that you will never reach the highest level of Supply Management maturity if you are not Waiting for Godot.

And since it’s the holidays, we’re not going to tell you why since you have the opportunity to take some time to think about it. Happy pondering!

80 Years Ago Today

The foundations for faster air travel were laid when American aviator Wiley Harderman Post was credited with discovering the jet stream (in a search for the equatorial smoke stream phenomenon that was mapped by weather watchers after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa and detected by Wasaburo Oishi in the 1920s using pilot balloons released near Mount Fuji). (History Channel)

On an experimental high-altitude flight on 7 December 1934, Wiley manoeuvred his aeroplane into a fast-moving air current, resulting in a significant increase in ground speed. The discovery proved a pivotal moment in aviation history, as it opened the door for high-altitude, ultra high-speed air travel.

As a memory refresher, jet streams are super fast flowing, narrow air currents found in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. (Wikipedia) While the speed is dependent upon the disparity between colliding warm and cold air systems, jet streams, which typically occur between 7 and and 16 km above the earth, have been recorded as flowing at a speed that is anywhere between 90 and 400 kph. Planes that take advantage of these streams and the force they provide can fly much faster and further than planes that don’t. For most of the year, there are two sets of distinct jet stream systems in each hemisphere of Earth: one at the pole and one at the sub-tropic, and that’s why many inter-continental flights take these routes.

80 Years Ago Today

Land transportation reached a new record when the Flying Scotsman became the first steam locomotive to be authenticated as reaching 100 mph. While slow by today’s standards (with the TGV being clocked at 357 mph in 2007), this was phenomenal back in 1934 when many goods were still shipped horse and buggy (with the average walking speed of a horse pulling a cart being 4 mph) and the average speed of a railroad freight shipment (at least before the introduction of the streamliner) was estimated to be about 5 mph (lafn.org).


I’ve got the freight train blues
Oh, lawdy mama got ’em
On the bottom of my ramblin’ shoes
And when the whistle blows, I gotta go
Baby, don’t you know
It looks like I’m never gonna lose
The freight train blues