Preface: The Sovereign Startup
Preface: The Sovereign Startup
Could founding countries begin with founding companies? A look into HBC: a company that survives to this day, was the largest landowner in the world, and predates US & Canada by over a century
In a world of blurred hierarchies, one seems clear: countries hold ultimate power, and corporations play within their rules. To those who run afoul of these laws, woe be to them. This nation-state system, a seemingly immovable constant, harks back to a time when maps warned, “there be dragons.”
Yet, the idea of the country is a startup idea. It is a startup idea in the sense that it is a recent spark in the arc of human history.
And it is also a startup idea in the sense that some countries actually began as start-up companies.In fact, there is a company—it still exists today—that is a precursor to two of the most powerful countries on Earth.
It stands as a Titan—not just influentially, but also symbolically. Just as Titans were the progenitors of the Greek gods, this company also birthed countries. It predates the United States by 106 years; Canada, by 197 years.
At its peak, it was the largest landowner globally, its dominion stretching across 15% of North America’s landmass and 40% of modern-day Canada.
The Hudson’s Bay Company mixed company and country. As a quasi-sovereign, it minted its own currency,
built forts, and even maintained gunboats and a militia. The Hudson’s Bay Company did not merely operate—it governed.What if the countries of tomorrow began as startups today?
And who would fund them?
Further explored and excerpted in “The Four Eras” section below of Part One.
“Independent Company of Foot,” from The Company. Also: https://archive.is/3wIAA
I expand on the history of The Company in Part Three, “Old New Countries.”
Preface: The Sovereign Startup
>> "What if the countries of tomorrow began as startups today?"
i think the difference between country and corporation is already pretty slim... who's to say they aren't the same thing in the future?
just like we can't choose our family but we can choose our friends, maybe in the future the country/corporation we choose isn't the one we are born in / hired by, but rather the one we create.
(and b4 everyone jumps all over me to state that corporations are heartless / soulless / amoral machines which exist solely for profit... maybe a corporation we create can have the same morals / values as the community we choose to build)