Indonesia: An 1840s pencil sketch of the grave of Sunan Giri, who was buried on a sacred hill near Gresik in Java in the 16th century.

Sunan Giri is one of Indonesia’s best known ‘wali sanga’ or revered saints of Islam. The name ‘Sunan Giri’ in fact means ‘honoured hill’ and his grave is a pilgrimage site to this day.

The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, was a chartered company granted a monopoly by the Dutch government to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock. It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts, negotiate treaties, coin money and establish colonies. The VOC was set up in 1602 to gain a foothold in the East Indies (Indonesia) for the Dutch in the lucrative spice trade, which until that point was dominated by the Portuguese. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods.

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