Worlds First Corporation

The English East India Company was the mother of the modern multinational. Its trading empire encircled the globe, importing Asian luxuries such as spices, textiles, and teas. But it also conquered much of India with its private army and broke open China's markets with opium. The Company's practices shocked its contemporaries and still reverberate today.

“A lively and compelling account . . . The cumulative effect is impressive. . . . Ahamed tells his story with an easy fluency and a high velocity.” —Trevor Jackson, The New York Times Book Review Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2026 by Literary Hub From the author of the Pulitzer...

Perhaps the most famous – or as many would put it, infamous – of these naval corporations was the Dutch East India Company, also known as VOC. Established around the beginning of the 17th century, this nautical behemoth of a corporation was determined to squeeze everyone else out of the market. Vested with the power to wage war and exterminate any who dared stand in their way, the rest of the world stood by as the unstoppable force took over the whole of international maritime trade.

Huge international companies and corporations are a normal part of our everyday lives today. For most, their unimaginable wealth and power, rivaling even some of the smaller countries of the world, is something we take for granted. And we see them as the living embodiment of the capitalist system, regardless if we take it as a good or a bad omen. However, this wasn’t always the case.

Trinity, A Changing World: The First Black President, is a theatrical musical about the election of America's first black president. The story takes place in a school library where books come alive on the eve of November 4, 2008 - the night of the election. So, the question becomes, was the election of America’s first black president, Barack Obama, a current event or a historical event? And the debate begins. Will the library books work all night to update the children's history books with this event? You won't want to miss this enchanting and whimsical theatrical play.